MASLENITSA ("BUTTER WEEK") IN THE FOLK CALENDAR OF THE BESERMEN: TEMPORAL, SPATIAL AND NUTRITIONAL PARAMETERS

Abstract

The article deals with food, time and space parameters of the Beserman Maslenitsa ("butter week, crepe week") rite Machencha / Machincha in the folk calendar and their transformation in the modern rite. The time parameters of the holiday were limited by the week of the Maslenitsa, the last week before the Great Lent, which regulated the beginning and end of the ceremony, some types of works, forms of entertainment and meals. Spatial parameters of the ritual, as well as the movement (sledging) had a producing character, aimed at obtaining a good harvest (flax), and are associated with women's crafts. During the Maslenitsa days, the objects of the landscape - mountain, street, village center - were the places of festive sledgings, festivities and meetings. Maslenitsa rituals reflected the social changes of some residents and honours of members of the village community, family, social and age groups in their new status - newlyweds, young women, girls and boys of marriageable age. Meals, visits to relatives and festive walk rounds of the village's youth were part of the celebration. The main dish of the festival were small flatcakes named taban' made of yeast dough. Modern Maslenitsa as a public event refers to the holiday «Farewell of the Russian winter», with changes of the spatial, temporal and nutritional parameters of the traditional rite. The article is based on field materials and observation of the modern rite.