Unlike the main New Year's magician, the "granddaughter" does not drink, does not bring gifts, but much bears Santa Claus oversaturated with "magic".
But who is the Snow Maiden anyway, and what secrets does this New Year's image hide?The first and most amazing secret of the Snow Maiden lies in her absolute uniqueness. Of course, the modern Russian Snow Maiden can have Belarusian, Ukrainian and even Kazakh sisters, however, in fact, they are all a continuation of one image, which was finally formed along with the Soviet tradition of celebrating the New Year.
So, there are no analogues of the Snow Maiden in the world, except for the dubious image of the wife of Santa Claus.
Moreover, unlike Santa Claus, the Snow Maiden is not recorded in the Russian folk rite.
Despite this, the Snow Maiden has been with us for a long time - from the very moment when the fairy tale about the girl from the snow appeared in Russian folklore, who came to life.
The film "The Snow Maiden" directed by Pavel Kadochnikov. Lenfilm. 1969 THE USSR. In the photo: Evgenia Filonova as the Snow Maiden. Photo: www.russianlook.comOf course, at that time this girl had nothing to do with either the New Year or gifts.
According to one version, the story of the Snow Maiden directly comes from the funeral rite of Kostroma.
The Slavic ritual of the funeral of Kostroma was a farewell to winter and at the same time a request to the forces of nature for the fertility of the land. According to one version of the rite, the effigy of the girl was drowned in the river, according to the second, they were burned at the stake, like Shrovetide. In another version, Kostroma drank wine to death at a merry feast, which makes it very close to all lovers of New Year's table gatherings.
One way or another, but the forerunner of the Snow Maiden Kostroma was dealt with quite deliberately. And the death of a girl made of snow while jumping over a fire is, if you like, a light version of a ritual story.
If Kostroma, who was also the goddess of fertility, had, according to the Slavs, a rather contradictory character, then the Snow Maiden initially looked like a kind and naive girl.
Climbing history
The Russian collector of folklore translated the Snow Maiden from folklore into literary characters Alexander Afanasiev, who in 1867 placed the tales of the Snow Maiden in the second volume of his study "The Poetic Views of the Slavs on Nature".
In 1873, the playwright Alexander Ostrovsky, inspired by the work of Afanasyev, wrote the play The Snow Maiden. In this story, the Snow Maiden appears in the image familiar to us today - a pale blonde in white and blue winter clothes. It is here that the Snow Maiden first encounters Santa Claus, who turns out to be her ... dad. And the mother is Spring-Krasna, who could not resist the male charisma of a gray-bearded magician. However, Ostrovsky's story of the Snow Maiden is sad: left in the care of people, she becomes a victim of misunderstanding and jumps over the fire.It is interesting that Ostrovsky's play was received very coldly, and it is not known what career the Snow Maiden would have had if the composer had not joined the case in 1882. Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov. His opera based on the play "The Snow Maiden" was a wild success, after which the ice girl began to move towards the status of the second New Year's person.
Even in the pre-revolutionary period, Russian teachers began to use the image of the Snow Maiden in Christmas tree scenarios. True, as a rule, we are talking about staging certain scenes from Ostrovsky's play with her participation. Also, the figurines of the Snow Maiden begin to hang on the Christmas tree as a decoration.
And yet, at that time, the Snow Maiden remained an exclusively secondary character. A decisive transformation came in 1935, when the New Year was officially celebrated in the Soviet Union.
Now the Snow Maiden has become the "right hand" of Santa Claus, an intermediary in communication between him and the children at matinees. At the same time, for a reason that is not entirely clear, their related status has changed. If Ostrovsky's Snow Maiden was the daughter of Father Frost, then in the new version she appeared as his granddaughter.
Father Frost and Snow Maiden with children on the Christmas tree. Photo: RIA Novosti
Although it cannot be ruled out that this Snow Maiden is actually the daughter of the one that melted while jumping over the fire. In any case, the Soviet Snow Maiden had no tendency to melt.
