Happy Maslenitsa!

so this is one of those holidays that is a crashing together of pagan and christian theology.  or tradition.  or ritual. or whatever.  it's the celebration of the end of winter/the coming of spring, and ALSO the end of gorging yourself on winter treats and the start of lent.  orthodox lent that happens before orthodox easter.  if nothing else, this country has taught me that there is a massive difference between orthodox and catholic theology.  ok, i mean, i know there was a DIFFERENCE.  but i had no idea what it was.  and it's funny, cuz the study of WHY religions are different is very interesting to me.  i'm very interested in the cultural reasoning, or the traditions and why they remain, the rituals, what keeps people glued together, or tears them apart.

had a very interesting evening.  so this week is "maslenitsa," the holiday, as stated above, celebrating the onset of spring, and the beginning of lent.  during this week, lots of blinis are consumed.  and i'm sure many other things, but tonight, our hotel honored it by serving complimentary blinis (like a crepe) with different sauces (honey, chocolate, sour cream).  a very traditional russian food.  and also some vodka!!  cuz what's a russian holiday without vodka.  so we had cranberry flavored vodka and pepper flavored vodka.  and blinis.  and they brought in a traditional singing group...three women dressed in medieval costume...beautiful costumes, with lace headdresses.  and an accordian player. they sang for more than an hour.  and traipsed around the hotel bar, pointing out men and singing to them, about them, for them, in russian.  and bringing several men up "onstage" to dance with them, dress them, etc. very fun.  very tourist, of course, but we ate it up.  and we all got pens with matrushka dolls on them.  and there was a raffle, and my colleague and friend julie-anne (canadian) won a matrushka doll set!  yes, all out of a movie about tourists in russia, but fun none-the-less, and when you are sitting a a table with the GM and the COO of the hotel, and they are bringing you free drinks, you clap and enjoy yourself!  so we did.

and we also had a very interesting conversation with the COO of the hotel (a 5-start Marriott hotel), who is Greek, but raised in London.  he has been at this hotel for 1.5 years.  previous to that, he was in abu dhabi, and then in saudi arabia.  he has fascinating stories about the service industry in both countries.  and the division of wealth in saudi arabia.  and the fact that abu dhabi basically funded dubai.  and that the real money is in abu dhabi.  and it actually made me curious to go there, whereas i had NO desire beforehand.  i am not a hotel person.  i'm not a luxury person.  but it fascinates me that a place that was strictly bedouin, nomadic, and temporary only 1-2 generations ago is now quickly becoming the financial heartbeat of the world...and even the cultural one!!  cuz they can buy it!!  so i kinda wanna see if for myself.  i wanna see the place that can BUY the bolshoi theatre company and transplant it to the desert.  or buy all the picasso's in the moma and transplant them to the desert.  and watch people flock there to see it.  a woman we are working with is producing a festival there to honor the bedouin roots...almost thinking a trip for the weekend to attend the festival and see the place would be worth it.  anyway, a very cool evening of education, and stimulation and learning.  this is why i came here.  for nights like this.  and the pancakes and vodka, of course!

so here are some photos from the eve:

julie-anne (canada), mike (utah) and myself with our matrushka doll pens.

about to enjoy some cranberry vodka and blini with honey!

vodka and blini (with sour cream for mike)

colleagues enjoying maslenitsa!

the traditional singers

yannis (a latvian/russian by way of england colleague of ours). the only guy in the audience that understood russian, so they of course chose him to go in front of the crowd.

yannis getting dressed up like a proper gentleman.  i actually have no idea what the song means that they were singing, but they were dressing him up in a hat, then a jacket...

then made him put on pants...

and now he has the whole outfit...they even gave him a prop pipe to smoke.  then they undressed him, and before giving his own coat back, asked for a gift...he didn't know what to do until we all yelled "give them a KISS!" and he finally got it...so he kissed them each on the cheek and they gave his coat back.  very funny.  and they were gorgeous girls, too, so i think he actually got the better bargain.

they chose three more men in the crowd to dance with...my friend mike is the one in the white shirt.

julie-anne's prize matrushka doll!

the winning ticket!

so all-in-all was a wonderfully surprising evening.  one of those when you're not quite sure what will happen, but you know you should stick around...and it paid off.  if even to learn more about doing business in the middle east!  so off to bed now, to dream of matrushka dolls dancing in bedouin tents in saudi arabia.  

PS - and SUPER CONGRATS to my friend bridgette, who's book URGENT ARCHITECTURE was just published, and she's having a book party at Gallery Mar in Park City tonight!! (well, Tuesday night in PC).  big hugs to all the pc gang.  and massive high fives to bridgette who will live on in green architecture infamy.  much love to you my friend!