There is a version that the Russian Santa Claus is a close relative of the American Santa Claus and, like him, traces his ancestry from St. Nicholas. However, Santa Claus has national roots that can be found in Slavic paganism.
Instructions
Step 1
Among the Eastern Slavs, Frost was considered the god-master of winter cold. It was said that his parents were the goddess of death Morana and the "cattle god" (and also the ruler of the kingdom of the dead) Veles. Often he was identified with other Slavic deities - Pozvizd, Zimnik and Korochun. The Slavs imagined him as a short old man with a long gray beard. In winter, he roamed the world, tapping with his magic staff. From his knocking, crackling frosts frozen the surfaces of rivers, lakes and streams.
Step 2
After the adoption of Christianity, the church, seeking to destroy the remnants of paganism, tried in every possible way to denigrate the pagan gods. Therefore, Frost turned into an evil and cruel deity, commanding the cold and snowstorms and mercilessly freezing people. Similar ideas were reflected in Nekrasov's poem "Frost - Red Nose", where "Frost-voivode" froze to death in the forest an early widowed young peasant woman, leaving her young children full orphans.
Step 3
The image of a strict, but fair Santa Claus appeared in Russian literature in 1840, when Vladimir Odoevsky's collection "The Tales of Uncle Irenaeus" was published, which also included the fairy tale "Frost Ivanovich". True, the action in it takes place in the spring, and not in the winter, and its main character has nothing to do with the New Year and Christmas holidays. According to the plot, Odoevsky's fairy tale resembles the Brothers Grimm's "Lady Snowstorm", only the female winter character is replaced here by the male one.
Step 4
Moroz Ivanovich lives in an ice palace, the way to which lies through a well. The old man tests the girls who have come to him, forcing them to do housework. The industrious needlewoman Moroz Ivanovich awards silver patches, and gives the sloth a large diamond and a silver ingot, which turn out to be just pieces of ice. The familiar name Santa Claus was first sounded in 1912, in the poem by Maria Pozharova "The Conjuration of Winter".
Step 5
Santa Claus first appeared as a Christmas character in 1910, but did not gain much popularity. He became a traditional New Year character only in the second half of the 30s, when Christmas trees for children began to be held in the USSR. Gradually, his appearance also took shape - a long gray beard, a red or blue fur coat up to his heels, belted with a wide sash, a high hat, mittens and felt boots. Santa Claus is holding a staff and a bag with gifts. He usually rides a sleigh pulled by three horses. A little later, my grandfather also got a granddaughter - the beautiful Snow Maiden.
