TourStat agency published the list of the most popular Russian cities during Russian Pancake week called "Maslenitsa".
The top ten of the rating most popular for traveling during Pancake week includes such Russian cities and regions as Moscow, St. Petersburg, Yaroslavl, Moscow Region, Vladimir, Nizhny Novgorod, Ryazan, Altai Region, Novgorod and Veliky Ustyug.
Russian Pancake week called "Maslenitsa" will be celebrated from Monday February 24th to Sunday March 1st.
A popular Maslenitsa festival, a weeklong celebration of Russian music, dancing and pancakes marks the end of winter and the beginning of spring. It has its origins in pagan sun worship.
The week’s festivities will kick off on February 24th, even though, climate-wise, it still feels like winter. To warm themselves, Russians spend the festival week eating tons of pancakes. The Maslenitsa menu includes stacks of pancakes with countless different kinds of fillings.
This Slavic festival is marked not only by eating pancakes but also by riding on troikas and parading around the Maslenitsa effigy, which symbolizes the harsh winter. The most charming carnival tradition of Maslenitsa is the conquest of the snow town, burning a woman of straw symbolizing winter, lighting fires, leaving festival food on the ancestors' graves.