Melbourne Russian Festival 2019

‘Dob-ro po-zha-lo-vat’ or Welcome to the annual Melbourne Russian Festival, a celebration of all the richness and diversity of the Russian culture. This year’s festival will take place in Jones Park, Brunswick East, and at the adjacent beautiful Russian Orthodox Cathedral.

The festival will showcase traditional Russian culture in a lively, exciting atmosphere. It will include Russian dancing, music and entertainment, food stalls with authentic cuisine and a beer garden, beautiful arts and crafts, colourful Russian decorations and costumes, interactive activities and games, a children’s village with fun activities for the whole family, and unique masterclasses, featuring some of the well-known traditional folk crafts, many of which are centuries old and cannot be found elsewhere.

The unique feature of this year’s festival is that it is preceding Maslenitsa or Pancake Week, a very famous Eastern Slavic folk holiday, celebrated during the last week before Great Lent. A tradition of Maslenitsa is to share pancakes, also known as blini, with family, friends, and acquaintances. So, make sure you will try this amazing dish. It also has a unique mascot in the form of a beautifully clothed straw figure known as Lady Maslenitsa, not to be missed!

We look forward to seeing everyone once again!

The Event is supported by Arts Moreland’s Activation Grants.