Scenario of the winter sports festival "World Day of the Snow Maiden and Father Frost. Scenario of the winter sports festival "World Day of the Snow Maiden and Santa Claus World Day of Santa Claus and the Snow Maiden

15.12.2021

Invariably, Santa Claus and the Snow Maiden are considered the most beloved symbols for adults and children, its keepers and patrons. It is hard to even imagine this holiday without their presence, because they not only bring gifts to children in a magic bag, but also give a wonderful mood and joy to everyone without exception. But did you know that these fairy-tale characters also have your holiday, whose history reaches a long, long time ago?

On this day, January 30, in Ancient Russia they celebrated one of the most popular pagan holidays - the Day of Frost and the Snow Maiden. It turns out that the history of these characters has deep roots in ancient Slavic mythology. In the old days, on this day, Santa Claus was revered as the winter incarnation of a pagan god. Veles- the embodiment of the defender of material wealth and prosperity.

As for his constant companion, there is a belief that, bewitched by the goddess Lelei- the patroness of couples in love, the Snow Maiden fell in love with a person. Her mother, Winter, warned her daughter that warm human feelings could destroy her. Every year, with the advent of warm weather, the Snow Maiden went with Santa Claus to the North Pole, but, captivated by love, she decided not to leave. And when the Sun came out and warmed her, the Snow Maiden immediately melted away, and no one saw her until next winter.

And since that time, these fairy-tale characters go to the North Pole every winter, foreshadowing the early arrival of spring. They make this trip every year on January 30, because it was this date that became known as the day of Santa Claus and the Snow Maiden. By tradition, on this day we say goodbye to our favorite fairy tale characters until next winter, and the older generation tells children interesting and fascinating tales, the main characters of which are sure to be Santa Claus and the Snow Maiden.

Interesting facts about Santa Claus and the Snow Maiden

No one knows for sure how old the old man is, but it is believed that he has long passed over 2000.

The "great-grandfather" of the modern Santa Claus, the lord of the weather and winter, was represented as a little man with a long beard and a character as harsh as frost. And he did not give gifts, as we are used to, but on the contrary, he received them from people during ceremonies in honor of his praise.

During the reign of Peter I, the image of the first Father Frost, familiar to us, appeared, who came with gifts only to obedient children, and "left with his nose" hooligans and bullies. But his modern name - Moroz Ivanovich, he received only in the collection "Children's Tales of Grandpa Iriney", written in 1840 by Vladimir Odoevsky.

It is interesting that none of the foreign brothers of Father Frost have such a wonderful accompaniment as the Snow Maiden. According to legend, she is a girl made of ice, but with a heart hot with love. Today it is mistakenly believed that the Snow Maiden is the granddaughter of Santa Claus, but this is not so, because Alexander Ostrovsky, in whose work her image first appeared, says that the snow girl is precisely the daughter of Frost and Spring.

Despite the influence of Western New Year characters, our Grandfather Frost still retains his folk characteristics and every year pleases obedient children with gifts, and brings adults a festive mood and happiness.

Invariably Father Frost and Snow Maiden considered the most loved symbols of the new year for adults and children, its keepers and patrons. It is hard to even imagine this holiday without their presence, because they not only bring gifts to children in a magic bag, but also give a wonderful mood and joy to everyone without exception. But did you know that these fairy-tale characters also have your holiday , whose history reaches a long, long time ago?

On this day, January 30, in Ancient Russia they celebrated one of the most popular pagan holidays - Frost Day and Snow Maidens. It turns out that the history of these characters has deep roots in ancient Slavic mythology. In the old days, on this day, Santa Claus was revered as the winter incarnation of a pagan god. Veles - the embodiment of the defender of material wealth and prosperity.

As for his constant companion, there is a belief that, bewitched by the goddess Lelei - the patroness of couples in love, the Snow Maiden fell in love with a person . Her mother, Winter, warned her daughter that warm human feelings could destroy her. Every year, with the advent of warm weather, the Snow Maiden went with Santa Claus to the North Pole, but, captivated by love, she decided not to leave. And when the Sun came out and warmed her, the Snow Maiden immediately melted away , and no one saw her until next winter.

And since that time, these fairy-tale characters go to the North Pole every winter, foreshadowing the early arrival of spring. They make this journey every year January 30, therefore it was this date that began to be called Day of Father Frost and Snow Maiden. By tradition, on this day we say goodbye to our favorite fairy tale characters until next winter, and the older generation tells children interesting and fascinating tales, the main characters of which are sure to be Santa Claus and the Snow Maiden.

Interesting facts about Santa Claus and the Snow Maiden

Nobody knows for sure how old is the old man but it is believed that he has long passed over 2000.

"Great-grandfather" of modern Santa Claus, the lord of the weather and winter was represented as a little man with a long beard and a character as harsh as frost. And he did not give gifts, as we are used to, but on the contrary, he received them from people during ceremonies in honor of his praise.

