Maslenitsa: Russian Pancake Week

Maslenitsa 2012
When: 20th February - 26th of February, 2012 

Maslenitsa: Shrovetide, Butter Week, Cheesfare Week or Russian Pancake Week

The Maslenitsa festival signals the end of winter and the coming of spring.  It is also part of the pre-Lenten celebrations, leading up to the time of fasting when in the Orthodox tradition, meat and dairy (butter, eggs, milk) would be forbidden. 

The most characteristic food of Maslenitsa is blini- Russian pancakes. They symbolize the sun and often served round and golden. They are made from the rich foods allowed before the start of lent. Blini are prepared hundreds of ways.  Made buckwheat flour, white flour, or cornmeal,  Blini are given to friends and family.  They may be sweet or savory and are topped with caviar, mushrooms, jam, sour cream, and lots of butter. Meat filled Blini, are rolled and folded often with beef and mushroom fillings.  One of the best meals I ate in Russia was meat filled Blinis.

Maslenitsa

http://russiapedia.rt.com/of-russian-origin/maslenitsa/

Blini Pancake

http://tasterussian.com/blini-pancake.html

Recipe for Russian Blini with Beef or Mushrooms

http://www.russianseason.net/index.php/2009/10/russian-blini-with-beef-or-mushrooms/ 

The Russian Word for Red

The variety of colors for traditional Russian costumes display the love of beauty and ethnic diversity. These costumes are not only beautiful, there are also convenient in wearing because they were created for work as well. Festive clothes and everyday clothes, married woman's and young girl's clothes differed only for details, decoration, color gamut. Red fabric cloth was considered to be the nicest one, and, by the way, the Russian word "beautiful" comes from the word "krasny", the Russian word for "red".

A folk costume is in harmony with the bright interior of the peasant house and country landscapes. It's in tune with the northern round-dance. Folk costume manifests folk art and conveys the spirit of the past and old bright culture of Russia." 

Adoption easier than childbirth?

Adoption easier than childbirth? Who came up with that bright idea?  Shortly after the adoption of our first child, and the second time a dear friend suggested that adoption had been easier, I told my husband; be prepared, next time I go postal. There was no next time.  I think that my husband, staged an intervention. After all there is nothing easy about infertility or adoption.

That is unless you call getting almost 300 injections spread over 4 unsuccessful IVF sessions easy.  Did I mention 4 unsuccessful rounds of IVF.  An insightful friend once described an unsuccessful IVF as the closest thing to a miscarriage a woman can have. I concur.

If that wasn’t enough, we also lost a child that we were in the process of adopting from Russia. This was not a nameless faceless child, but one that we had pictures and video of. She had a name, a nursery, clothes, toys, and Mommy bought a minivan.  Adoptive parents go through the same pre-attachment process that pregnant, expectant parents go though. Losing her was like a death in the family- the death of a child; and it was slow and painful having been dragged out for months.

I know with absolute certainty that the child (children) we adopted, is the one we were suppose to adopt, but that knowledge offers little solace to the grief we experienced, and that I still experience; when like today, I allow it to come out of the box, that I keep it in. Between adoption 1 and 2, we had a Domestic adoption go bad, and the birthmother we were matched with was convicted on felony fraud. Adoption fraud: a crime which can only describe as callous and cruel.

Through it all, I remain the forever optimist, (some days I might describe it as more “what doesn’t; kill you makes you stronger”) knowing that everything happens for a reason even we don’t; know what that is at the time.  This experience gave me a unique insight into the complexities of adoption and while it’s not always easy, it is definitely worth it.