At the celebration of the New Year, 1937, Father Frost and the Snow Maiden first appeared together at the Christmas tree in the Moscow House of Unions. It is interesting that at that time the Snow Maiden appeared in the form of a little girl and only after some time she “grew up”.
Terem on Lagernaya street
It is quite possible that this change in texture was caused solely by practical considerations - after all, students of theater schools and aspiring theater artists coped with the roles of hostesses of children's matinees much better than elementary school students.
Unlike Father Frost, the fate of the Snow Maiden hung in the balance for some time - for example, during the war period, this image disappeared from the New Year holidays.Two famous Soviet writers saved the Snow Maiden - Lev Kassil And Sergei Mikhalkov. It was they who wrote the scenarios for the Kremlin Christmas trees in the early 1950s, and made Grandfather Frost's granddaughter an obligatory participant in the performances. Only after that, the Snow Maiden finally "staken out" a place for herself near the Christmas tree.
The Snow Maiden is so kind and harmless that she is constantly being held hostage by various evil spirits that have material claims to Santa Claus. In my memory, the Snow Maiden only once took the initiative in her own hands, helping out grandfather. In the cartoon “When the Christmas Trees Are Lighting up”, the atypically determined Snow Maiden went on a sleigh to the capital in order to bring back the gifts lost by Santa Claus. And she coped with her task perfectly.
The Snow Maiden is now an independent girl, and she has her own residence, located in Kostroma. It was in these parts, in the Shchelykovo estate, that the playwright Alexander Ostrovsky and wrote a play about the Snow Maiden. "Terem Snegurochka" in terms of the number of visitors may well give odds to the residence of Father Frost in Veliky Ustyug.
The only oddity regarding the Snow Maiden's habitat is her Kostroma address - Grandfather Frost's granddaughter lives on Lagernaya Street, house 38.
Distant relatives or just acquaintances?
The most stubborn seekers of Western analogues believe that the Snow Maiden has something in common with St. Lucia, who in Germany and Scandinavia during the period of the ban on the cult of saints and, in particular, St. Nicholas, acted as a Christmas presenter of gifts to children. In the countries of Scandinavia and Finland, the feast of St. Lucia, celebrated on December 13, has survived to this day, and serves as a kind of eve to Christmas.
There is also the Italian Befana, either an old woman or a young woman, who comes to the children on the night of the Epiphany, and lays out gifts for obedient children in pre-prepared socks. For bad children, Befana puts ashes in their socks. By the way, this lady is also well known to Russian children - Gianni Rodari described her slightly modified image in his “Journey of the Blue Arrow”.
Malanka is also mentioned, participating in the pre-New Year ceremonies of Bassarabia, Podolia and Galicia.
However, all these ladies, of course, cannot be compared with our unique and inimitable Snow Maiden, who every year relieves children of embarrassment in front of a gray-bearded magical old man, and then resignedly delivers Father Frost, who has taken a sip, to his monastery. That is why the Snow Maiden is exclusively our character, in which every Russian woman can see herself.
© Public Domain / USSR Ministry of Communications
© Public Domain / USSR Ministry of Communications
© Public Domain / USSR Ministry of Communications
© Public Domain / USSR Ministry of Communications
©
We are already so accustomed to such signs of the New Year holidays as a Christmas tree, garlands, Olivier salad, etc., that we hardly think about how they became traditional. But we often answer the question of our children about where Santa Claus came from. We'll talk about this today. So…
History of Santa Claus
The image of Santa Claus - a stately good-natured old man with a long lush beard, with a staff in his hand and a bag of gifts - is now familiar to every child and adult. He comes to congratulate, wish happiness and give gifts to everyone. It is not surprising that his appearance is especially expected at children's matinees.
