Society

Which one is real?

So, already again New Year on the nose! Christmas tree, Olivier, the president on TV, Father Frost... or Santa Claus? Who will come this time to listen to poetry and give gifts to your child? And if it asks “Which of them is real?”, then not everyone will be able to immediately answer intelligently. Let's figure it out together.

1. History

The historical roots of Santa Claus take us deep into the pagan past of our people. The Eastern Slavs had such a character - grandfather Treskun (Karachun, Pozvizd, Zimnik), the ruler of snows and blizzards. He is more familiar to us who have already “matured” and are fair from the fairy tales “Morozko” and “Frost is a Red Nose,” but initially this grandfather was of a cool and cold disposition, and it is unlikely that anyone could expect gifts from him other than a frostbitten nose. In the old days, during carols, the face of the silent “Grandfather”, dressed in a sheepskin coat, was the most important and most terrible.

Santa Claus is much “younger”, and he has a real historical prototype - St. Nicholas (Nicholas, St. Nicholas), the patron saint of travelers and children. The future Christmas symbol was born in the 3rd century AD. in Lycia, a province of the Roman Empire. Having accomplished many good deeds during his life and being the archbishop of the city of Mirra, he lived to a ripe old age and was later canonized. One of the most famous stories associated with him is the rescue of the three daughters of a bankrupt townsman. The poor people, driven by extreme poverty, were going to be given over to “fornication.” The future saint protected the family from shame by throwing three bags of gold into their garden. According to another version, he threw the bags down the chimney, and they ended up in shoes (or stockings) that were drying nearby. This is where the tradition of throwing Christmas gifts came from.

2. Appearance

The image of a pot-bellied Santa in a red short fur coat, boots, cap, and glasses, riding on a sleigh drawn by reindeer, was created in 1822. It was then that the American professor of Greek and Oriental literature Clement Clarke Moore wrote the poem “The Parish of St. Nicholas,” in which the saint appeared before us like this. By the way, before that he was always depicted in a gray cloak and a wide-brimmed hat, which, of course, is historically more correct.

Santa Claus, although outwardly similar to Santa, has a number of distinctive features: his floor-length fur coat, and under it are rich felt boots embroidered with silver (he is from harsh, cold regions); the hat is a Russian boyar's, not a cap with a pompom; a staff is required - it plays an important role, since our Grandfather retained his main role as the lord of winter and frost, he needs to freeze rivers, lakes and children on Christmas trees! In addition, instead of eight deer and a bunch of shabby gnomes, he has only one assistant, but a beautiful one. Where the Snow Maiden came from is a story for a separate article, but the character is extremely convenient, and if Baba Yaga had not stolen her every matinee, it would be difficult for the scriptwriters of children's parties to live in the world!..

3. Habitat

We know for sure where Santa Claus lives: in Finland. Although many northern countries are still debating this issue, Finland has so far won on this issue. By a UN decision in 1984, Santa Claus was officially settled for permanent residence, together with the gnomes, in the town of Pajakylä, near the city of Rovaniemi in Lapland. You can write to him there at the address: Finland, 96930, Arctic Circle, or go to santamail.com. Lapland is also extremely popular as a New Year's holiday destination, where you can stay close to Santa Claus in a special village near the Finnish city of Rovaniemi. Finland is generally a favorite place to rent a cottage for the New Year.

Since 2005, the official birthday of the Russian Santa Claus celebrated on November 18th. This date was not chosen by chance: it is believed that on this day in the homeland of Father Frost - in Veliky Ustyug - frosts come and winter comes. At the same time, the age of the old man is unknown; moreover, there are several versions of the birth of this character.

The prototype of Santa Claus is considered to be a Slavic deity: the lord of cold and frost. The image of this spirit is reflected in Slavic fairy-tale folklore, where it is mentioned as Frost, Studenets, Treskunets, Morozko, Zyuzya. The Slavic peoples imagined this deity in the form of an old man with a long gray beard, who runs through the fields and causes cracking frosts by knocking. Considering that Slavic mythology was formed in the process of separating the ancient Slavs from the Indo-European community of peoples in the 2nd-1st millennium BC. e., then the age of Santa Claus may exceed 2000 years.

