What does it mean when it's not all a maslenitsa

Often you can hear the phrase "It's not all up to the Shrovetide," uttered either with a fair amount of sadness in his voice, or with sympathy (sometimes even sarcasm), if the phrase is addressed to another person.

"It's not all a Pancake Eve." The Pancake Day is understandable. But what does the Pussycat have to do with it? Let's try to find out.

Fairs were organized at which the people were having fun merry skomorokhi. And in the middle of it, as a rule, was set a tall smooth pillar. On its top was placed a cartwheel, to which was tied a valuable prize in the form of new boots, bags with sweets. In addition, the pole was smeared with oil to make it more difficult for those trying their luck. Fist fights were arranged. As a rule, wall-to-wall.

It is no coincidence that pancakes were massively baked and eaten on it – another pagan, pre-Christian symbol of the sun.

For each day of the Cheesefare Week. in ancient times were invented special holiday rules.

Of course, this holiday is not the same now. It's completely different in scope. But we also love this holiday and do not forget it. At least we make pancakes, go to the seeing-off of Russian winter, where the culmination of the solemn burning of a straw effigy of the hero of the feast.

In Dahl's Dictionary of Russian Proverbs, the proverb sounds completely like this:

To fully understand its meaning, we need to refer to the Orthodox Church calendar .

Maslenitsa – is a week before the multi-day and strict Lent. Its observance in ancient times was obligatory for all Orthodox Christians.

Lent – was a time of severe abstinence, and not only in food. The Christian was obliged to devote himself more to prayer, repentance and good works.

And to make this "shaking" of the body less painful, this transition was made gradual.

In its continuation, there were no restrictions on the consumption of any foods. Meat and its components were allowed in any quantity.

It was during this week the people ate their fill of meat. All kinds of animals were slaughtered, and nourishing dishes were prepared. In this week ended the time of weddings and wedding feasts.

That's where the expression "It's not all a Pancake week" comes from.

"Not everything is a Shrovetide," we say when we warn a person that everything is not as easy and simple as it seems, there may be difficulties ahead. But where did the expression come from?

"It's not all a Pancake Eve, there will also be a Lent" is the full version of the proverb. That is how it is also designated in the book "Proverbs and sayings of the Russian people" by Vladimir Dahl. But, as a rule, it is used in abbreviated form.

Maslenitsa is a festive week before Lent. During this week, people make pancakes with different fillings, eat (something, of course, goes to the cat), have fun, see off the winter. But after that, Lent begins. 40 days of a strict diet, when you can't eat meat or dairy, have fun.

Everyone knows that cats are thieves, and on Shrovetide they manage to have a good meal, because they don't eat meat any more, and dairy products are in fashion, and cats especially like them. And in Lent begins to eat only vegetable food, and the gourmand cat has a very bad time. The proverb was invented from life experience, but it is used in figurative meaning when speaking about cunning people who are used to eating and drinking for free. But one day the great freebie will end and hard times will come.

This expression is a quote from Krylov's fable "The Cat and the Cook" (1813)
Pancake week is not all for the cat" came from the fact that after the Pancake week, when many people eat a lot, densely*; there comes the fast and at the same time there comes the strictly abstinent life. From the first day of Lent, many people do not even drink water until they have attended matins. For the first three days, they do not cook anything: they eat dry food, pickles, mushrooms, sauerkraut, horseradish and radish, etc. On Thursday they cook a dish without oil.

Interpretatively, if one lives very well, everything is enough or in excess, then there will be other times, when everything will be different. There are many examples. For example, the oligarchs, the former.

"It's not all a Pancake's Day": where did it come from?

Fun and pleasures will not last forever, after the holidays always come weekdays and there are difficulties ahead – this is what we mean when we use the proverb about the cat and the Pancake Day.

"The proverb says: "It's not all for the Pancake Eve, there will also be a Lenten fast.

It is in this form that the winged phrase is recorded in the book "Proverbs and sayings of the Russian people" by Vladimir Dahl. But in life we have become accustomed to using it in an abbreviated form.

So what is the meaning?

Shrovetide is the Cheesefare Week before Lent, which lasts for the Orthodox until Easter. During these seven days it was accepted to eat a lot of delicious products, which will soon be prohibited: butter, milk, sour cream, cottage cheese and other animal products.

