Only Russia’s Father Frost has a companion called Snow Maiden

Ded Moroz, Russia’s Father Frost, has many relatives: Joulupukki, Sinterklaas, St. Nicholas, Jezisek, Babbo Natale, Santa Claus. However, none of them has Snegurochka, the Snow Maiden, as a companion, a girl with a long plait, in a fur coat and boots

No one knows who Snow Maiden’s parents are. One legend says that an old childless couple who wished they had children made a snow woman that turned into a real live girl

Russian writer Alexander Ostrovsky wrote a play based on the folktale. In 1882, the famous Russian composer Rimsky-Korsakov created the opera of the same name. New Year celebrations in the Moscow Pioneers Palace on Vorobyovy Gory (Sparrow Hills). The Snow Maiden is Nina Savinskaya, a Moscow concert artist

The Snow Maiden’s appearance symbolizes frozen waters

She dresses in white clothes and wears a crown decorated with silver and pearls on her head

However, rules are created to violate them. Snow Maiden can be dressed in blue gowns

And in turquoise

She has got her contemporary look only in the middle of the 20th centaury and when New Year celebrations were officially allowed in the Soviet Union

Originally she was pictured as a little girl and only later became a young woman