Hello Friends!
Sorry for keeping silence. We were on holidays for 2 weeks. Now were are back at school again.

First of all, many thanks for your comments about "Maslenitsa". You asked some questions about its traditions.
Here are our answers. Many of you asked about the "present" inside the bag on the pole. The main prize was a "Cock"! (alive). Some other gifts were a set of cups and plates, different souvenirs. The pole was really tall and not everydody could reach the top of it but there were some young men who were the winners. And the weather was rather cool.

Here are some Russian souvenirs which are colourful. They are made of wood. One can keep them in the kitchen for salt, sugar and so on.

Your friends
Ann, Tanya, Olga, Alina

Maslenitsa

There are a lot of traditional holidays in Russia. “Maslenitsa” is one of them. It marks the end of winter and the beginning of spring and Lent before Easter.

There was a celebration of Maslenitsa in our town on Sunday, March 1.
Many people came to the central square to listen to the national songs and play national games. On this day people cook pancakes with sour cream, honey, butter or caviar.
During the festival people usually burn a scarecrow of winter. You can see a young man in a national Russian dress with a red bag collecting “bad things” which the people want to be burned together with the scarecrow. People usually write on a small piece of paper “bad things” and put them into the bag. Then the bag is usually burned in the fire.

After that there are all kinds of competitions and games. On of them is to get a present which is high on the tall pole. Young men have to climb up the pole to reach the bag with the present.