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Father Frost
23.11.2005 11:10
hidden europe/ Issue 5 - November 2005 /By Nicky Gardner/ www.hiddeneurope.co.uk
In late 2005, hidden europe magazine gave a useful account of Veliky Ustyug, detailing the town's links with Ded Moroz (Father Frost). The original article was written by Nicky Gardner and is reproduced here courtesy of hidden europe (www.hiddeneurope.co.uk).
Our faith in Santa Claus never wavered until we went to Miskolc in Hungary a couple of years ago. During occasional December visits to England, we had noticed Santa Special flights advertised from even quite minor regional airports. All the way to Rovaniemi in northern Finland and back in a day! Just enough time to confirm that the old man with white beard and red suit really exists, have a chat with the elves, feed the reindeer, and still be home by midnight. But a chance encounter in Miskolc in early December 2003 sowed the seeds of doubt.
Santa Claus was posing for photographs against the fading Baroque facades of a Hungarian industrial town at the very time of year when he should have been up in northern Finland busying himself in preparation for the upcoming peak season. But what was really troubling was that Santa Claus' appearance in Miskolc was evidently of far less consequence than the furore occasioned by the presence of a seeming rival to the short sighted old man from Lapland. For Father Frost and his Snow Maiden were in town, and when these two Russian celebrities eventually came face to face with Santa Claus outside Miskolc's crumbling Jewish orthodox synagogue, it was evident that, in terms of crowd appeal, the Russian duo won hands down.
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