A Lesson on How Not to Be Santa Claus

Friday, December 24, 2004. Page 1.

Vladimir Filonov / MT

Sergei Garslyan and a trio of Snegurochkas-in-training attending an acting class at the City Hall-funded Ded Moroz School near the Vorobyovy Gory metro in southern Moscow.

City Hall is helping Ded Moroz ward off Santa Claus.

"There is staunch competition from Santa Claus on TV, radio and in advertisements," said Alexander Frolov, head of Moscow's only Ded Moroz school, which has been funded by the city's education department for four years.

"We have to fight for the Russian Ded Moroz, our culture and our traditions," he said.

At first glance, Ded Moroz, whose name translates as Grandfather Frost, has a lot in common with Santa. Both are kind, old men with white beards who come bearing gifts every December.

The main difference is that Santa is always sober and alone, while Ded Moroz is usually tipsy and with a girl, as an old joke goes.

Ded Moroz, who wears a sparkly red robe instead of tight-fitting red-and-white costume, carries a staff and arrives accompanied by his granddaughter, the beautiful snow maiden Snegurochka.

Thirty students are currently enrolled in the Ded Moroz School's three-week course to learn what it means to be a Ded Moroz and how to organize holiday festivities that will capture the attention of children desensitized by Western video games and action movies.

The students -- all employees of Moscow-run children's homes and educational institutions -- also learn how to recognize impostors.

At the end of the free course, students must be able to match the name of a foreign Ded Moroz, like Papa Noel, to his country of origin (Spain), and identify literary works that inspired the Ded Moroz tradition.

Frolov complained that children want to hear "Macarena" and other Western tunes at New Year's parties, but many of them have never even heard of "Morozko," a Russian fairy tale about winter's magic.

This is an economics problem, not a cultural one, said Sergei Garslyan, a Ded-Moroz-in-training in his early 40s who works at a children's recreation and tourism center in southern Moscow.

Garslyan said he does not agree with "all the talk about Santa Claus' ongoing expansion."

"Our factories are not filling the demand for Ded Moroz dolls, so we buy from China, which caters to American tastes," he said.

Garslyan recalled recently trying to exchange his Ded Moroz costume at the Detsky Mir department store for a better-fitting one and being told that he had snapped up the last outfit of its kind.

"There were still plenty of Santa costumes to go around, though," he said.

Frolov added: "It's often difficult to buy Ded Moroz or Snegurochka merchandise, but you'll find Santa Claus in virtually any kiosk."

Long before globalization and a free-market economy threatened Ded Moroz, communism almost got the better of him.

Orthodox Christmas on Jan. 7, the traditional time of Ded Moroz's arrival, ceased to be a state holiday after the 1917 Revolution. Pine trees were no longer sold, and Christmas celebrations were strongly discouraged.

Then in the 1930s, the Communist Party decided to transform Christmas festivities into secular New Year's celebrations.

Vladimir Filonov / MT

A Snegurochka putting on a blond wig. "I learn as I go, so this really helps," said Lyasova, who works at a center for troubled teens.

The angel that topped the decorated fir tree was replaced with a red star, and Ded Moroz and Snegurochka began arriving with their gifts on Dec. 31.

In addition, New Year's parties for children, called yolki, were staged at different culture houses around the country, the biggest one of which is still held at the Kremlin every year. The parties include Ded Moroz and Snegurochka, the lighting of the New Year's tree, and bags of candy.

"The yolki of the '80s were put on by amateurs," said Sergei Gopen, a theater director who teaches acting at the Ded Moroz School.

"We try to give these events some professionalism."

During a recent class, would-be Snegurochkas watched wide-eyed and open-mouthed as Gopen explained that they should avoid direct eye contact with a child for too long lest he steal their energy. They diligently scrawled down his advice in notebooks.

"Working with children requires much more concentration and a higher energy level than working with adults," Gopen explained to a reporter. "Mostly, I teach how to work the crowd."

Only two men were in attendance at the acting class, a reflection of the over-concentration of women in education, Garslyan said.

"Not many men go into this line of work, considering how little it pays," he added.

Graduates don't get paid anything above their normal salaries for dressing up for children's parties.

A lack of funding has also led to the closure of most free after-school children's clubs, Garslyan said, so the city-sponsored Ded Moroz School is a pleasant surprise.

"It teaches you how to put on any kind of celebration, including yolki," he said.

In addition to Ded Moroz's history and other theory courses, the school teaches stage makeup, drama, music and child psychology.

Vladimir Filonov / MT

Garslyan daubing makeup on his nose to make it red during a recent acting class.

"I am going to be Snegurochka, but I am also a teacher, activities director and one of the few people my kids can talk to," said Yevgenia Lyasova, who works at Istra, a center for troubled teens.

Lyasova, a feisty 18-year-old, was sent to Istra several years ago to, she said, "correct my behavior," and she decided to go back to teach there while studying for a degree in education.

"I learn as I go, so this really helps," Lyasova said of the Ded Moroz School.

Frolov was inspired to open the school when Mayor Yury Luzhkov announced in 1998 that he had granted Ded Moroz "permanent registration" in Veliky Ustyug, a 12th-century town in the north.

For now, the school, in a children's after-school center near the Vorobyovy Gory metro, is the only one of its kind in the country, but Frolov sees a future for similar schools in other cities.

"The more schools we open, the stronger our propaganda for the Russian Ded Moroz will be," he said.

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