Ded Moroz arrives to a children's New Year party in a sputnik troika. Photo by A. Cheprunov (Kremlin hall, Moscow, Dec. 1958).

Hey, friends! I hope you don't mind if I try to peddle a project I've been working on. After three years of designing, drawing, making prototypes, etc, I'm finally releasing (taking orders for) the wooden wall-hanging Santa's Workshop DisPlayset. I wanted to make something that people can hang in their homes year after year, and to be part of their holiday traditions.

The set comes with Santa, Mrs. Claus, and ten elves.

It's made of sturdy 1/4 birch, and has nine platforms on which to position the figures.

It also has a shelf below the stables on which to place the story cards that come with each figure:

I've also got 25 additional Christmas and winter holiday figures ready to populate the workshop, available either individually or as a big collection:

Thanks for taking a look! I really appreciate it. This has been a labor of love for a while and I'm excited to put it out into the world.

I'll be taking orders for US customers (looking into international shipping, but it's very difficult and pricy to manage) until August 15, 2023 to have them mailed by October 31, 2023 so you right-after-Halloween Christmas decorators can get yours up quick.

You can order the Workshop and/or figures at SchweizerCraft.com

Thanks again!

The Rotgoc fandom is no stranger to misconceptions, like somehow saying Jokul Frosti is Jacks norse counterpart when Jokul n Frosti are two seperate spirits etc. You guys know that I'm sure.

One that nags at me is the notion that Jack Frost and "Father Frost" are the same person or spirit. In my research for the Christmas spirits, I've learned quite a bit about Father Frost, and its very clear that he isn't Jack. Father Frost is North, or related to him.

Father Frost comes from a Russian Folktale that goes as follows;

A stepmother orders her husband to take the stepdaughter out in the wilderness to die. The girl is freezing at the foot of a tree and Father Frost appears. Instead of fearing him she's said to be nice to him despite her circumstances. Touched by the girl, Father Frost dresses her in warm fine linens to keep her warm and gives her a chest full of gems. The Stepmother sends her husband to fetch the girls body to bury and to his surprise the girl is just fine. Stepmother is enraged but curious how the girl got such nice things. So, she sends her own daughter out in the same place the stepdaughter nearly died in, to get the same valuable stuff. Father Frost appears but the girl is rude to him, probably demanding the same things as her stepsister. Insulted, Father Frost punishes her by allowing her to freeze to death.

Moral of the story is don't be greedy ig. So whats the connection to North? Father Frost sounds more like a winter spirit than Santa right? Ehhhh kind of. Father Frost is based off of the Slavic counterpart of Santa, Ded Moroz(This is the Russian spelling of his name.) Ded Moroz is said to be either a winter wizard, snow demon. Back then he was mostly called "Morozoko" or "ded". He was reformed to resemble more of Santa around the time of Soviet occupation.

Now, the early iteration of Ded Moroz could resemble Jack Frost, why the literal translation for his name is Grandfather Frost. However, just because Frost is in his name doesn't mean they're related. Ded Moroz resembles Santa more these days or St.Nicholas...so who's Ded Moroz?

Keep in mind I'm not Russian or Slavic, Eastern European countries have differing versions of Santa/St.Nicholas that could just be aliases for North. A reasonable assumption is Ded Moriz is an alias for North. I suppose if you stretched it maybe Ded Moriz could be seperate from Jack or North but due to the evolution of Ded Moroz's character it makes it hard to split him from Santa.

Regardless, I can kind of see why some would tie him to Jack Frost but if you read more about Father Frost/Ded Moroz, it's pretty clear the two barely have any association.

hey so quick question, between fortuna and paidia, who has more followers? fortuna may be older but something like gambling and addiction are pretty tempting

Fortuna may have a ridiculously tiny active following currently but she has been part of the world for a long loooong time. After all, who doesnt wish upon a star, a dandelion, a coin thrown into a well? Who doesnt wish someone good luck on their way? A passive following spanning the entire history of the world. Far more influential than any modern celebrity.

Vlov Arkhangel, Melty Blood: Type Lumina (French Bread/ Type Moon)

Jolly celebrations is around the corner and a visit from a certain individual is approaching. Which side of Ded you'll meet depends on whether you've been naughty or nice.

