Shrovet (Fastelavn)

These days it was supposed to amuse myself with fatty, abundant food.Fastelavn (from Vastel-avent - "the evening before the great fast") is celebrated before the beginning of Lent. It should be noted that the Norwegian carnival, like many other holidays, combines both Christian and pagan traditions. Many rituals have been preserved since ancient times, when people celebrated the festival of spring.

Norwegian Maslenian Week traditionally consists of three days: fleskesondag - literally "fat Sunday" (or "fat Sunday" - fastelavnssondag), fleskemandag - "fat Monday" (or blamandag - "weekend") and hvitetirsdag - "white Tuesday" (or feitetirsdag - "fat Tuesday"). As the names already indicate, these days it was supposed to amuse yourself with fatty, abundant food. It was a kind of "last indulgence" before long abstinence. On the other hand, such “eating” had a ritual function associated with fertility. Indulging in gluttony, the peasants thus “cried” the coming abundant harvest, so that the next year they could eat as tasty and hearty.

This was especially true of the last day of Maslenitsa – “fat Tuesday”. On this day it was supposed to eat not just to the dump, but up to nausea. Moreover, according to the oldest custom, the peasants, having eaten, "lightened" the stomach, putting a finger down the throat, and continued to feast. All the best and nourishing things were served on the table: meat, lard, dairy products (hence the other name "fat Tuesday" - "white Tuesday"). The ritual sense was emphasized by the taste of a butter sandwich: the more they bit off it, the greater the harvest was expected. The women said, “Let the sickle reap as much as I bit off!” and the men said, “Let the axe and the braid bite as well as I bite!”

Ancient origin has another Maslenka custom - whipping "oven branch" (fastelavnsriset). The branch - usually birch - is wrapped in colored paper and decorated with paper flowers or gilded berries. With this branch it was customary to go home and whip “sleep”, pulling blankets from them, sparing no effort, with songs and extravagances. “Punished” had to buy off pre-cooked buns. The meaning of this rite from the Christian point of view is seen in the fact that the “victim” in this way “communizes” to the sufferings of Christ, from him “driving away the trolls” and other obsessions. According to pre-Christian traditions, this rite was aimed at awakening the forces of spring and fertility. It was not for nothing that peasants whipped the branch primarily of women (usually those who had not yet had children), animals and trees. There was also a custom when the guys broke into the houses of the girls in the morning and “woke” them with the help of the same olive branch. This rite, which had an emphatically erotic character, also came from pagan antiquity.

In addition, during the Maslenian festivities, weapons games, military fights and ritual quarrels were widespread. A ceremonial battle began between winter and summer, which invariably ended with the victory of the warm season.

Some of these rites and traditions have parallels in many national cultures, including Russian. It is significant that carnival and winter wires were widely celebrated at the "official" level even in Soviet times. Another thing is that many customs have lost their sacred character and are perceived in a completely different way than centuries ago. But one thing is invariable: the joy of waiting and the arrival of spring, the spring sun, the awakening of all life.

Based on materials www.norge.ru.