Who’s the beloved old man of all kids in the winter holidays? Santa? Zwarte Piet? This is Russian Father Frost (or Ded Moroz) on the list of Stuff Russians Like! He is the one who brings presents for kids in the New Year night, and not on the Christmas Eve, as Christmas in Russia is not that popular as in the rest of the world.

You can see Father Frost in various Soviet cartoons and films like “Morozko” or “Ded Moroz and summer”. He is the main character of all the New Year Russian folk tales. He does not travel alone to bring the gifts, but his granddaughter Snegurochka or Snegurka is usually with him.

There’s a tradition to call Snegurka three times during the New Year events. At first Father Frost comes and then he asks the crowd to call out loud his granddaughter to come.

Actually, the character of Ded Moroz is rather new than ancient. There are routes in Slavic mythology of mighty Frost, but the very Father Frost appeared in Soviet times. And in terms of forbidding the Christian doctrine and religion of all kinds in the new totalitarian society Father Frost came for New Year, rather than Christmas, as his colleagues do in other countries. Moreover this character changed the place of his residence many times. He lived in Arhangelsk, Lapland and now he has been seen in Veliky Ustug (since 1998) and even the North Pole.

Father Frost travels around not with the deer, but with Russian trio of horses. He doesn’t fly, he just rides on white crispy snow and he doesn’t come into houses via fireplace – he is too cool for that (and there are no fireplaces in traditional Russian houses). It is a sacred conundrum how he does that - it’s more like a spiritual thing.

Father Frost is very generous, so his gifts don’t fit just a couple of socks. Kids write to Father Frost asking him to bring something special for them and some parents even employ actors to come to their home to give the gifts to the kids, but more often parents themselves or their friends put the gifts under the New Year Tree when kids sleep.

It’s worth mentioning that New Year Tree hasn’t always been here for us. There were times (the beginning of 1930s) when Father Frost and all the Christmas attributes were forbidden and only in 1935 they came back. In the current days New Year in Russia became more about consumption as it happened with Christmas in Western countries, but our special Father Frost spirit is always here for us.