Ded Moroz or Grandfather Frost, is a figure from Russian folklore, originally a menacing personification of winter and then, by the late 19th century thanks to his portrayal in stories and plays, a Christmas Gift-Bringer to rival St Nicholas. In the early Soviet period he was seen as a remnant of superstition, an enemy of the people, and “an ally of the priest and kulak”. This 1928 illustration sees him being driven away.
However, in the mid-1930s Stalin ordained festivities centred on New Year’s rather than Christmas and Ded Moroz was resurrected to bring presents to the children of the USSR. He was to be accompanied by Snegurochka, the legendary Snow Maiden now said to be the grand-daughter of Grandfather Frost, and New Year Boy. Following the Communist occupation of eastern Europe after World War II, Ded Moroz was imposed on the satellite states as a suitably secular replacement for St Nicholas, angels, or the Christ Child. When Soviet hegemony evaporated in the 1990s, countries like Poland, Hungary, and Czechoslovakia were quick to dispense with the services of Ded Moroz and return to the traditional Christmas Gift-Bringers.
Ded Moroz or his local equivalent remain popular in Russia, Belarus, and some other areas of the former USSR. Though he manifests many of the traits of Santa, the mayor of Moscow has boasted: “Look at our huge, beautiful Ded. You can’t compare him to that puny Santa Claus!” He is portrayed as a majestic figure, an elderly man with a white beard, round hat, a lavish blue robe, and carrying a staff. He travels in a horse-drawn troika and is said to reside in a wooden palace in the northern Russian town of Veliky Ustyug where the Russian postal service delivers all letters from children addressed to him. At New Year’s Eve, his magical travels are tracked by the Russian satellite navigation system.