The Pole and the Effigy

Maslenitsa: the bare pole with the prizes tied to its crosspiece, and the straw woman

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T’first time I saw her, I decided to climb t’Maslenitsa pole. Drunk chaps used to fall from there, break their necks and spines, but now no un dares to climb it, neither drunk nor for a damsel, but I did

The pole

The prizes are the parcels in printed cloth tied along the crossbeams.

A man in a black T-shirt and camouflage wellingtons hugging a bare wooden pole near the top, reaching for one of a dozen small parcels wrapped in printed cloth that hang on strings from the two crossbeams above him, against a white winter sky
A man in a black T-shirt and camouflage wellingtons hugging a bare wooden pole near the top, reaching for one of a dozen small parcels wrapped in printed cloth that hang on strings from the two crossbeams above him, against a white winter sky

CC BY-SA 4.0 · Sergey-05-31 · Wikimedia Commons · licence

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The effigy

watchinn t’Maslenitsa straw effigy burn

Straw, a printed skirt, a headscarf, a plait, a blank white face, arms out — photographed on Forgiveness Sunday in Kirov.

A tall Maslenitsa effigy standing in snow before a line of firs: straw body, wide red and white floral skirt, embroidered white blouse, red headscarf over a blank round face, a straw plait down one side, arms straight out with straw showing at the cuffs
A tall Maslenitsa effigy standing in snow before a line of firs: straw body, wide red and white floral skirt, embroidered white blouse, red headscarf over a blank round face, a straw plait down one side, arms straight out with straw showing at the cuffs

CC BY-SA 4.0 · Новинская Г. · Wikimedia Commons · licence