The Beginning of Spring

When I woke up on March 1st, I could tell something was changing. The sun was shining, the birds were singing, the snow was slightly melting...oh, and best of all, my students all had smiles on their faces. In Russia, it was the first day of spring, and there was no arguing about the science of it. To be honest I think it's more that people want it to be spring here, and the desire to feel like you have conquered winter, once and for all. I just went with it, since I admittedly liked that sense of waking from hibernation, to open my eyes wide and see the world bright and new, just as I left it so many months ago. It's almost like waking from some strange dark, snowy dream. Only to see more snow. But at least it's sunny.

And of course, leave it to the Russians to celebrate. Everyone loves Maslenitsa week: "butter week" in Russian, to celebrate the beginning of spring. The purpose of the week is simple: eat lots of pancakes, which in Russia look like delicious crepes, that you can add anything to, from dried fruit to condensed milk, to sour cream, to salmon. On the last day of this week there are big celebrations in virtually every park, where there is music, concerts, people in bright colors, and of course, lots and lots of pancakes. In the end they burn a scarecrow, as a final goodbye to winter. And no, this is not a celebration run by the church, its roots run much deeper, from ancient times.

My friends and I were pleasantly amused at the huge collage of a bright sun at the Maslenitsa celebration behind St Basil's Cathedral. The sun was a lit up with flickering lights, with a huge smile on its face. We sort of bounced to the cheery music thinking happy thoughts about the spring, but by 20 minutes later we realized it was still cold!!!! As we ran off to the nearest warm place, we thought of how silly the whole thing was. It's a lie! there's still snow everywhere, and it's still below freezing. But nobody around us seemed to notice, they were so happy, and could you really blame them?