The whole week is a solid holiday: pancakes with dainty fillings are prepared every day, people have fun and look forward to spring. Of course, for 7 days of delicious feasts the cat has a treat.

And after the Shrovetide the owners will keep a strict fast – 40 days without milk and meat products. So, after the fun and feast of the belly, the pet will have a time of strict restrictions.

Examples of the proverb

"It's not all a Pancake Day" – a universal phrase and is suitable for any occasion when a person's good period in life was replaced by a bad one.

For example, a girl's vacation is over and she has to return to her cold home town. "It's not all a Pancake's Day!" – she sighs sadly. However, without the burden of work would not be the joy of vacation (and money to go on vacation).

Or a young man who went to college and left his parents, settling in a student dormitory, calls his mother and complains that he can't eat her hot soups and pies. "It's not all a Pancake Day, you're all grown up now," his mother replies with a sympathetic smile. When a person begins an independent adult life, he has more reasons to apply the proverb, because he sees life in all its manifestations, his parents no longer protect him from adversity.

A third example is a famous singer, who has many fans (and just as many envious fans), is going through a difficult divorce from his wife. "It's not all a Pancake's Day!" – the malicious tongues rejoice. This is an example of when the proverb is used sarcastically.

Where did the expression "It's not all a day's work" come from. What does it mean?

A famous proverb is used in one of the plays by the Russian writer and playwright A.N. Ostrovsky, and in general it sounds like "Not everything is a holiday, there will be a Lent". This saying means that not always a rascal will be in honor, the time will come and there will be a demand for his deeds.

This is not a complete expression, so not everyone knows what it means. And its continuation is – . there will also be Lent. This means that during the Pancake week people are having fun, celebrating, eating delicious things, pancakes with sour cream, caviar, and then comes Lent, and then the "cat" will know that it's not always so good, there is also a trial.

Everyone knows that cats are thieves, but on Shrovetide they manage to get a good meal, because they don't eat meat any more, and dairy products are in fashion, and cats especially love them. And at Lent, they start to eat only vegetable food, and the gourmand cat has a very bad time. The proverb was invented from life experience, and is used figuratively when talking about cunning people who are used to eating and drinking for free. But someday the great freebie will end and hard times will come.

"It's not all a Pancake's Day. "

A native speaker or just someone who knows the phraseology well, of course, understands the meaning almost immediately. For everyone else, however, we will have to delve deeper into the origin of the proverb. The phraseology comes from the expression "It's not all a Pancake Eve, Lent will come". Agree that now the meaning is clear. And now even if a Russian person faces the task of explaining to a foreigner what the meaning of the proverb is, he can easily cope with it. And it will look something like this:

On Shrovetide Russian people make merry, eat pancakes and do not limit themselves in anything in particular. When the time of Lent comes, the picture changes: everyone goes gloomy and serious, the meat is forbidden, the entertainment, too. During the seven weeks of food abstinence we can eat only fish, but very rarely.

And here even a foreigner will understand that Maslenitsa symbolizes the auspicious period in the life of man, and Lent – the unfavorable. Thus, the expression "not everything is a Pancake Eve" (proverb) has the following meaning: good luck does not last long, there will be hard times. On the other hand, so that none of the readers does not fall into depression and despair, let us say: hard times are not eternal either. In fact, nothing lasts forever. Life is like the ebb and flow of the tide. Some days are good and some days are bad.

The meaning of the proverb is well explained in the play Ostrovskiy A.N. "Not everything is a worm's play".. The old merchant Akhov believed that money makes everything. He began to woo a young, poor girl, thinking that her mother and she would throw themselves at his neck for his money. Moreover, the meanness and stinginess of his character was known to all. He demanded attention to himself, that everyone bowed to him. When he finally came to match him, he received a firm refusal. His mother and daughter chose his young clerk, Hippolyt. When the old man was sent away, his mother said, "It's not all a maslenica, there is also a Great Lent.

Where does the expression "It's not all a Pancake's Day" come from?

"It's not all a Pancake Day," we say, when we warn people that everything is not as easy and simple as it seems, there may be difficulties ahead. But where did the expression come from?

