The Maslenitsa festival London in Trafalgar Square is taking place on Sunday 26th February 2012. This national event will attract a footfall in excess of 20,000 people from 8 Soviet Union regions.
The purpose of the event is to say goodbye to winter with Vodka and pancakes, music and song at the London Maslenitsa Festival a traditional Russian festival to welcome the spring that takes place across London from 19 – 26 February 2012. The London Maslenitsa Festival is one of the largest celebrations of Russian culture, art, music and food anywhere outside Russia. Although it is a Russian cultural event it is also quite popular and well known in Kazakhstan, Latvia, Lithuania, Moldova, Estonia.
The Maslenitsa celebration is a centuries old Russian tradition that bids farewell to the bitter winter months and welcomes the beginning of the spring. It also marks the last feast before Lent in the Russian Orthodox calendar, when rich foodstuffs must be used up before the Lenten fast; the traditional Maslenitsa meal is a Pancake but served with a Russian twist: instead of the usual lemon and sugar, Malenitsa pancakes, or Blinis are served with Caviar and Vodka.
London’s Maslenitsa Festival takes place at the same time as across Russia including Moscow’s Red Square. Londoners will able to exchange traditional Russian Maslenitsa greetings with Muscovites via giant video screens that will connect both Festivals taking place a thousand miles apart. London’s Maslenitsa Festival has been created in cooperation with the Mayor of London, the Greater London Authority and The Ministry of Culture of the Russian Federation.