The history of the appearance of Santa Claus begins from the depths of centuries, from the mythology of the ancient Slavs. But the one who thinks that he was originally a good magician who brings joy is mistaken. Rather the opposite. The Slavic predecessor of Santa Claus - Snow Grandfather, Karachun, Studenets, Treskun, Zimnik, Morozko - was harsh, tried to freeze those who met on the way. And the attitude towards children was peculiar - to carry it away in a bag ... It was not he who gave out gifts, but it was necessary to appease him in order to avoid trouble. That's where the fun was left - to sculpt snowmen. In fact, for our ancestors, these were idols depicting the god of winter. With the advent of Christianity, this peculiar spirit of Winter was preserved in folk tales.
Only in the 19th century Morozko, Moroz Ivanovich and other characters of fairy tales began to appear, albeit strict, but fair creatures. Kindness and hard work were rewarded, while laziness and malice were punished. Odoevsky's tale about Frost Ivanovich - that's where Santa Claus came from!
Christmas Santa Claus
In the 80s of the 19th century, following the example of European countries, they began to associate a person called Christmas Grandfather (or Christmas Santa) with the holiday of Christmas. Here he already brought gifts to reward children for good behavior during the year. But, unlike Santa Claus, he was not a saint and had nothing to do with religion at all. And in the countryside, they did not notice his appearance at all and continued to celebrate Holy Evenings, as before - with fortune-telling and carols.
But to the general public, Santa Claus has become familiar since 1910. And Christmas cards helped in this. At first, he was painted in a blue or white fur coat to the toes, the color of winter itself. A hat of the same color was depicted on his head, and Grandfather also wore warm boots and mittens. A magic staff and a bag with gifts became indispensable attributes.
Then they began to fight against the "religious rubbish". In 1929, the celebration of Christmas as a religious holiday was banned. It is clear that Santa Claus with a Christmas tree also fell out of favor. Even fairy tales were recognized as a hoax designed to cloud the heads of the masses.
And only in 1935, at the suggestion of Stalin, the Komsomol decree on the celebration of the New Year was issued. It was ordered to organize New Year trees for children instead of pre-revolutionary Christmas ones. It was noted that this is a great fun for the kids of workers and peasants, who previously could only look with envy at the entertainment of the offspring of the rich.
The symbolism of the Christmas tree has also changed. It was a secular, not a religious holiday. Instead, at the top of the forest beauty, the red Santa Claus lit up, but he remained the same kind grandfather, bringing gifts. He rode in a Russian troika, accompanied by his beloved granddaughter Snegurochka.
How Santa Claus became a grandfather
So, we figured out where Santa Claus came from. The Snow Maiden appeared next to him much later. In ancient Slavic folklore there is no indication of the companion of our Grandfather.
The image of the Snow Maiden was invented by the writer A. N. Ostrovsky. In his fairy tale, she was the daughter of Santa Claus, who came to people attracted by music. After the appearance of the opera by N. A. Rimsky-Korsakov, the Snow Maiden became very popular. Sometimes she appeared on Christmas trees, but on her own, without Santa Claus.
In 1937, for the first time, the Snow Maiden performed with her Grandfather on the Yolka in the Moscow House of Unions. Her transformation from a daughter into a granddaughter happened because a cheerful girl or a very young girl was closer to the children, for whom the holiday was arranged.
Since then, the Snow Maiden has been accompanying Santa Claus at any New Year's holiday, most often it is she who is the host. True, after Gagarin's flight, sometimes on the Yolki, instead of the Snow Maiden, ... an astronaut appeared.
Santa's helpers
The history of the appearance of Santa Claus has recently been supplemented with new pages. In addition to the Snow Maiden, new fairy-tale heroes also take part in the good New Year's magic. For example, the Snowman, who appeared in the fairy tales of the wonderful children's writer and cartoonist Suteev. He either goes to the forest for a Christmas tree for a holiday, or drives a car with gifts. For the most part, forest animals help Grandfather, and some sometimes try to prevent the onset of the New Year holidays. Often in the scripts appear Old Men-Foresters, Brothers-Months...
Where Father Frost came from, he moved on foot or on the wings of a snowstorm. Subsequently, they began to represent him on the dashing Russian troika. And now reindeer are also kept in Veliky Ustyug - a real winter form of transport. The kindest magician of the country, whose possessions stretch to the North Pole, cannot lag behind Santa Claus!
