London hosted a grand concert dedicated to Maslenitsa

A grand concert, dedicated to Maslenitsa, took place in the prestigious concert hall of London - Cadogan Hall. The concert was the culmination of the Russian Week and demonstrated the traditional and modern aspects of Russian culture. There were performed musical works of different genres - from classics and folklore to variety art. A number of folklore works were adapted to a modern foreign listener. The Maslenitsa Fair, where anyone could acquire items of folk art and try Russian national cuisine, was organized to the guests.

The annual “Maslenitsa” festival has been held in London since 2009 with the support of the Mayor's Office of London, the Ministry of Culture of Russia, the Government of Moscow, the Russian Embassy, ​​the Rossotrudnichestvo and the Russkiy Mir Foundation and is one of the most famous events representing the culture of our country beyond its borders. The tenth festival officially started on February 11 with a children's morning performance and a concert of the famous British balalaika writer Bibs Eckel at the Russian Center for Science and Culture in London. Then the exhibition of works by Russian and Soviet artists from the period 1905-1953 was held, as well as a display of the historical drama "Paradise" by Andrei Konchalovsky, a culinary holiday in the folk style with stories about Maslenitsa, fashion shows at various venues of the British capital. The festival was ended traditionally with a gala concert of the art contest "Celebrities of Albion - Maslenitsa".

Details of how one of the most colorful holidays in Russia was celebrated by its rulers can be found by referring to digital copies of unique publications available on the portal of the Presidential Library. Thus, I. N. Bozheryanov in the historical essay "How Russian people celebrate and celebrated Russian Christmas, New Year, Baptism and the Maslenitsa", published in 1894, begins a story about the traditions of the Maslenitsa week since the time of Peter the Great as "the chief exponent of foreign fun in  Rus’". It was with him when during the Maslenitsa they began building booths and carousels in the squares organizing masquerades. The book of A. Tereschenko "Life of the Russian people", published in 1848, covers a description of the Maslenitsa Masquerade in Siberia: "The carriage of a ship with sails and tackles, etc., is borrowed from the masquerade given by Peter the Great in Moscow at Maslenitsa and introduced to Siberia by settlers and officials who are still introducing a lot of new things into this region, and spreading the taste and hunt for everything good and elegant". In the unique historical document placed on the Presidential Library's portal - "Notes Serving History ..." (1881) by S. A. Poroshin, educator of Pavel Petrovich, there is a description of the Maslenitsa week during the time of Catherine II in St. Petersburg.

According to the portal http://rs.gov.ru.