The tradition of Maslenitsa dates back to pagan times, when Russian folk would bid farewell to winter and welcome spring. As with many ancient holidays, Maslenitsa (the stress being on the first syllable) has a dual ancestry: pagan and Christian.

On the pagan side, Maslenitsa was celebrated on the vernal equinox day. It marked the welcoming of spring, and was all about the enlivening of nature and bounty of sunny warmth.
On the Christian side, Maslenitsa was the last week before the onset of Lent (fasting which precedes Easter), giving the last chance to bask in worldly delights.

Once Lent itself begins, a strictly kept fast excludes meat, fish, dairy products, and eggs. Furthermore, parties, secular music, dancing and other distractions from the spiritual life are also strictly prohibited.

In the eyes of the church Maslenitsa is not just a week of merrymaking, but a whole step-by-step procedure to prepare oneself for a long and exhausting fasting, which, if observed properly, may be a real challenge.

The religious Maslenitsa celebration activities consist of three weeks starting with vseednaya week (omnivorous week), with no limitations in the diet, followed by ryabaya week (freckled), with alternating ferial and fasting days, and culminates with what we know as Maslenitsa week, or Cheese week, or, myasopust (abstaining from meat) when only dairy products are allowed for consumption.

The church has long been trying to eradicate the pagan side of the holiday, but only managed to reduce the Maslenitsa week from 14 days to 7 in the XVII century.

This last week is not homogeneous: if the first three days still permit performing daily chores and working, on Thursday, the so-called Wide Maslenitsa begins, when the celebration hits its climax, any labor is prohibited. On Sunday the Church commemorates Adam’s banishment from the Garden of Eden, while for the rest it is just a farewell to winter.

Originally, the pagan festivities were held to honor the pagan deity Veles (or Volos also), the patron of cattle and farming. People associated him with a bear, or leshy (wood-goblin), therefore, the bear was a sacred animal possessing magical healing power. Some even thought of a bear to be a creature stronger than the Devil himself. Dancing like a bear around the house was supposed to protect it from burning down.

Such behavior was considered sinful and therefore condemned by the Church. It tried to uproot the tradition, but, confronted with the all-embracing popularity of the Veles character, it capitulated by shifting the focus of the celebration from the pagan God to the Christian saint Vlasiy. It is customary for devout Christians to bring pancakes to his icon during Maslenitsa to please him and assure plentiful crops and healthy livestock in the coming summer.