When was Santa Claus born?
Curious children want to find out how old Santa Claus is. Despite the ancient Slavic roots, Grandfather is still quite young. The appearance of a fairy tale (1840) can be considered the moment of his birth. It is in it that a kind old man first appears, who gives gifts to a diligent girl and punishes a lazy one. According to this version, Grandfather is 174 years old.
But in the mentioned fairy tale, Frost does not come to anyone, he does not distribute gifts in connection with the holiday. All this will be much later, towards the end of the 19th century. If we count from this moment, Santa Claus is not yet 150 years old.
When is Santa's birthday?
This is another question that puzzles us with children. After all, they, who received gifts for the New Year, often want to thank the kind old man. This question can be answered quite accurately - November 18th. After all, the children themselves decided so, choosing as the onset of winter in the homeland of Santa Claus. It happened in 2005.
And now every year on this day a big holiday is held, to which his colleagues arrive. These are Santa Claus from real Lapland, Pakkaine from Karelia, Mikulash from the Czech Republic and even Chiskhan from Yakutia... Every year the scope of the celebration expands, more and more guests come. But most importantly, from his homeland, from Kostroma, the Snow Maiden hurries to congratulate Grandfather.
Guests from other cities are also invited to the celebration. These are the deputies of Santa Claus, who will come to the children for the New Year, and fairy-tale assistant characters. All of them are waiting for fun activities. And in the evening, Santa Claus lights the lights on the very first Christmas tree and announces the start of preparations for the New Year. After that, he and his assistants go on a trip around the country in order to have time to congratulate all its inhabitants.
In March, Santa Claus surrenders his duty to Spring-Krasna and returns to his house. In public, before the next birthday, he will appear again - in the summer, on the Day of the City. Both holidays include folk festivals, an extensive program of events telling about the Russian North, including excursions around the estate of Father Frost.
And even if we don’t say exactly how old Santa Claus is, it’s quite possible to congratulate him, write a letter with good wishes.
Where should i write?
Where can Santa Claus live? At the North Pole? Or in Lapland, next to Santa Claus? Or maybe in a well, as in the fairy tale "Moroz Ivanovich"?
The address of Santa Claus is known to many very well. His residence is located in what is in the Vologda region. A magnificent tower was built there for him, his post office works. Santa Claus even received a passport from the hands of the governor of the Vologda region. And to the question of the children "where did Santa Claus come from," you can safely answer: from Veliky Ustyug.
If your child wants to write a letter, congratulate a kind old man on his birthday, make a wish for the New Year, don't be scared and don't get lost, because it's easy to do. Write down the address of Santa Claus: 162390, Russia, Vologda region, the city of Veliky Ustyug. Santa Claus mail.
Many people think that Santa Claus is of Russian origin, and his family tree goes back to the image of a frosty old man from Russian folk tales. This is not entirely true, or rather, not at all. It is sometimes mistakenly believed that Father Frost and the Snow Maiden have been companions of festive New Year trees since ancient times, but this happened only at the end of the 19th century. In the legends of our ancestors, from ancient times there was Frost - the lord of the winter cold. His image reflects the ideas of the ancient Slavs about Karachun, the god of the winter cold. Frost was represented as a short old man with a long gray beard. From November to March, Frost always has a lot of work. Frost runs through the forests and thumps with his staff, which causes bitter frosts. Frost rushes through the streets and paints the windowpanes with the mi pattern. Frost freezes the surface of lakes and rivers. Frost pinches the nose, gives us a blush, amuses us with fluffy snowfalls.
This image of the winter ruler is artistically developed and embodied in Russian fairy tales in the images of Grandfather Student, Grandfather Treskun, Moroz Ivanovich, Morozko. However, although these frosty grandfathers were not devoid of a sense of justice and compassion and sometimes gave gifts to kind and hardworking people wandering into their domain, they were not associated with the coming of the New Year and handing out gifts was not their main concern.
