Ded Moroz (Grandpa Frost) is a traditional gift-bearing Slavic character who makes his appearance during the New Year celebrations with a big goody bag full of presents for kids. Yet, he isn’t the only one who has such a generous habit.
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One of the most famous of Father Frost’s colleagues is Santa Claus, with his fur-trimmed red jacket, white-cuffed pants, and a matching cap. His outfit isn’t as old as one might think; it stems from Coca-Cola Christmas advertising, which popularised this image in the 1930s.
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In Finland, this character is better known as Joulupukki.
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In the Netherlands, he appears under the alias of Sinterklaas.
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The woods of legendary Lapland in northernmost Sweden and Norway are home to Julenisse, a hunch-backed little old man with a potato-shaped nose. Southern Norway and Denmark can boast a similar gift-delivering spirit of Christmas called Tomte Gnome.
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France has two Santa Clauses for good and bad kids respectively. The good one, called Père Noël, carries a basketful of presents, whilst the strict one, named Père Chalande, wears a fur cap and a warm travel cloak and whips naughty children.
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The Italian Father Christmas is called Babbo Natale.
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The Basques call their Christmas wizard Olentzero. He wears homespun clothes and carries around a bottle of good Spanish wine.
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The Romanians call him Mos Craciun.
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The Tatar Santa Claus, Kysh Babai, goes around with a relative of Snegurochka (Snow Maiden) named Kar-Kyzy.
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The Muslim Santa Claus is an old man in a red cap, a green robe strewn with flowers, and a matching green scarf. His name is Hızır-İlyas and he brings presents in early May.
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17 December 2012
Voice of Russia World Service
