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Written by Asen Dimitrov, Photos by Asen Dimitrov
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Monday, 10 March 2008 |
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MAR 9 - The Russian community of Blagoevgrad celebrated the national holiday Maslenitsa together with its friends from AUBG and Sofia on the outskirts of the town. Live music and drama performances, as well as games that involved all who wanted to participate, contributed to the high spirits of all guests.
The event was organized by Victoria Bogdanska, president of the Russian club, and Marina Rulko, a member of the club and a teacher of English and Russian at the "Sergey Korolyov" high school. AUBG senior Alena Kunilava was a presenter at the event, which was attended, upon Bogdanska’s invitation, by 60 guests from Sofia. Maslenitsa, the celebration of the coming spring, is one of the last winter holidays. Traditionally, Russians feast on pancakes which are a symbol of the spring sun. One of the popular customs has people write things that happened to them in the past year on a piece of paper and then put it into a bundle next to a hand-made puppet. The puppet, prepared especially for the event, is called Lady Maslenitsa. The culmination of the celebrations is the burning of Lady Maslenitsa and the jumping over the fire. Russians believe that everything bad burns in the flames.  One of the popular customs has people write things that happened to them in the past year on a piece of paper and then put it into a bundle next to a hand-made puppet. | 
The puppet, prepared especially for the event, is called Lady Maslenitsa. The culmination of the celebrations is the burning of Lady Maslenitsa and the jumping over the fire. | 
AUBG senior Alena Kunilava, a presenter at the event, takes her turn at jumping over the fire. |  |  Traditionally, Russians feast on pancakes which are a symbol of the spring sun. |  Games that involved all who wanted to participate contributed to the high spirits of all guests. |  |  | | | | |
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