When is Shrovetide in 2025

Shrovetide is a folk festival on the eve of Lent, which lasts for a week. During this time it is customary to bake pancakes, have fun and treat guests. Shrovetide, or Cheese Week, begins eight weeks before Easter and falls on different dates each year. In what dates to celebrate Shrovetide in 2025, what to do in each of the days and what are the traditions - in the material "Izvestia".

When Pancake Day in 2025?

Pancake Day celebrations in 2025 will begin on February 24 and will last until March 2. In this case, the first three days, from Monday to Wednesday, will be celebrated Narrow Pancake Week, and from Thursday (February 27) - Wide Pancake Week. The week of Shrovetide celebrations ends with Forgiveness Sunday.

Shrovetide is the week before the Great Lent. Each year it falls on different days depending on the date of Easter, which in 2025 falls on April 20.

In the past, Slavic pagans considered Maslenitsa a holiday of seeing off winter and welcoming spring. But with the advent of Christianity, the tradition has acquired a new meaning.

In 2026 Pancake Week will be celebrated from February 16 to 22, Easter will also be early.

Pancake Week - 2025

Each day of Pancake Week has a different name. The narrow week is opened by the Meeting - Monday and the first day of Pancake Week. At this time it is customary to prepare viands and bake the first pancake.

The second day is Zaigrysh. Earlier in the villages on Tuesday they started festivities and arranged brides' parties.

The third day is Lakomka, the time when sons-in-law went to their mothers-in-law for pancakes.

Wide week begins with Thursday, called Razgulyay. On this day it was customary to organize fist fights.

Friday is known as Mother-in-law's Evening, on this day the son-in-law called his mother-in-law to visit. According to the custom, it was Friday on Pancake Day was the decisive day: it depended on it, what will be the relations in the family all year.

Saturday of Cheesefare Week is called Zolovkin's sitting. On this day the relatives of the husband came to visit the young and gave gifts to his daughter-in-law.

Shrovetide week ends with Forgiveness Sunday - the day when according to church tradition it is accepted to ask forgiveness from each other. At the same time, since Pancake Week has pronounced pagan roots, on this day it is customary to burn an effigy of winter and eat a lot of pancakes.

What traditions exist on Shrovetide

Pancake Week is the time when people had fun, walked and every day pleased themselves with delicious viands. Originally, the purpose of the holiday was to "kill" winter and call for the soon coming of spring. After the adoption of Christianity in Russia, the holiday took on a different meaning. Cheese Week, as it is called in Orthodoxy, is the time before Lent, when for the last time you can afford hearty meals. You can no longer eat meat, but dairy products and eggs are not abstained.

What is the name of the effigy that is burned on Pancake Day?

The main tradition of Pancake Day is to burn an effigy as a symbol of the passing winter. The main hero of the celebration has many peculiar names, the most popular of which is Mara or Marena.

Our ancestors in the first days of the holiday week met the scarecrow, led round dances around it and played games. And on the last day they burned it on a big fire. The ashes of the scarecrow were buried in the fields, so that there grew a good harvest. It was customary to hang decorations on the scarecrow, which were also burned.

Cooking pancakes on Pancake Day

This tradition has been preserved since the times when the holiday was considered pagan. Pancakes were a memorial dish, but then began to symbolize the sun. Now for many people pancakes are just a tasty treat that is associated with Shrovetide.

What you can not do on Shrovetide

Since today Pancake Day is a church holiday, preceding the time of preparation for Easter (Lent), at this time you can not gluttony, profanity and envy. Folk traditions say that on holidays you can not not let guests into the house, even if they are uninvited. It is important to treat the guest with pancakes and wish him a good Shrovetide.

Traditionally, during the first three days of Cheesefare Week, housewives cleaned up the house in order to heartily celebrate Shrovetide.