"It's not all a Pancake Eve, there will also be a Lent" is the full version of the proverb. That is how it is also designated in the book "Proverbs and sayings of the Russian people" by Vladimir Dahl. But, as a rule, it is used in abbreviated form.

Maslenitsa is a festive week before Lent. During this week, people make pancakes with different fillings, eat (something, of course, goes to the cat), have fun, see off the winter. But after that begins Lent. Forty days of strict diet, when you can't eat meat or dairy, or have fun.

This is how, both literally and figuratively, after fun comes a time of strict limits.

It is with this expression that Alexander Ostrovsky's play "Not all is for the Shrovetide" ends.

"That is why, Yermil Zotych, says the Russian proverb, that not everything is a Pancake Eve, there is also the Great Fast," said the widow Daria Kruglova, refusing the merchant Ahov, who had asked her daughter Agnes to marry him. Yermil Ahov believed that money decides everything, and hoped that poor Agniya and her mother will accept his proposal just because he is rich.

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Why do they say, "It's not all in a day's work!

That's not the way – "It's not all a day's work! They say: "But the winter is not the season for everything…", and the proverb continues, "There will be a Lent". The Maslenitsa with its mass celebrations, abundant feasts, pancakes, ends just before the seven-week Lent. Therefore allegorically and say that they say not only to celebrate, and rejoice, and that already gone carefree time and came instead of difficulties and worries.

If they say, "All hell breaks loose," they do so because they do not know the exact wording of the proverb. This is the answer.

If they mean "not everything the cat. ", so they say, because it is good to live sweetly (as on Shrovetide), but often there is no such consistency. Therefore, with a certain amount of regret or admonition apply the expression about the cat.

Next. Why a cat, but not a dog or a man? Because proverbs and sayings have an almost constant tendency to be metaphorical. We speak of a cat, but mean a man. The image of a cat is the most attractive and justified in this case, because a cat can be gluttonous, and steal, and lazy.

That is the full meaning of the proverb. This is how people began to talk about the not-so-good times that came after a favorable life. But immediately after the Shrovetide week came the Lent, where only water-based meals were allowed, and on the first day of Lent nothing could be eaten at all. The cat in this proverb represents a man who was living comfortably, and then suddenly misfortune came upon him. But we do have a lot of "good" people who do not fail to tell the person who was in a bad situation, with ironic mockery: "It's not all in the wagon. "

In fact, the proverb sounds differently: "It's not all in good times, there will be a Lent!" It's about the fact that life is striped like a zebra, and periods of contentment are interspersed in life with periods of hardship. Perhaps the cats had a hard time during Lent: no sour cream until Easter!

Meaning of the expression

Phraseology "It's not all a Pancake's Day" means that all pleasure comes to an end. Often the expression is uttered with a certain degree of schadenfreude, when jealousy of the well-being of others and joy at its completion break through.

This is what the suffering subordinates may say about the boss-bribe-taker after a major administrative audit. Violations are revealed, the swindler is fired – you can congratulate each other with the fact that the Pancake week is over.

Another example is the end of a very pleasant vacation. On the last day of August, watching the seaside sunset, the vacationer will tell his friend on the phone: "I'm flying home in the morning. It's good here, but… it's a bit of a waffle, isn't it? Everything passes: both good and bad. And our idiom is suitable for any occasion.

Origin of the phraseology

Pancake week – the last week before Lent – was in our ancestors a festive, riotous, nourishing. It was customary to bake pancakes, saying goodbye to winter with these little round suns, going to visit each other.

Pancakes were served with cottage cheese, cream, sour cream, homemade milk, jams, honey and pickles. In Orthodox families Maslenitsa was perceived as a gradual preparation for Lent: people ate no meat, but dairy products were allowed.

All people and animals liked such easing before the long period of abstinence. It is easy to imagine how happy, for example, cats, which in the absence of absentee owners had the opportunity to get on the table and enjoy plenty of cream.

The well-fed cat's face is a striking symbol of absolute happiness and contentment. The end of the feast was a sad outcome of pleasure, a lost paradise and interrupted bliss. Thus was born the proverb: "It's not all for the Pancake week – there will also be a Lent," which over time has become a phraseological expression.