However, the Father Frost we know is not only the lord of winter and frost, but also a kind old man who brings gifts to children. A similar image is shown in the fairy tale “Moroz Ivanovich” Vladimir Odoevsky 1840, in which for the first time a literary treatment of folklore and ritual Frost was given. Moroz Ivanovich is described as a gray-haired old man who lives in an ice house and sleeps on a feather bed made of snow. He covers the winter shoots with snow, just like “he shakes his head and frost falls from his hair.” If we take into account how the image of Santa Claus enters the literary tradition, then his age is just under 180 years.

Author of works on the history of Father Frost in Russia, philologist Elena Dushechkina writes that the image of Moroz created by Odoevsky is still far from the character we know. According to her, it finally took shape only at the beginning of the twentieth century, when, in addition to verbal description, it acquired a recognizable visual form. By this time, the figure of an old man in a fur coat and with a bag in his hands became popular Christmas tree toy, as well as dolls in advertising windows, carnival masks began to be made in the shape of the face of Santa Claus. It wasn't until the 1910s that people dressed as Father Frost began to appear at children's parties. If we take into account the time of appearance of the familiar image of Santa Claus, then the character is just over 100 years old.

Philologist Svetlana Adonyeva in his history research new year tradition notes that Santa Claus as an obligatory character of the New Year holiday appeared only in the pre-war years. This image arose under the Soviet regime, which by the end of the thirties, after several years of prohibition, allowed Christmas trees again. Thus, Santa Claus as an attribute of the New Year holiday has existed for approximately 80 years.

How old is Santa Claus?

Age determination Santa Claus causes less difficulties than in the case of Santa Claus. Considering that the prototype of Santa is Saint Nicholas, aka Nicholas the Wonderworker, then the date of birth of the saint is taken as the character’s date of birth: 270 AD. e. Thus, Santa Claus is 1747 years old.

The date when Santa Claus became a hero is also known literary work. This happened in 1823, when the Christmas poem "An Account of the Visit of St. Nicholas" was published in New York. Its author, writer Clement Clarke Moore, wrote a poem for his three daughters, in which he talked about a jolly old elf who travels on a reindeer sleigh and brings gifts to children, entering the house through the chimney.

The image of Santa Claus entered popular culture after the American cartoonist Thomas Nast created an illustration of this character for Harper's Weekly. On January 3, 1863, this magazine published an image of a bearded old man wearing a suit painted in the colors of the American flag. It was a political cartoon that reflected the events of the Civil War. Santa Claus in his traditional costume and holding a bag of toys can be seen in Nast's later illustrations from the 1880s.

In the early 1890s, homeless people dressed as Santa Claus began appearing on the streets of New York City, collecting donations. The money was used by the Salvation Army charity to pay for free Christmas meals for families in need.

So which character is older?

Considering that the exact date of appearance of the prototype of Father Frost is unknown, we cannot compare his age with the age of Santa Claus. As for literary images, the description of Santa Claus, close to the modern one, was given a little earlier than the familiar Santa Claus. The visual image of the old man-donor was also first introduced to the Americans, and then to the residents of Russia.

How does our Russian Father Frost differ from the overseas Santa Claus, and what do they have in common?

Who is better, Father Frost or Santa Claus?

New Year 2016 is coming soon. Shops and shopping centers are the first to be transformed for the holiday. Well, this is understandable - we need to encourage the population to purchase, outfits , delicacies and champagne. We begin to think about inviting Father Frost or Santa Claus to our children. Stop! Are Father Frost and Santa Claus the same character? Or are these completely different fairy-tale characters? What do these Grandfathers have in common? How is our Russian Father Frost different from the overseas Santa Claus?

Let's figure it out together.

1. PLACE OF BIRTH

Since 1998, at the state level, it was decided to consider the city of Veliky Ustyug in the Vologda region to be the homeland and place of permanent residence of the Russian Father Frost. Currently there is an official residence there Santa Claus.

