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Ded Moroz (Russian for “Grandpa Frost”) will make it onto Tajikistan’s TV screens this New Year after all. A state media boss in the predominately-Muslim former Soviet nation announced earlier this week that he’d would ban Ded Moroz this year… a cheerful white-bearded figure equivalent to Father Christmas… as he isn’t in keeping with local traditions. However, Mahmadsaid Ubaidulloev, the influential mayor of the capital city, Dushanbe, put an end to that killjoy move and insisted that he be part of the festive celebrations. In recent years, Ded Moroz and other associated traditions, which are a legacy of Tajikistan’s history as a former Soviet republic, came under fire from hardline Muslims. The state broadcasting head, in announcing the Ded Moroz prohibition, said that New Year’s Eve programming would feature music, singing, dancing, and countdown festivities, but that they couldn’t show alcohol consumption. A Dushanbe city hall source insisted that no one slapped a ban, official or otherwise, on traditional New Year symbols, which typically include Ded Moroz and his comely granddaughter Snegurochka.
18 December 2013
RIA-Novosti
Voices from Russia 
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