Mass Media Overview
Father Frost gets a present
24.12.2010 14:42
http://english.ruvr.ru/ by Maria Domnitskaya
Nov 18, 2010
The Russian "brother" of Santa Claus – Father Frost, who is loved by children for giving presents, has received an unusual present himself.
For some time now, November 18 is considered to be Father Frost's birthday, and the city of Velikiy Ustyug in Russia's north – his birthplace, though hardly anyone can explain why it is so.
Even though he is believed to be several thousands years old, Father Frost turns out to be a modern man – at least, he feels quite at ease with all kinds of technical novelties. At his residence in Velikiy Ustyug, the magician actively uses computers – he receives letters from children via e-mail and hosts several Web sites.
The present that Mr. Frost received for his birthday this year is a new staff. True, he's been using staves for a long time already, but this one is quite a modern and unique version – it has a GLONASS transmitter in it. Here is what Father Frost himself says of this present:
"Everybody knows that in America, the Santa Claus's Christmas route is supervised by NASA itself. However, Russia now also has technologies that can trace Father Frost's entire journey on New Year's Eve, within ten meters of his actual path. This staff was presented to me by children from St. Peterburg."
So, very soon anyone in any part of the globe will be able to learn where Father Frost now is. With the help of the GLONASS satellite system, signals from the staff will be transmitted to a special control station, and then – to a special Web site which will have a map of Father Frost's New Year's Eve route. This year, the magician intends to make quite a big journey – he is going to visit about 30 Russian cities, from Yakutsk (on November 21) to St. Petersburg (on December 30).
On the evening of November 18, Father Frost lit the lights on the Christmas tree in Velikiy Ustyug's main square with his magic staff, thus kicking off the festive season.