The prototype of the modern Santa Claus is considered a real person named Nikolai, who was born in the 3rd century in Asia Minor (on the Mediterranean coast) in a wealthy family and later became a bishop. Having inherited a considerable fortune, Nicholas helped the poor, the needy, the unfortunate, and especially took care of the children. After his death, Nicholas was canonized. In 1087, pirates stole his remains from the church in Demre, where he served as a bishop during his lifetime, and transported them to Italy. The parishioners of the church were so outraged that a great scandal erupted, which, as our contemporaries would say, unwittingly performed the function of advertising. Gradually, from a saint who was known and appreciated only in his homeland, Nicholas became an object of veneration for all Christians in Western Europe.
In Russia, Saint Nicholas, nicknamed Nicholas the Wonderworker or Nicholas of Myra, also gained fame and worship, becoming one of the most revered saints. Sailors and fishermen considered him their patron and intercessor, but this saint did especially a lot of good and wonderful things for children.
There are many traditions and legends about the mercy and intercession of St. Nicholas in relation to children, which are common in Western Europe. One of these stories tells that a certain poor father of a family could not find the means to feed his three daughters, and, in despair, was going to give them into the wrong hands. Having heard about this, St. Nicholas, having made his way into the house, put a bag of coins into the chimney. At that time, the old, worn-out shoes of the sisters were drying in the stove (according to another version, their stockings were drying by the fireplace). In the morning, the amazed girls took out their old shoes (stockings) filled with gold. Is it necessary to say that their happiness and exultation knew no bounds? Kind-hearted Christians tenderly retold this story to many generations of their children and grandchildren, which led to the emergence of a custom: children put their boots on the threshold at night and hang their stockings by the bed with the expectation of receiving gifts from St. Nicholas in the morning. The tradition of giving gifts to children on St. Nicholas Day has existed in Europe since the 14th century, gradually this custom moved to Christmas night.
In the 19th century, together with European emigrants, the image of St. Nicholas became known in America. The Dutch Saint Nicholas, who was called Sinter Klaas in his homeland, reincarnated as the American Santa Claus. This was facilitated by the book by Clement Clark Moore, The Coming of St. Nicholas, which appeared in 1822 in America. It tells about the Christmas meeting of a boy with St. Nicholas, who lives in the cold North and drives around on a fast reindeer team with a bag of toys, giving them away to children.
The popularity of the kind Christmas "old man in the red coat" among Americans has become very high. In the middle of the 19th century, this Saint, or Pere Noel, became fashionable in Paris, and from France the image of Santa Claus penetrated into Russia, where Western European culture was not alien to educated and wealthy people.
Naturally, it was not difficult for a Christmas grandfather to take root in Russia, since a similar image has been present in Slavic folklore since ancient times, developed in Russian folk tales and fiction (N.A. Nekrasov’s poem “Frost, Red Nose”). The appearance of the Russian frosty grandfather absorbed both ancient Slavic ideas (an old man of short stature with a long gray beard and a staff in his hand), and features of the Santa Claus costume (a red fur coat trimmed with white fur).
This is a brief background of the appearance on the Christmas holidays, and later on the New Year trees, of the Russian Santa Claus. And it is all the more pleasant that only our Santa Claus has a granddaughter Snow Maiden and she was born in Russia.
“Hello, Santa Claus, cotton beard! Did you bring us gifts? The guys are looking forward to it!” - these lines are familiar to us since kindergarten! Most of us perceive this comrade as a fairy-tale character who appears on New Year's Eve and distributes gifts to obedient children. Let's take a closer look at who Santa Claus is and where he came from.
When did the image of Santa Claus appear?
The Slavs were able to personify almost all natural phenomena. Frost was also not deprived of such an honor. He was represented as a white-bearded old man in a fur coat, who was master of cold and winter cold. You can hear Frost in the winter forest, when he "crackles and clicks, jumping from tree to tree." He usually came from the north. Different Slavic tribes called Moroz in their own way: Treskunets, Morozko, Karachun, Studenets, Zyuzya, etc.
