Also called Grandfather Frost, Morozko, Moroz, Dziadek Mróz, Did Moroz.
The tale
In the Russian fairy tale Morozko, a stepmother sends her stepdaughter into the frozen forest to die. Frost asks her again and again if she is warm, and she answers kindly each time, so he rewards her with furs and treasure. The stepmother's own daughter answers rudely and freezes. Older peasant custom also invited Frost to eat kisel on Christmas Eve so that he would spare the crops. The modern gift-bringer of New Year took shape in the nineteenth century and was revived by the Soviet state from 1935.
When they are met
- New Year
- Koliada
Staying on their good side
- kisel or porridge on Christmas Eve (an old custom of inviting the frost)
- kind words, which win his favour in the tale
Honouring them, or keeping safe
- Welcome the first hard frost with a word of respect.
- Tell the tale of Morozko and talk about kindness and patience.
What their tales teach
- kindness
- patience
- celebrating winter
Symbols
- a long blue or red coat
- a staff
- frost patterns
- a fir tree
The folk Frost is old, but the gift-giving Ded Moroz is a nineteenth and twentieth-century creation.
Sources
- Alexander Afanasyev, Narodnye russkie skazki ("Morozko")
- Linda J. Ivanits, Russian Folk Belief
More Slavic folklore
- Baba Yaga The witch in the hut on hen's legs
- Domovoi The grandfather who lives behind the stove
- Leshy The master of the forest
- Rusalka The maiden of river and birch
- Kikimora The spinner in the dark corner
- Koschei the Deathless The sorcerer whose death is hidden
- Kostroma The straw maiden of spring and summer
- Dodola The rain-bringing girl of summer