During the reign of Peter I, the image of the first familiar to us Santa Claus, who came with gifts only to obedient children, and “left bullies with a nose”. But his modern name - Moroz Ivanovich, he received only in the collection "Children's Tales of Grandpa Iriney", written in 1840 by Vladimir Odoevsky.

Interestingly, none of the foreign counterparts Santa Claus I do not have such a wonderful accompaniment as Snow Maiden. According to legend, she is a girl made of ice, but with a heart hot with love. Today it is mistakenly believed that the Snow Maiden is the granddaughter of Santa Claus, but this is not so, because Alexander Ostrovsky, in whose work her image first appeared, says that the snow girl is precisely the daughter of Frost and Spring.

Despite the influence of Western New Year characters, our Santa Claus still retains its folk characteristics and every year pleases obedient children with gifts, and brings adults a festive mood and happiness.

But what about me: bliss or death?
What a delight! What feelings of languor!
Oh Mother Spring, thank you for the joy,
For the sweet gift of love!
What languishing bliss flows in me!
Oh Lel, Your enchanting songs are in my ears,
Fire in the eyes... and in the heart... and in the blood
All over the fire. I love and melt, melt
From the sweet feelings of love!
Farewell, all girlfriends, farewell, groom!
Oh dear, the last look of the Snow Maiden to you. (melting)

A.N. Ostrovsky "Snow Maiden"

Frost and Snow Maiden Day is an ancient pagan holiday. These days, fairy tales and legends about Santa Claus and the Snow Maiden are usually told.

About how the Snow Maiden, at the whim of the god of love Lelya, fell in love with a man and therefore, with the advent of Spring, she did not fly to the North. But as soon as "a bright ray of the sun cuts through the morning fog and falls on the Snow Maiden", she melts. On this day, the Slavs revered the enemy of Perun - Frost - the hypostasis of Veles. We can say that Frost is the winter hypostasis of Veles, just like Yar (the son of Veles and Diva) is spring.

Frost was married to the Snow Queen, the daughter of Mary and Koshchei. Frost and the Snow Queen had a beautiful daughter - the Snow Maiden. The Day of Santa Claus and the Snow Maiden was a symbolic end of winter, followed by the wide and generous Shrovetide just around the corner.

Let's remember the story of Santa Claus and the Snow Maiden. After all, no matter what, few people know about it.

Since ancient times, the Slavs had a distribution of roles in nature. And Frost seemed to them a small, gray-haired grandfather who wandered through the forests and fields, banging his staff and causing bitter frosts. After all, the peasants associated the snowy Christmas and Epiphany frosts with the future rich harvest, and therefore they called Frost to the ritual meal with kutya and pancakes. And in fairy tales, he was affectionately called Morozko, Treskunets, Studenets, kind Moroz Ivanovich. His age was considered very respectable, and therefore he was gray as snow. As soon as he shook his head, frost fell from his hair. He lived in an ice chamber and slept on a snowy feather bed. This is how V.F. described him. Odoevsky in 1840 in the fairy tale "Moroz Ivanovich". Only there he does not appear on New Year's Eve, but in the spring, and he does not come to the children himself, but they come to him for gifts. Yes, and at first Moroz Ivanovich did not have a Christmas tree. Only under Alexander II there were isolated attempts to create an original "Christmas grandfather" who would also give Russian children gifts for the New Year. But, neither old Ruprecht, nor Grandfather Nikolai, mentioned in 1870, took root with us. And only in 1886 Morozko appeared, and by the beginning of the 20th century, the image of Santa Claus familiar to us was formed. Although even then he was still dressed in a white, blue or blue fur coat, with a long white beard, with a staff in his hands and in felt boots. It was later, imitating the North American Santa Claus, that the fur coat was depicted in red. They gave him a sleigh, with a trio of snow-white horses harnessed.

Here it is worth remembering about the granddaughter of Santa Claus Snegurochka. Despite the fact that she accompanies him everywhere and is an intermediary between grandfather and children, there was no such image in Slavic mythology. And still not in the West. In a Russian fairy tale about a girl made of snow, Snegurochka, or Snezhevinochka, is mentioned in the 19th century. And it was embodied in a literary image in 1869 by A.N. Afanasiev. He told about how God gave a snowy daughter to an old man with an old woman who did not have children. Inspired by this tale, the Russian writer A.N. Ostrovsky in 1873 wrote the famous play "The Snow Maiden". There she appears as the daughter of Santa Claus and Spring-Red. True, the story turned out to be sad and the Snow Maiden, deceived by Lel, melted during the spring ritual of honoring Yarila, the god of the sun. Opera of the same name by N.A. Rimsky-Korsakov (1882) made the Snow Maiden extremely popular.