In general, Frost was held in high esteem among the Slavs, because it was believed that a cold snowy winter would provide a good harvest. Therefore, there was a ceremony called "Crying Frost", when he was treated to ritual food in the form of pancakes and kutya.
A lot of information about Frost can be gleaned from folk art. In many tales, he tested the main character, who could be generously gifted or frozen to death.
Many writers of the 19th century described this character in their fairy tales, relying specifically on Slavic mythology. At the same time, he was not associated with the New Year or Christmas, but he already had some attributes of the modern Santa Claus. In the Soviet film "Morozko" you can directly see such a character.
But still, starting since the second half of the 19th century, Santa Claus began to be compared with the New Year holidays. So he began to play the role of "Christmas grandfather", who, like Nikolai Ugodnik in the West, gave gifts to obedient Russian children.
Already at the beginning of the 20th century, Grandfather Frost was very similar to his contemporary, but with a bias towards Christmas traditions. However in 1929, the Komsomol strictly banned the celebration of Christmas and, accordingly, Moroz Ivanovich went on vacation for several years.
The revival of Santa Claus in the form familiar to us took place on New Year 1936! At the same time, the first New Year tree in the Soviet Union was officially held, where he appeared with his granddaughter Snegurochka. It is worth noting that Santa Claus was conceived as a character designed for a children's audience.
By the way, in the USSR they tried to introduce such a character as the New Year Boy, who appeared as the successor of Grandfather.
What does a real Santa Claus look like?
Western culture sometimes makes us confuse the appearance of our Santa Claus with the attributes of Santa Claus. Let's figure it out how should a Russian New Year's grandfather look like?.
Beard
A long thick beard has always been an essential attribute of our Santa Claus at all times. In addition to the fact that the beard indicates his age, it also symbolizes wealth and prosperity. Interestingly, the Slavs represented Frost with a beard to his feet.
Fur coat
The grandfather must wear a red fur coat, embroidered with silver and trimmed with swan down. Do not forget about the obligatory presence of a traditional ornament, for example, in the form of geese or stars. Today, fur coats are used in blue, and white, and even green, but many, including historians, criticize such an outfit, insisting that for our Frost, it is red that is canonical.
A cap
Santa Claus wears a semi-oval hat, like a boyar, but on its front part should be triangular. Color, ornament, trim - everything should match the fur coat. Any caps with a brush are for Santa.
Shoes and other accessories
Today, many Grandfathers wear sneakers and leather shoes, which is completely unacceptable. It must be felt boots or boots embroidered with silver. The belt (not the belt!) must be white with a red ornament, which symbolizes the connection with the ancestors. Mittens should also be white, symbolizing the holiness and purity of what Santa Claus gives from his hands.
Staff
The Slavic Morozko used a stick to make a distinctive knock, later the staff was used to create cold and freeze those who did not pass the test. According to the canon, the staff should be crystal or at least silver under crystal. It has a twisted handle and ends with a stylized image of the moon or a bull's head.
This is how the famous Santa Claus from Veliky Ustyug looks like. The dress is almost on point. A bag with presents
Santa Claus comes to children not empty-handed, but with a whole bag of gifts. Its color is also usually red. By definition, the bag is magical, because the gifts in it do not end, at least while it is in the hands of Grandfather.
Well, now dressing up as Santa Claus, you will know what to focus on.
Character of Santa Claus
Unlike the Western counterpart, Santa Claus is not an avid merry fellow. He is quite harsh, but at the same time kind and fair.. Santa Claus still likes to test people and only then give gifts, but he no longer freezes anyone, but simply finds out how you behaved last year and asks you to tell a poem.
In many cultures, there is a character who gives gifts to children at New Year's or Christmas. The most famous throughout the world is Santa Claus, who holds the post of good giver in Western Europe and the United States.