Motherland Santa Claus- Finnish Lapland, which is located far in the North beyond the Arctic Circle. There he lives permanently along with his hardworking assistants - fairy-tale gnomes.

2. APPEARANCE

Father Frost- not very old yet, handsome, strong, heroic build, tall old man. He has straight white hair and a long beautiful snow-white beard down to his waist, sometimes down to the ground. Santa Claus has a red nose from the cold and rosy cheeks. It has a loud booming bass.

Santa Claus- a man at a very advanced age, he is short and has a rather large tummy. Santa has curly gray hair, a white, curly beard, down to his chest. Santa Claus wears glasses and smokes a pipe. He is very cute and rosy-cheeked from the cold. Santa speaks in a loud, low voice.

3. OUTERWEAR.

Father Frost dressed in a warm, long fur coat with white fur inside, covered with blue-blue, white-silver or red brocade fabric. The fur coat is belted with a long sash.

Santa Claus always dressed in a short, light red jacket trimmed with white fur, belted with a black leather belt with a large metal buckle.

4. HEADGEAR.

On the head Santa Claus wearing a warm fur hat, shaped like an old boyar or royal hat. In the classic version, the lapels of this hat should be embroidered with precious crystals and pearls. In general, a rather expensive headdress.

U Santa Claus on the head there is a light red cap with a fur balaboshka.

5. MITTENS-GLOVES

Father Frost hides her hands in warm fur mittens. In the classic version, mittens should have three fingers.

In the arms of Santa Claus light black gloves

6. PANTS

U Santa Claus his pants are not visible from under his long fur coat, but it is assumed that his pants and shirt should be white from linen.

Santa Claus always wears red pants, made from the same fabric as the jacket.

7.FOOTWEAR

Modern Father Frost shod in Russian felt boots, most often white, embroidered with intricate patterns with silver thread. In the classic version, Santa Claus appeared in red leather boots on heels, with pointed toes turned up, embroidered beautiful patterns. Do you remember what kind of boots Ivan Tsarevich had from the Russian fairy tale? Santa Claus had the same ones when he was younger, but now at his age it’s time to keep his feet warm.

Santa Claus always wearing black leather boots.

8. STAFF

Father Frost When walking, he rests on a long carved staff, decorated with a precious knob or star on top. With this staff in winter, Santa Claus freezes everything he considers necessary: ​​rivers, lakes, seas, in general, everything around. It happened many times that in hard times, when Rus' was attacked by enemies, Frost came to the aid of Russian heroes. Remember history: this was the case during the wars with the Teutonic Knights, with Napoleon, and even with the Nazis.

In the hands of Santa Claus a long stick curved to the bottom with a hook. The stick is usually painted with red and green stripes. In my opinion, it's just a stick that Santa leans on when walking, and no magic.

9. TRANSPORT

Father Frost walks or skis, or comes in a sleigh drawn by three snow-white horses, personifying the three winter months.

Santa Claus moves across the sky on a sleigh drawn by a reindeer team of nine reindeer. All the reindeer have their own names, but the most popular is called Rudolf, and he is the first in the team.

10. HOW IT GET INTO THE HOUSE

Father Frost enters the house through the door.

Santa Claus secretly goes down the chimney into the house.

11. SATELLITES

Our Santa Claus at the New Year holiday he is always accompanied by his constant companion - his granddaughter Snow Maiden.

Santa Claus comes to Christmas almost always alone, sometimes accompanied by one or two gnomes.

12. KEY RESPONSIBILITIES

And ours Santa Claus, and Santa Claus one main responsibility is to give children gifts for New Year and Christmas. Only Santa Claus gives a gift to a child personally or secretly places it under a decorated Christmas tree, and Santa Claus puts gifts in socks that children hang by the fireplace especially for this purpose.

13. PROTOTYPES OR IMAGES

As a prototype Santa Claus there were Slavic pagan gods - Karachun, Treskun, Studenets, the hero-blacksmith, who freezes the earth in winter.

These pagan gods were quite evil and cruel, but over time they united, became kinder and turned into the kind, strong, brave, cheerful, fair and generous of our beloved Grandfather Frost.