20-11-22

Ded Moroz & Snegurochka

"The Snow Fairy" by Herman Richir

Twelvth day of Christmas : Ded Moroz

We end with THE East Slavic Christmas figure ! Russians call him Ded Moroz ("grandfather frost"), but almost every country has its own name for him. Mythological figure of diverse tales and legends and an amalgamate of several Winter gods from Slavic mythology, Ded Moroz is a positive character only since recently. Before, he was feared, causing blizzards, killing anyone coming across him freezing them and kidnapping children in his sack. But the Orthodox Church influence made him benevolent around the 19th century. And as said yesterday, when USSR limited the influence from religion and Christmas lost its glory, they reprised from traditional folklore Ded Moroz and Snegurochka, they made them a grandfather and a granddaughter, and they made them gifts deliverers to children. However I had not been precise yesterday, but I mean it is not on Christmas that they come since precisely the Soviet regime wanted to stifle it, but the New Year, the new version of Ded Moroz being a mix of our very own Santa Claus and January Man. He has been depicted since the last century as a an old man with a long white beard, getting around in a troika pulled by horses, holding a magic cane/stick and wearing high boots, a long trailing coat and a round fur headdress, with a color palette composed of blue, white and silver but sometimes red as well

Merry Christmas to all ! Thank you for having followed this series and see you next year for another dozen of folkloric Christmas figures

New Year postcard feat. the Ostankino TV Tower in Moscow, artist E. Isayeva (1968)

Companions of Christmas 19 & 20: Snegurochka and Ded Moroz!

Long ago, in the Vologda Forest in what is now Russia, a couple, unable to have children, made one out of snow, and so great was their love for each other, and their desire for a child, that the girl came to life. They named her Snegurochka, which means “Snow Maiden.”

Now, the Vologda, along with many of the eastern Slavic lands, had terrible winters, and those winters were ruled over by a fierce elemental tyrant, an ancient ice wizard named Morozko. In order to appease him, the Slavs would send their children to present him with gifts as a show of fealty, that he might have pity on them and lessen the severity of storms, and use the great chains he would forge from ice to shatter the frozen waters.

Though they were loath to send their dear Snegurochka on such a perilous journey, the couple had no choice; their neighbors all sent their children, and the couple must do likewise. So Snegurochka went, to present her gift.

Morozko had little interest in the children who would present his gifts, except as a symbol of the power of life and death that he wielded over the Slavs. But he was taken aback when he saw Snegurochka, who reminded him so of his own daughter, who had died long ago. He was so arrested by the sight of her, and so fresh was the remembered grief of his lost child, that he sent all of the children (with their gifts) away so that they wouldn’t see him weep his frozen tears.

The children were so excited to be returning with the gifts (of which the making and buying had presented such hardships to their families) that they built a fire in the woods to have a celebration before going home. They began to play a game, taking turns leaping over the fire. Little Snegurochka, as elated as her peers, joined in. And when it was her turn to leap over the fire, she did so, but no sooner had the little girl made of snow sailed over the flames than she melted away to vapor.

Morozko (who could feel all of the ice and snow in his domain) immediately felt her disappear, and he watched, helpless, as the vapor drifted into the sky. And he knew that he could not bear to lose another child of snow, even if this one was not his. 

Morozko tried to use his magic to return her to snow, but she was a creature borne of pure love, and magic alone cannot bind love. But he still tried, and drew from himself the deepest cold of all in the hopes that it would be enough - the ice that encased his frozen heart. 

Even that ancient and terrible ice was not enough to bring back Snegurochka.

But with his heart no longer frozen, the love long buried inside Morozko began to shine, and that love was all he needed to shape the vapor back into the snow maiden. 

A bit less strong, a bit less fierce, and much kinder, Morozko took Snegurochka safely back to her village, to her parents. And when he bid his farewell, Snegurochka threw her arms around him, and called him grandfather. And now this is what he is called by everyone, for “Ded Moroz” means “Grandfather Frost.” Ded Moroz never again demanded gifts, but instead brings gifts to children all over Russia and its neighbors during the darkest days of the year, accompanied by his adopted granddaughter.

Hello! It’s Inktober 2023 - Day 20 “Frost”. I bring you Father Frost a.k.a Pakkasukko, Morozko, or “Ded Moroz”. He’s an actual holiday-esque figure like Santa Claus, but more truly Jack Frost/dark Russian forest wizard/Mongolian demon guy. Fascinating multicultural character!