We will not make a detailed comparison of Santa Claus and Santa, just remember that our donor's sleigh is pulled by a troika, he does not climb pipes, does not smoke a pipe and does not wear glasses. In addition, our Grandfather does not hobnob with the elves, because he has a granddaughter, the Snow Maiden.
A few words about the Snow Maiden
The Snow Maiden has no direct analogy with Slavic mythology, although it is believed that this is one of the girls that Morozko froze. The first mention of the Snow Maiden appears in Russian folklore, where she is described as a revived girl who was made of snow. Later, she appears as the daughter of Santa Claus, but in the end the option with her granddaughter took root.
Today, the Snow Maiden is an indispensable assistant to Santa Claus on all New Year's holidays.
Conclusion
Santa Claus is really a national treasure, because people from different eras worked on his image. Even in the Slavic tribes, the stern master of the cold was revered, which appears both in oral folk art and in the tales of Russian writers. He came down to us in the form of a kind grandfather who gives children gifts for the New Year.
Under the Christmas tree we always put a figure of Santa Claus. Why? And who is this? Let's figure it out. Children always look forward to this fabulous grandfather, sincerely believe that he is still real. Who is hiding behind a mask with a white beard and walking around the world, what does he have to do with the miracles that take place over two magical weeks?
He became a kind grandfather, bringing gifts, only in the last hundred years. And earlier in Rus' he was called cracker or Student. He walked the earth in the company of the Sun and the Wind and froze the first comers to death.
Here is what is known from the history of his birth. In winter, evil spirits become uncomfortable and cramped, so they fly into the world, run through the fields, crack branches and blow into their fists. Hoarfrost on trees, frozen ground, snowstorm - the result of their activities. This is where the unfair and cruel Frost appears, which, however, has one distinguishing feature: you can always negotiate with him. But for this you need to know a special spell. On New Year's Eve, the father of the family takes a spoonful of oatmeal jelly, leans out of the window and says: “Frost, Frost, go eat jelly! Frost, Frost, don't beat our oats, drive flax and hemp into the ground!". And then the wife douses the poor fellow with water. And if Frost is satisfied, then in the future he behaves decently.
In addition to the insidious Frost-Crackling, there was also the harmless Morozko, who did not hurt anyone, lived peacefully in an ice hut and presented random guests according to their deserts - some with gold, some with ashes (remember the famous tale of Odoevsky "Frost"). At the same time, he is the master of the kingdom of the dead, and his hut is located there. That is why they called him grandfather, because grandfathers are the spirits of ancestors, who were also fed with oatmeal jelly from the window, saying: "Grandfather, grandfather, go before dinner ...". The lord of the kingdom of the dead rules over inexhaustible riches, commands time, wisdom. (Even on a modern children's tree, this is reflected: read a poem, guess a riddle - there will be a gift.)
That's why a Santa Claus figurine is needed under your beautiful Christmas tree. It is she who ensures that the real Santa Claus comes to visit you.
Our Santa Claus is not alone in the world. He has many relatives - close and not so close, he has his own ancestors. Let us first mention his closest relatives living abroad. His brothers can be considered American Santa Claus and European Per Noel. But if he has brothers, then there must be ancestors.
Since the holiday new years very ancient, then the great-grandfathers of Frost are scattered all over the world. Persians on birthday Mithras led round dances, the Scandinavians celebrated julsky holiday, the most important and longest. In Norway, he was dedicated to god Toru, in Denmark - Odin. This holiday got its name from the word “wheel”, because just at this time the sun turns. On the night of the turn of the year, a spirit appears in the form of a young man with a black face and a woman's headband, dressed in a long black cloak, entering houses and demanding gifts. No wonder the Scandinavians happily replaced him with the good-natured Santa.
Our Grandfather undoubtedly acquired the staff from Dionysus, walking around Hellas in the company of goat-footed satyrs and beautiful nymphs, crowned with ivy. Even in hot Egypt there was a New Year's woman. Her name was Satis, she was the goddess of the star Sirius, the patroness of the dead. She had the appearance of a cow, then an ordinary woman with cow horns. She can be called a relative of Santa Claus because the first morning sunrise of Sirius after a long winter absence marked the beginning of a new year, the arrival of clean water that cleanses the dead.
