Everybody knows where Christmas presents come from. Not relatives and friends, of course. They are dutifully delivered by a kind, magic creature who loves all kids and is prepared to work hard to keep them happy – provided they behaved themselves for the whole year.
What this creature looks like and who helps them meet the expectations of children around the globe is a matter of some inter-cultural debate. Kyiv Post brings you a detailed breakdown of the features that distinguish the two dominant characters of the season, Santa Claus and Ded Moroz.
(Click on the image to enlarge)
Santa Claus
It may be hard to believe, but plump and jolly Santa Claus evolved from a fourth-century Greek Christian bishop named Saint Nicholas of Smyrna, a town in present-day Turkey.
Nicholas, like Santa, was famous for his generous gifts to the poor and once even paid the dowries for three daughters of a poor Christian to save them from becoming prostitutes.
Santa’s more recent predecessor is Dutch Sinterklaas, the Wonderworker.
But the familiar image of a modern Santa dates back to 1823, when the poem called “A visit from St. Nicholas” (also known as “The Night Before Christmas’) painted a laughing Santa with a round belly riding in a flying sleigh pulled by reindeer, landing on roofs, entering through chimneys, and carrying a bag full of toys.
Nearly 40 years later, American cartoonist Thomas Nast detailed the image out for Harper’s magazine in the 1860s, and even gave Santa Claus a home: the North Pole.
This image inspired modern perceptions of the European Father Christmas.
Santa’s faithful assistants are a busy group of elves, diminutive and magical creatures from Germanic mythology.Originally eight reindeer would pull Santa’s magic sleigh, but in 1939 an advertising writer Robert R. May helped another one to be born.
The ninth reindeer Rudolph became famous for his shiny red nose used as a navigation tool.
Santa watches all the children around the globe and makes a list, which he “checks twice, to find out who’s naughty or nice,” as the popular song goes. Good kids can hope for toys and candy, while naughty ones might get some coal out of his sack.
Every Christmas Eve, Santa comes and leaves gifts under the Christmas tree and in children’s stockings hung on the mantlepiece. Before sleep, kids make sure to leave Santa’s favorite welcome snack: cookies and a glass of milk, which makes Santa laugh: “Ho, Ho, Ho!”
Ded Moroz
Ded Moroz (Father Frost), the spirit of New Year in Eastern Europe’s mythology, is much younger than his Western brother Santa.
Ancient Slavs considered Frost to be one of the elements, personifying it as an old man with a long beard, who would knock on the ground with his staff, covering window panes with frost. In the 19th century, Russian writer Vladimir Odoyevsky wrote a fairytale about a character named Moroz Ivanovych, which contributed some details to the legend of Ded Moroz.
But the final step in creating the myth was made by the Soviet authorities. In the late 1930s they returned the tradition of celebrating New Year, which had been abandoned right after the Bolshevik Revolution in 1917, together with Christmas and other religious traditions and beliefs.
Ded Moroz fitted perfectly as a fairy-tale creature of non-religious origin.
Ded Moroz is kind but stern. He is a just old man, a mentor admonishing kids, giving precious presents to those who behave well and punishing the naughty ones.
Ded Moroz has nothing to do with Christmas and is still totally rejected by the Christian church.
He comes to New Year-related celebrations for kids, inviting them to dance or sing or recite a short poem, awarding them with presents. He does not usually enter the room until he’s been called loudly three times.
Using a sleigh with a relay of three white horses, Ded Moroz travels on the snowy ground, not in the sky. On New Year’s Eve he comes to children’s homes, leaving presents under the New Year tree for everyone to find in the morning.
Little is known about Ded Moroz’s home. In fairytales he lives in the depths of a snowy wood in a house made of ice and snow.
For the past 13 years, authorities in neighboring Russia have promoted the town of Veliky Ustyug as Ded Moroz’s home, but that is a marketing trick – like Santa’s Grotto in Finland.
Ded Moroz is accompanied by his granddaughter Snegurochka, whose name is derived from the word snow.
Usually she is portrayed either as a little girl, or as a young beautiful woman, dressed in old Russian style. Fairytales tell us that she has no parents and was made of snow. She usually assists Ded Moroz during celebrations, entertaining children with roundelays.
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