Масленица.
Aslenica is one of the ancient folk festivals, which is not fixed by a specific calendar number. It is a farewell party with the winter and a meeting of spring.
For the Slavs, Maslenitsa was also the meeting of the New Year, tk. In Russia (before the XIV century) the year began in March. It was believed that as a year you will meet, so you will spend it. Therefore, celebrated it broadly and cheerfully, they called Pancake week - "honest", "broad", "gluttony."
According to the legend, Maslenitsa was born in the North, her father was Moroz. Once, at the most severe and sad time of the year, a man noticed her, hiding behind huge snowdrifts, and called to help people, to warm and cheer them up. And the carnival came, but not the fragile girl that hid in the woods, but a healthy woman with fat cheeks, cunning eyes, not with a smile on her lips, but with laughter. She forced a man to forget about winter, warmed up the frozen blood, grabbed her hands and started to dance.