After the revolution, religion with all its rituals, including Christmas, was persecuted. Canceled the Soviet government and the New Year. These days people had to go to work. On the eve of 1929, even special patrols were organized, which looked into the windows, revealing the "criminal" preparations for the holiday.

The situation changed after the publication on December 28, 1935 in the Pravda newspaper of an article by a member of the Presidium of the Central Executive Committee of the USSR P.P. Postyshev with a proposal to return the children's holiday, though not Christmas, but New Year's. And on December 31, 1935, the first New Year tree in the USSR was held in the first Soviet House of Pioneers in Kharkov. And in January 1937, Father Frost, together with the Snow Maiden, attended a celebration in the Moscow House of Unions.

Since then, they have become inseparable. Only at first the Snow Maiden was a little girl, and later she appeared in the form of a young and beautiful fair-haired girl. After all, it would be tiring for a child to accompany Frost everywhere.

In conclusion, I want to say that the birthday of Santa Claus is November 18, which was invented by the children themselves. And since 1999, he officially “lives” in Veliky Ustyug, where tourists flock to on New Year's Eve.

The Snow Maiden was "settled" in the "village of the Berendeys" from the film of the same name, which is near Kostroma. So she now lives there in a high tower, and receives guests all year round. And since 2009, the birthday of the Snow Maiden has been celebrated, on the night of April 4-5.

As you can see, the story of Santa Claus and the Snow Maiden is going on to this day. And who knows, maybe one of my readers will come up with something else like that ...

So even right now you can write a letter to Santa Claus and the Snow Maiden. Ask for gifts and fulfillment of desires, congratulate them both on the common Day and on the birthday of each individual.

Original entry and comments on

Without these two heroes? Probably vaguely ... It is understandable - we are used to, we like them. So why not remember them again at the end of winter?! Moreover, the end of Zimushka-Winter is associated with this event, and spring is already a stone's throw away.

Let's remember the story of Santa Claus and the Snow Maiden. After all, no matter what, few people know about it.

The story of Santa Claus and the Snow Maiden

The Snow Maiden melted during the spring ritual of honoring Yarila, the god of the sun...

It is also worth remembering here granddaughter of Santa Claus Snegurochka . Despite the fact that she accompanies him everywhere and is an intermediary between grandfather and children, there was no such image in Slavic mythology. And still not in the West. In a Russian fairy tale about a girl made of snow, Snegurochka, or Snezhevinochka, is mentioned in the 19th century. And it was embodied in a literary image in 1869 by A.N. Afanasiev. He told about how God gave a snowy daughter to an old man with an old woman who did not have children. Inspired by this tale, the Russian writer A.N. Ostrovsky in 1873 wrote the famous play "The Snow Maiden". There she appears as the daughter of Santa Claus and Spring-Red. True, the story turned out to be sad and the Snow Maiden, deceived by Lel, melted during the spring ritual of honoring Yarila, the god of the sun. Opera of the same name by N.A. Rimsky-Korsakov (1882) made the Snow Maiden extremely popular.

Snow Maiden

Since then, they have become inseparable. Only at first the Snow Maiden was a little girl, and later she appeared in the form of a young and beautiful blonde. After all, it would be tiring for a child to accompany Frost everywhere.

In conclusion, I would like to say that birthday of Santa Claus It is considered November 18, which was invented by the children themselves. And since 1999, he officially “lives” in Veliky Ustyug, where tourists flock to on New Year's Eve.

The Snow Maiden was "settled" in the "village of the Berendeys" from the film of the same name, which is near Kostroma. So she now lives there in a high tower, and receives guests all year round. And since 2009 they celebrate Snow Maiden's birthday , on the night of 4 to 5 April.

As you can see, the story of Santa Claus and the Snow Maiden is going on to this day. And who knows, maybe one of my readers will come up with something else like that ...

So even right now you can write Letter to Santa Claus and Snow Maiden . Ask for gifts and fulfillment of desires, congratulate them both on the common Day and on the birthday of each individual. After all, I gave you the address ...

____________________________________________________________________________________

Believe it or not...

Surely both you yourself and your children asked the question: if there is Grandfather Frost and the Snow Maiden, whom he calls his granddaughter, then where are the Snow Maiden's parents? A few sources will help us figure it out.

Father Frost- the only pagan deity whose cult was accidentally revived by the Soviet authorities. After the ban on celebrating Christian Christmas in the USSR, when St. Nicholas brought gifts to children, it became necessary to replace this holiday. This was the New Year. At the end of December 1935, the ban on decorating the Christmas tree was actually lifted, which from that moment became the New Year's tree. Instead of St. Nicholas, Santa Claus began to distribute gifts.

