The author considers the reflection of Russian Orthodox practice of fasting in the traditional lexicon. A wide range
of sources shows that the traditional Russian food during the year was always divided into fasting days and ferial days
when eating animal food was not restricted. Altogether, there were more than 200 days of fasting in a year, which was
bound to be reflected in everyday speech, dialects and phraseology of the Russian people. However, along with the
disappearance of many dialect words in the 20th century, the large stratum of words and expressions related to fasting
also gradually disappeared from the once-rich Russian phraseology and folklore.
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