(14 Feb 2010)
1. Pan of parade for Maslenitsa or Pancake Day
2. Mid of Father Frost walking beside white horse and wagon
3. Tilt from feet to face of puppet character Punch (and Judy)
4. Wide of parade moving towards Vasilievsky Spusk near Red Square
5. Various of pancake stalls
6. Close up of pancakes with red caviar
7. Girls eating pancakes
8. Wide pan of crowds around pancake stalls
9. SOUNDBITE (RUSSIAN) Latif Zade-Champs: Festival goer
"Maslenitsa means a lot to me because it is a Russian national holiday which underlines our Russian native characteristics, placing emphasis on our nationality and individuality of which we are so proud, and which makes us different from every one else."
10. SOUNDBITE (RUSSIAN) Sergey Savchenko, Festival goer
"The arrival of Maslenitsa means that Spring is already upon us. Despite the fact that it is so freezing cold today - it''s minus ten - I still came here to Red Square to celebrate this great holiday."
11. Pancakes being cooked
12. Mid of women eating pancakes and dancing
13. Close up of girl eating pancake
14. Wide of people celebrating
STORYLINE:
Hundreds of people have braved temperatures of minus ten degrees in Moscow to celebrate the end of Winter with a pancake and parade.
Light snow fell on festivities the capital city''s Red Square on the last day of Maslenitsa or Pancake Day, a traditional holiday in the Russian calendar.
Revellers joined a street parade of musicians and popular characters including Father Frost and the puppet, Punch.
The main focus of celebrations were pancakes topped with a range of delicacies, including caviar, honey, jam, condensed milk and sour cream.
"Maslenitsa means a lot to me because it is a Russian national holiday which emphasises our Russian native characteristics," said reveller Latif Zade-Champs.
Maslenitsa is a pre-Christian tradition that was widely celebrated before the Russian Revolution.
It became popular again after the break up of the Soviet Union and is the time when Russians would bid farewell to Winter and welcome long-awaited Spring.
The pancakes are symbols of the sun, but there was little sign of the real thing over Moscow on Sunday.
Local resident Sergey Savchenko says the poor weather didn''t dampen his celebrations.
"The arrival of Maslenitsa means that Spring is already upon us. Despite the fact that it is freezing cold today - it''s minus ten - I still came here to Red Square to celebrate this great holiday."
Pancake day is the final day of the week long celebration of Maslenitsa which falls seven weeks before Easter.
Keyword wacky

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