maslenitsa

...Even in the 19th century, festivals such as Radunitsa, Rusalii, and Semik were held to commemorate the spirits of ancestors, separate from Christian holidays celebrated in churches. The period between Christmas and Epiphany, called Svyatki, and Maslenitsa, which takes place seven weeks before Easter and corresponds to Carnival, are also thought to have originally been events to celebrate the spirits of the dead and to pre-celebrate fertility in the coming year. In order to pray for the revival of nature and to welcome spring without incident, the custom of making bird-shaped decorations out of flour (called zhavoronok (skylark)) and hanging them on roofs in early March, and the custom of making scarecrows out of young birch trees that have just sprouted in early May and parading them through villages were also seen throughout Russia.

*Some of the terminology explanations that mention "maslenitsa" are listed below.

Source | Heibonsha World Encyclopedia 2nd Edition | Information

…19世紀になっても，教会で祝われるキリスト教にちなんだ祭日とは別に，祖先の霊を追善するラードゥニッツァradunitsa，ルサーリーrusalii，セミークsemikなどの祭りが行われていた。キリスト降誕節と主顕節(公現祭)のあいだのスビャートキsvyatkiと呼ばれる期間，カーニバルに相当する復活祭7週間前のマースレニッツァmaslenitsaなども，起源的には死者の霊をまつり，来るべき年の豊饒を予祝する行事であったと考えられている。自然の復活を祈願し，つつがなく春を迎えるために，3月初めに小麦粉で鳥の形をした飾物(これをジャーボロノクzhavoronok(ひばり)と呼んだ)をつくり屋根にかかげる風習，5月の初め芽ぶいたばかりのシラカバの若木を切り出してかかしをつくり村中を練り歩く習慣などもロシアのいたるところでみられた。…

※「maslenitsa」について言及している用語解説の一部を掲載しています。

出典｜株式会社平凡社世界大百科事典 第２版について | 情報