Winter is a time of darkening nights, colder days and gloomy skies. Despite the weather, there are still plenty of folkloric figures out and about. Though some bring cheer and gifts to brighten up the winter, others are there to make it worst – bringing threats of coal, kidnapping and even bodily harm to make sure that people are behaving themselves over the winter period.

Grýla

The Icelandic giantess Grýla lives in a cave in the mountains with her lazy husband, Leppalúði. Predating Christmas, she is said to come down from the mountains during midwinter and Yule to snatch up disobedient children. She carries them home in her sack, killing them and cooking them up for dinner.

For a malicious harbinger of winter, Grýla is an unusually social creature. In addition to her husband, she has thirteen sons, each happy to cause mischief and – in modern interpretations – leave treats out for children. On different days during December, households are visited by a different son – each named for the type of mischief he causes, whether that’s stealing milk, harassing sheep or stealing food.

Keep Reading 

The Creatures of Yuletide: Grandfather Frost, the Soviet Santa Claus

Grandfather Frost, or Ded Moroz, is a very peculiar character. Even with Soviet Union authorities looking down on Christmas traditions as pure bourgeois and religious propaganda, and initially looking down on him too for the same reasons, he rose in prominence as a symbol of the New Year festivities meant to replace Christmas and is to this day a symbol of Slavic holidays.

Grandfather Frost started his life as a snow demon in Slavic folklore, however, it's worth pointing out that before Christianity arrived the term had no negative connotations.

He was also called Morozko or Ded, and in this form, he appears in Russian Fairy Tales, a collection of tales collected by Alexander Afanasyev. In the story Morozko, or Father Frost, a little girl is abandoned by her wicked stepmother to die in the woods during the winter. Father Frost finds her there, and because the girl is polite and kind to him, he gives her a chest full of beautiful jewels and fine garments. When the greedy stepmother tries to do the same with her daughter in hopes the girl can get the same reward as her stepsister, Father Frost freezes her to death at the foot of the tree and carries her body back to her grief-stricken mother.

Some tales suggest he would kidnap children, and only return them when their parents provided him with gifts.

The character is from pre-Christian times, but under the Russian Orthodox Church, he was transformed.

By the end of the 19th century, Father Frost was a very popular character, appearing in operas and plays, but after the Soviet Revolution, by 1928, Soviet authorities declared Ded Moroz was "an ally of the priest and kulak",

On December 28, 1935, Pavel Postyshev, a Communist Party publicist and member of Joseph Stalin's inner circle, published a letter in Pravda, the official newspaper of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, in which he proposed to give Soviet children a return to “the atmosphere of fairytale and magic.” While the winter festival was rehabilitated, all religious references were removed. New Year's instead of Christmas became the main holiday, and Grandfather Frost became its symbol.

In 1998, the town of Veliky Ustyug in Vologda Oblast, Russia was declared the home of the Russian Ded Moroz by Yury Luzhkov, then Mayor of Moscow.

Now we need to talk about Snegurochka, the Snow Maiden, his granddaughter, and helper. She's inspired by a tragic character in Slavic fairy tales from the 19th century, where a snow doll comes to life and wants to experience the human world, only to end up melting as consequence.

In the play The Snow Maiden by Alexander Ostrovsky, she is the daughter of Ded Moroz and Весна-Красна, Spring Beauty. She wants to leave her parents behind and live in the human world, and her parents allow her to live as a peasant, arranging an adoption by two peasant parents. There she grows to like a shepherd named Lel, but her heart is unable to know love. Her mother takes pity and gives her this ability, but as soon as she falls in love, her heart warms and she melts.

Later this tale was adapted into an opera by Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov.

And here's a Russian stop-motion adaptation of the story I found online.

In the late Russian Empire, Snegurochka was part of the Christmas celebrations, in the form of figurines to decorate the fir trees and as a character in children's pieces. When the New Year's celebration was allowed in 1935, she was included.

Usually, former members of the URSS had their variations of Grandfather Frost and the Snow Maiden. After the Soviet Union Collapsed in the early 1990s, people returned to their old customs. Today, Ded Moroz is mostly celebrated in Russia, having gone out of fashion in other countries. Ukraine seems to have shifted from Ded Moroz back to St. Nicholas. There were rumors that Ded Moroz imagery was discouraged by the authorities due to conflict with Russia, but the Ukrainian Ministry of Culture refuted this

@natache @ariel-seagull-wings @thealmightyemprex