And the prototype Santa Claus there was a Christian saint Nicholas the Wonderworker (Santa is a saint, Klaus is Nicholas), famous for, who secretly and completely disinterestedly helped the poor who had children.

Well, I think she told me everything she knew about Father Frost and Santa Claus. The conclusion is this: it is impossible to say which of them is better and which is worse, they are both very good and loved. These are the two best and most beloved grandfathers in the world! Happy New Year and Merry Christmas to you!

What would you say if, for example, someone portrayed our fabulous Emelya as an American cowboy against the backdrop of the prairies? Or imagine Vasilisa the Beautiful in the form of a charming mulatto. You are laughing in vain... Try asking your child to draw Santa Claus. You will be surprised, but you will most likely get Santa Claus!

This character with a powerful television advertising campaign has long been displacing our Santa Claus. And now more and more we receive and give not gifts, but “presents”, and instead of the New Year we hear a continuous “Happy New Year”. But let's remember how our traditional New Year's hero, Father Frost, differs from the “overseas” Santa.

1. Origin

Father Frost (Morozko) is an ancient native Russian character. Comes from the category of brownies, mermaids, goblins and other supernatural forces. Its existence has been known since time immemorial, and its main purpose is to pile up more snow and freeze bad people with cold.

Santa Claus is an image of Saint Nicholas, originally a Christian saint, who gives gifts to the poor and needy. This image of Santa Claus came into tradition in 1823 thanks to the Christmas work of Clement Moore, a seminary teacher.

2. Main colors

Santa Claus represents snow and frost, which means his main colors are blue and white. But red and green colors are also allowed.

Nobody remembers what colors Santa Claus originally wore... But since the mid-fifties of the last century, Santa Claus has become one of the advertising areas of the well-known transnational corporation for the production of soft drinks. In this connection, it can only be red and white and no other, because these are the “corporate” colors.

3. Outfits

Santa Claus is always dressed for a real Russian winter: a long fur coat sewn with patterns reaching to the ground, belted with a sash. The fur coat has a fur collar, warm felt boots and mittens. On the head is a warm hat, trimmed with fur.

Santa Claus dresses according to the weather: a light jacket, pants, shoes, a wide belt, light gloves that won’t save you in the cold. Santa has a nightcap with a pompom on his head. Very rarely, all these clothes can be “insulated” with white fur trim.

4. Beard

Santa Claus beard

Santa Claus has a long beard, reaching to the waist, or even to the floor.

Santa Claus has a maximum short beard in the shape of a “shovel”.

5. Working tools

Santa Claus's working tool is a staff, which can be crystal or silver. With them, Santa Claus freezes bad people and unfreezes good people. He also has a huge bag of gifts.

Santa Claus only has a bag of gifts.

Differences between Father Frost and Santa Claus. Where do these fairy-tale characters live? Where can you find them?

New Year's holidays are approaching all over the world. Soon Father Frost and Santa Claus will pack their bags and go to distribute gifts to obedient children in every country. But first, each of them will read all the letters that came from them.

It is interesting that these main characters of the Christmas and New Year period work on their own territory and do not encroach on the property of their neighbor.

What are the differences between them, where do they live and is it really possible to see them together at the same time? Let’s talk in more detail.

What is the difference between Santa Claus and Santa Claus: comparison, differences and similarities

drawings of Father Frost and Santa Claus to determine the differences between them

There are more differences between Father Frost and Santa Claus than similarities. Let's start with them:

• Headdress.
  Santa has a nightcap, Grandfather has a hat trimmed with fur. Due to the strong climate difference in Russia, a thin cap will not help you warm up from the severe cold. Frost's hat should be embroidered with pearls and silver, have a wide hem and an oval shape.
• Our vision is stronger fairy tale hero than European. The last one wears glasses
• Santa Claus's beard is longer, it reaches the waist, although the classic size is down to the toes. His colleague's is short and spade-shaped
• Cloth.
  Our Grandfather wears long fur coat toe-to-toe in red, blue or white, unlike Santa, who prefers a short jacket only in red because he advertises Coca-Cola. Again, the climatic conditions of the north of Russia require high-quality insulation with a fur coat.
• Shoes.
  Frost is comfortable only in felt boots, and Klaus is comfortable in boots.
• Grandfather has mittens on his hands, and Santa has gloves. In severe frost, you can only keep warm with gloves
• Belt our hero has a wide one, tied around the waist. European character wears a belt with buckle
• Grandfather holds a staff in his hands, and Santa holds a bag of gifts or nothing. With his staff, our hero covers trees with snow, freezes water, that is, works miracles.
• The bad habit of smoking a pipe is characteristic of many Santa Claus characters. Our character leads healthy image life
• Method of transportation.
  Santa only rides in a cart pulled by reindeer. Santa Claus prefers to walk, or at least ride in a sleigh driven by three horses.
• Habitat.
  Santa lives in Lapland in a big house, and Frost lives in a log house in the Siberian wilderness.
• Assistants- Santa has elves and gnomes, but our Frost is helped by his granddaughter Snegurochka; before the revolution there were angels.

What these New Year's heroes have in common is their origin from a Christian saint named Nicholas, who lived in an ancient Byzantine city. He protected children and patronized them.

In Tsarist Russia, Nicholas the Wonderworker became associated with the hero New Year's holidays. After the revolution in the last century and persecution of religion and its paraphernalia, the image and name were replaced by Father Frost.

North American peoples had a folklore character who gave gifts to children at Christmas. He came to Europe as Saint Nicholas, the patron saint of children. Translation to English language his name transformed into Santa Claus.

Father Frost and Santa Claus: differences, differences in appearance, costume, photo

photo New Year's characters Father Frost and Santa Claus looking at a moose figurine

Let's add a series of photographs of Santa Claus and Father Frost to remember the visual difference between them in appearance.

external differences between Father Frost and Santa Claus, Figure 1

external differences between Father Frost and Santa Claus, Figure 2

external differences between Father Frost and Santa Claus, Figure 3

Who is older, better, cooler, stronger: Father Frost or Santa Claus?

collage drawing “Santa or Father Frost?”

Grandfather Frost is definitely older. This image came to Christianity from pagan times.

Our Santa Claus is also stronger. In addition to his physically developed body, he wields a magic staff. Santa has neither one nor the other.

To answer the question of who is better, you need to decide on the parameters. The same applies to determining the coolness of heroes. For example, Santa Claus is more interesting because he always goes accompanied by his beautiful granddaughter, he is a wizard, he loves wildlife and take care of her. Does not obey anyone and does not advertise to anyone. Lives freely and honestly.

Where do Father Frost and Santa Claus live?

photo of Santa Claus's residence at night, top view

Santa Claus lives above the Arctic Circle in a territory called Lapland. By the way, this is the northern part of Russia, Sweden and Finland.

Officially, his residence is considered to be a place located 8 km from the town of Rovaniemi in Finland. An international airport, a large office, an amusement park and a shopping center have been built here. Santa's residence welcomes tourists all year round.

Since the late 90s of the last century, the city of Bolshoy Ustyug in the Vologda region has been officially recognized as the residence of Father Frost. Before that, she was in Arkhangelsk and on the Kola Peninsula in the Lapland Nature Reserve. Currently, there are representative offices of Father Frost in Moscow and Murmansk.

Where can Father Frost and Santa Claus meet?

Santa Claus and Father Frost met at a corporate party

• Theoretically, these characters should not meet, since they work in different territories.
• If you play with words and pay attention to their place of residence - Lapland and the Lapland Nature Reserve, then it is logical to assume that they are neighbors.
• In practice, Santa Claus and Father Frost intersect at New Year's corporate parties, on the street during the holidays.

If you hear a similar question at a holiday quiz, the correct answers will be:

• at the border, matinee
• in a shopping center, airport
• under the door of your house

Use your imagination and come up with the most extraordinary guesses regarding the meeting place of Father Frost and Santa Claus.

Video: what is the difference between Father Frost and Santa Claus?