For those that do not know, Maslenitsa is a Russian festival to welcome spring and banish the winter months. The event is celebrated with a variety of traditional Russian arts and culture events that take place worldwide and of course in London.

Maslenitsa celebrations have been taking place for 5 years now and have the backing of the Mayor of London and supermodel Natalia Vodianova's Naked Heart Foundation as the official charity. The week long celebrations kick off in Trafalgar Square on Saturday 16th March and the Russian Tea afternoon was a great way to give us a taster of the fabulous celebrations that are set to come.

The Russian Tea afternoon was held in the lovely Russian restaurant Mari Vanna and if you have not checked out the restaurant I highly recommend you do as everything was lovely. The decor of the restaurant was just beautiful too! The afternoon saw plenty of Russian cuisine and we all got a lovely goodie bag that featured Russian chocolate and homemade jam which was just delectable.


Other events taking place over The Russian Week in London include a Russian Literary evening at Waterstones, a special pancake menu at Mari Vanna, Russian Arts Master classes and a talk and tour of Treasures of the Royal Courts at the V&A, which I certainly want to check out. For more information on events taking place across the week click here.