The ancestor of Santa Claus can be considered the ancient Roman Janus- the god of all beginnings, therefore, the beginning of the year. In order to rotate the axis of the world, Janus had 365 fingers and two faces facing the past and the future. Then he had other things to do, and the goddess of the New Year became Anna Perenna. At first, the grandmother was an ordinary old woman, who fed the plebeians who retired to the sacred mountain with pies. But then she was made a goddess. The holiday was celebrated in a sacred grove on the Tiber.
Well, in modern Italy, the role of Santa Claus is played by a terrible old woman Befana. From Christmas to Epiphany, she roams the earth, and on New Year's Eve she flies into houses through the chimney, bringing gifts to good children, and ashes to bad children.
In Germany, the New Year character is also a woman. Residents of German villages still do not forget to "burn Frau Hoppe", that is, to kindle a New Year's fire. Frau Hoppe(she is Holda, Perhta and Berta) - an old witch who rushes on New Year's Eve at the head of the Wild Hunt. There is another, more popular version, where Berta is a woman in white clothes who delivers gifts to good people and punishes bad ones. When she knocks out the feather bed, it snows on the ground (remember the fairy tale of the Brothers Grimm “Lady Blizzard”).
In France, Santa Claus is called Per Noel, but he seems to be a good little man in a red coat and round glasses. And his position is responsible: "Father Christmas."
In England, the traditional character does not have a name, he is simply called Father Christmas. He puts gifts in stockings, and everyone deserves it too. What do you think the English proverb means: "Coal in a stocking"? That's it. An unpleasant surprise, because Father Christmas also gives everyone what they deserve: gifts for the good, coal for the bad.
In Spain, in the Basque country, Santa Claus bears the name Olentzer. He flaunts in homespun national clothes and does not part with a flask of good Spanish wine, but at the same time he does not forget about the children: he distributes toys to them. Rules the parade in Catalonia Santa Claus. Martyr commemorated in Barcelona Santa Coloma, the streets are decorated with pine cones and bright lights and crowds walk along them.
But still, the closest relatives live nearby: with the brothers of the Slavs. For everyone, he looked different: for someone, this is an old man of short stature, with a long gray beard, running through the fields, for the Czechs, this is a blacksmith hero, holding water in the rivers. But the modern Czech Santa Claus is called Santa Claus and rides around on a motorcycle to have time to breed gifts.
In Europe Santa Claus appeared relatively recently, less than two centuries ago. The need for it arose when life became relatively calm and satisfying, which is why the idea of giving gifts to children began to soar in the air. And the saint, beloved by the peoples of all countries, turned into Santa Claus Nicholas the Wonderworker (Nikola Ugodnik). He became a bridge between pre-Christian deities and modern New Year's mythology. During his lifetime, Nicholas was very, virtuous. Having received an inheritance from his father, he distributed everything to the poor. There is a widespread story about how Nikolai threw three bundles of gold on a dowry to a beggar who was about to sell his daughters to a brothel. In memory of this, children put gifts in stockings on behalf of Santa Claus.
The name "Santa Claus" - from the distorted Dutch word "Sinte-Klaos", which means "Saint Nicholas".
The Finns were the first to come up with the idea of settling Santa Claus in a certain place, naturally on their territory - in Lapland. It happened in 1927 at the initiative of the broadcasting company. Journalists came up with, travel agencies promoted - and it turned out a whole New Year's industry. This is how the modern myth of Santa's homeland was born. The Finns themselves call it the old fashioned way - Yolupukki which means "Christmas goat". This is not at all offensive, since earlier in the Finnish villages there were mummers: a sheepskin coat inside out, a mask made of birch bark, a beard made of a broom and horns. Yolupukki did not bring gifts, but on the contrary, he demanded treats.
