<div style="margin: 12px 0px; font-family: arial; color: #333333; background: #ffffff; border: solid 4px #e5e5e5; width: 100%; clear: left;"><div class="CM_CTB_Content_Wrap" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;background-color: #ffffff;"><div style="border-bottom: solid 1px #dcdcdc; white-space: nowrap; margin-bottom: 8px; background-color: #eeeeee ;background-image: url(http://clipmarks.com/images/source-bg.gif); background-repeat: repeat-x; height: 24px; line-height: 24px; vertical-align: middle; padding-bottom: 4px; color: #666666; font-size: 10px;" ><a href="http://clipmarks.com/clip-to-blog/" title="see clips that are hot right now"><img src="http://content.clipmarks.com/blog_embed/f5bb12d0-36a7-4e0e-8a9d-8864df74bd2f/7C8D7D4C-07AB-433D-9630-BFD60C55B491/" alt="" width="19" height="19" border="0" style="vertical-align: middle; margin: 0px 4px; display: inline; border: none; float:none;" /></a>clipped from <a title="http://www.russia-ic.com/news/show/5865/" href="http://www.russia-ic.com/news/show/5865/" style="font-size: 11px;">www.russia-ic.com</a></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://www.russia-ic.com/news/show/5865/"><div align="center"><img src="http://content7.clipmarks.com/blog_cache/www.russia-ic.com/img/359C3CD5-FE85-426E-A9D9-DBCCD21EDB17" alt="Political Correctness vs. Russian Pagan Tradition" /></div></blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://www.russia-ic.com/news/show/5865/"><DIV>This year tourists and Moscow citizens will not witness the tradition of putting the Maslenitsa effigy of fire at the main Maslenitsa celebration of Moscow at Vasilyevsky Slope near Red Square. Maslenitsa (Pancake Week) is the only purely Russian holiday dating back to pagan times. On the last day of Maslenitsa people burn the effigy symbolizing winter to mark the beginning of spring. </DIV></blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://www.russia-ic.com/news/show/5865/"><DIV>      However, this year the Moscow Tourism Committee says no to the longstanding tradition considering it to be not politically correct. “It is not humanist in the 21st century”, - as the chairman of the committee Grigory Antyufeev explains. Instead of burning, it is planned to repaint the Maslenitsa effigy to give it a “springy” look. </DIV></blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://www.russia-ic.com/news/show/5865/"><DIV>      At the same time, all other Maslenitsa celebrations in different Russian cities and districts of Moscow will follow the tradition of the effigy burning as the state organs have nothing to do with organization of such celebrations. </DIV></blockquote></div><div style="margin: 0px 6px 6px 4px;"><table style="font-size: 11px;border-spacing: 0px;padding: 0px;" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="100%"><tr><td style="background:transparent;border-width:0px;padding:0px;">&nbsp;</td><td align="right" style="background:transparent;border-width:0px;padding:0px;width:107px" width="107"><a href="http://clipmarks.com/share/7C8D7D4C-07AB-433D-9630-BFD60C55B491/blog/" title="blog or email this clip"><img src="http://content8.clipmarks.com/images/c2b-foot.png" border="0" alt="blog it" width="107" height="17" style="border-width:0px;padding:0px;margin:0px;" /></a></td></tr></table></div></div>

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