A grand celebration of Maslenitsa, a traditional custom marking the end of the freezing winter and the arrival of the mild spring, was held at the Gorki Leninskie Museum-Reserve near Moscow.
This year's Maslenitsa, also known as Butter Week, took place from Feb 16 to 22. This year's celebration features thousands of guests, equestrian performances, and a five-story-tall scarecrow.
While pancakes are baked at the event site, Spring Festival is celebrated in China this year in February. Despite their different geographies, these holidays share a common spirit.
"In China, it's not called New Year, but Spring Festival. Maslenitsa, for us, is also a way of saying goodbye to winter and welcoming spring. So there's a connection, and this year they just happened to fall at the same time," said Evgeniy Gennadievich Saramud, director of the Gorki Leninskie Museum-Reserve.
"We have a very interesting goal: to show both history and connect it to Maslenitsa. That's why we have two teams. One way or another, we show how horsemen of that time were trained, and there's a connection between the competitions of the Grodno hussars and the noble squadron. We are spring, and we will conquer winter, what else can we do?" said Tatyana Kuznetsova, representative of a Russian hussar cavalry school.
To ensure participants have enough energy for all the fun, traditional pancakes, the main symbol of the sun, are baked almost non-stop in a wide variety of flavors.
"Our fillings are cranberry, raspberry, and sea buckthorn jam. The more pancakes you eat on Maslenitsa, the more energy you'll have in the spring," said festival participant Ruslan Kozintsev.
Many guests arrived at the festival in designer costumes that combined history and modern technology.
"This idea came from my wife, and she also participated in part of the production and performance. She made the masks herself. This is modern technology, 3D printing. Maslenitsa is a big festival, very fun, very cool. There are pancakes, there are caviar-based dishes, there's sour cream, there's honey," said festival attendee Dmitry Ermolaev.
For many, such outings are a way to connect with their roots and feel the connection between generations.
"We tried to portray a Strelets warrior in this traditional costume. We decided to maintain the festive atmosphere," said festival attendee Ilya Moiseenko.
"This is becoming a good tradition, and we dress like this because we are in Russia, we are Russian. We want to maintain our culture and remind people that this is our genes, our blood, our ancestry," said Tatyana Stukalina, another festival attendee.
As performances concluded, the main ceremony began. On this day, the bonfire took on a special, almost sacred meaning. Accompanied by the guests' songs, the flames engulfed a 17-meter-tall giant doll, and for the thousands gathered at the site, this bonfire symbolized a long-awaited revival and hope.
Grand Maslenitsa celebrations held in Moscow Oblast
China stands ready to work with all countries to improve global human rights governance and promote the sound development of the international human rights cause, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said on Monday.
Wang, who is also a member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, made the remarks in a speech delivered via video link during the high-level segment of the 61st session of the United Nations Human Rights Council.
Wang noted that the international situation is complex and intertwined, and that global human rights governance and the post-World War II international order are facing new tests of the times. The Global Governance Initiative proposed by China has received support and responses from more than 150 countries and international organizations, he added.
Wang called for upholding sovereign equality and safeguarding the original aspirations of global human rights governance. The only path that can lead to ever-broader prospects is one of human rights development, rooted in a country's specific national conditions and responsive to the needs of its people, he said.
All parties should abide by the international rule of law and consolidate the foundations of global human rights governance, Wang noted. Together, all countries should uphold the "golden rule" of non-interference in one another's internal affairs, and firmly reject words and deeds that create double standards in the name of human rights, he said.
He called for practicing multilateralism and addressing the challenges to global human rights governance. All countries should reject all forms of colonialism or racial discrimination, and respond properly to rising issues such as artificial intelligence, as well as climate change and human rights.
Wang emphasized that all parties should advocate a people-oriented approach to global human rights governance and enrich the connotations of such governance. The international community should also position the right to development in a more prominent position on the multilateral human rights agenda, he said.
Calling for action-oriented approaches to and the enhanced efficacy of global human rights governance, Wang said that China is willing to coordinate its actions with the international community to collectively chart a new blueprint for this global cause.
Noting that 2026 marks the start of China's 15th Five-Year Plan period, he said the country will continue advancing its whole-process people's democracy, ensuring the achievements of Chinese modernization benefit all people in a more equitable manner.
China stands ready to work with all countries to promote common development and prosperity, safeguard international fairness and justice, uphold the common values of humanity, and build a community with a shared future for all, with the aim of ensuring that the progress of human rights civilization benefits the whole world, he stressed.
China ready to work with all countries to improve global human rights governance: Chinese FM
