Burning of effigy marks end of Maslenitsa, also known as Pancake Week

Russians celebrated the end of winter and the coming of spring by burning a statue made of wintry words.
Setting alight an effigy marks the end of Maslenitsa, also known as Pancake Week, when people eat thin, buttery pancakes.
But this year, rather than burning the traditional doll made of straw, the effigy was instead a wooden statue made up of all the words that represent the dark, cold days of winter.
Organisers of the event in Moscow's central Gorky Park made a pile of wooden words that people have had enough of hearing - frost, slush, snow - and burned it to the ground on Sunday evening.
"In this statue there is everything that we're all already sick of, everything that is grey, cold, unpleasant," said Gorky Park director Olga Zakharova.
"So that's why we're liberating ourselves from that which we are sick of, and we're all getting ready for spring."
Participants in the festivities were encouraged to write on large sheets of paper the things they'd like to be rid of in the spring.
One lady said she was looking forward to leaving the winter behind.
"Winter as a rule is cold, you're dissatisfied and lonely. With springtime there is happiness, and you need to leave everything that's bad with the winter," said Maria.
As it grew dark, the festivities became more animated, and people dressed in costumes to represent the animals of springtime danced around the symbolic statue.
Accompanied by drummers, and with whistles and cheers from the audience, the dancing animals set the statue on fire and watched as the words of winter turned to ash.