In the era of antiquity, Frost was not so favorable to people whose lives were spent in a constant struggle with hunger and cold, that is, frost. And now we are sure that this deity will continue to be perceived by the Eastern Slavs as a good-natured grandfather, who makes various generous gifts to children. The example of Frost is indicative - the process of development of paganism is continuous, and the transformation of cults is its natural phenomenon.

A bit of history:
On that day, December 30, the Slavs revered the enemy of Perun - Frost, one of the incarnations of the mighty god Veles. We can say that Frost is the winter hypostasis of Veles, just like Yar (the son of Veles and Diva) is spring.
According to the myths of the ancient Slavs, Frost is married to the Snow Queen, the daughter of Mary and Koshchei, the rulers of the underground dark kingdom. Frost and the Snow Queen have a daughter - the Snow Maiden.
At the end of December, it was customary to tell fairy tales about Santa Claus and the Snow Maiden. About how the Snow Maiden, at the whim of the goddess of love Lely, fell in love with a man, therefore, with the advent of Spring, she did not fly to the North. And as soon as the sun warmed her, she melted.

Many fairy tales use this plot, familiar to us from childhood. In some versions of the East Slavic tales about the North Wind, which endows the peasant with wonderful gifts, the place of this Wind and his brothers is taken by Frosts. A man sowed wild grouse (buckwheat); she rose, turned green. Once a man went out into the field, he looks - the wild grouse is nailed down, crushed: "What a villain would have done this!" He returned home, told his wife about his grief, and she jogged him: “This, he says, Frost did: go, find him and recover the damages!” The peasant went into the forest and got lost, back and forth - he somehow got out onto the path, and this path led him to an ice hut: there is a hut - all strewn with snow, cleaned with icicles. He knocked on the door, an old man crawls out to him - all white. It was Frost; he gives the peasant a self-made tablecloth and a self-made club. In some fairy tales, along with the heroes, personifying various thunderstorm phenomena, Frost-Treskun or Studeney is mentioned; its breath produces a strong cold, hoarfrost and icicles appear as its saliva, and snow clouds as hair. Frosty, say the peasants - a short old man with a long gray beard; in winter, he runs through the fields and streets and knocks; from his knock, bitter frosts begin and the rivers are bound with ice; if he hits the corner of the hut, then the log will certainly crack. There is a custom in the villages that indicates that the mighty forces of nature are still presented to the popular imagination as living beings. Among the Great Russians, on the eve of Christmas and on Great Day, the head of the family took a spoonful of kutya or jelly, went out to the threshold of the porch or climbed onto the stove and, sticking his head through the portage window, said: “Frost, Frost! Come eat jelly"; "Frost, Frost! Do not beat our oats, flax and hemp in the ground.

A folk riddle depicts Frost as a mighty hero, equal in strength to Samson: "Samson himself, he paved the bridge - without an ax, without a wedge, without a wedge." The fairy tale epic represents the snake as the kidnapper of the beauty - the Sun, which he concludes in an iron castle, that is, hides her behind snowy clouds and winter mists. But if, on the one hand, the serpent, as the lord of winter fogs and frosts, is identified with the fabulous blacksmith - the builder of ice bridges and iron castles, then, on the other hand, from a different angle of poetic view, the same serpent, like a rain cloud, obeys for the winter to the irresistible force of the blacksmith Frost, who fetters him with iron chains.
The frost is severe, but fair, and this is reflected in fairy tales and poems.
And the beauty of the Snow Maiden leaves few people indifferent.

And I suggest you make a craft with your children - a postcard with origami elements. And tell the children about this day and that the day of Santa Claus and the Snow Maiden is a symbolic end of winter, followed by a wide and generous Shrovetide soon.

We will need:

scissors,
blue and brown colored paper
paper glue,
ruler,
pencil and cardboard for background/postcard,
paints or pencils for drawing.

From blue paper we cut out a square 15 * 15 cm, 2 * 2 (2 pcs), and 4 * 7, from brown 9 * 9.

For the torso coat, use a square with a side equal to 15 cm. Put the colored side towards you and fold in half. Bend the sides on the sides by half a centimeter, and from the bottom by 2 cm. Bend the upper corners to the midline and turn over to the other side. Follow the instructions shown in the diagram.
You can add a strip 2 cm wide in the middle of the fur coat. We drew her.
To fold the head, use a square blank with a side equal to 9 cm. Fold it in half in a diagonal direction. And then follow the diagram. Fold the top sides towards the center crease and fold the long corner back. Fold back the bottom corner and fold the braid in half.

Now we make mittens from paper squares measuring two by two centimeters. Fold the blanks in half and then bend the opposite corners to the center. Bend one corner towards you from the side. Here are the finished gloves. To make a hat for the Snow Maiden, take a rectangle with sides 4 and 7 cm. Fold it in half from top to bottom. Now fold the top corners to the middle, and bend the paper edge up from the bottom. Bend the top corner and hide it under the lapel. Put a hat on the head of the Snow Maiden.