Why do ‘fires’ officially end Maslenitsa (Shrovetide) in Russia? (PHOTOS)
They are meant to help say goodbye to the merry carnival – and winter – in style.
Actually, the main point of the holiday is the burning of the Maslenitsa (Shrovetide) effigy, which symbolizes winter. And the ritual itself is her death, the return of warmth and the beginning of spring.
In the Nikola-Lenivets Park, artist Nikolai Polissky created a 26-meter art object he titled ‘Mills’ – 24 giant wooden towers with rotating blades.
But, contrary to the plot of ‘Don Quixote’, here one would emerge victorious from the fight with them, as these “giants” could not withstand the fiery element.
At the end of the festival, a nine-meter effigy of a sun horse, meanwhile, was burned in the ‘Park of Tales’ in Sverdlovsk Region – so that its heat would warm nature and bring a warm spring.
And, in Suzdal, they burned a huge effigy of Maslenitsa in a ‘sarafan’ (a long Russian jumper dress).
A huge Maslenitsa woman was also installed in Loga Park - as much as 5.43 meters!
