there are many different ways to celebrate Christmas
in Portugal it's tradition to invite dead relatives to dine with you
in Sweden they watch the same Disney cartoon every year
first shown in 1958 40 of a country watch it on television each Christmas
in Greenland they eat raw whale skin
in some countries parents even warn their children of a serial home Invader called Santa
so no matter where you are Christmas is a weird Affair
but with Christmas being so often linked to religion how was it celebrated in the Soviet Union
to understand
Soviet Christmas there are some things you need to know first
Russia is an Eastern Orthodox country so they've always celebrated Christmas in January
it's also never been as big there as it is in the west
while westerners see Christmas as the number one holiday they prefer Easter
that being said it was big enough to become a political issue
in 1922 the Soviet Union was established having won a brutal Civil War
the revolutionaries were now free to do whatever they wanted
that included seven many ties to the past
for a while they even tried to ban alcohol in Russia
that's like banning cheese in France or cocaine in Florida
yet they saw it as just another way the old regime controlled the masses
just like in present-day North Korea they
saw religion as counter revolutionary and Christmas as a negative influence
so the new government largely discouraged it
and when I say discourage I mean they outright banned it in 1928
while no Easter there is a lot of tradition behind Russian Christmas
instead of Santa Claus they have ded moroz which literally means grandfather Frost
rooted in Slavic mythology he was originally an evil wizard who would freeze people to death
but in time Christianity remolded ded moroz
transforming him into a benevolent figure
but Stalin hated him
when Christmas was outlawed in 1928 ded moroz was officially declared an ally of the priest
and believe me that was not a good thing in Stalinist Russia
but in 1935 it was decided the origins of ded moroz were pre-christian and
therefore not a threat to the atheism of the Soviet Union
ded moroz was back but not for Christmas
that was still banned the Soviet governments
embraced new years which is arguably the least religious holiday of all
at first it was just a small celebration but in time many Christmas traditions made their way over
it took a while for Christmas trees to catch on because for
a long time in Russia they were seen as a bad Omen
but eventually they would join ded moroz and gift-giving
they even produced animated New Year's films
which were basically just Russian versions of our Christmas films
ded moroz has the exact appearance of Father Christmas and flies to
Moscow where he delivers presents to children
the only major difference is that he has a spaceship
not a sleigh
also there are the weird tree goblins he hangs around with
but other than that he's just Santa
after the death of Stalin the Soviet Union became a lot less brutal
this easing of brutality extended itself to religious expression
so more and more began celebrating Christmas at home
technically this was still illegal
in fact Christmas was only reinstated in 1991 with a collapse of a Soviet Union
but by that time New Years had fully embedded itself into popular culture
still now it is a much bigger holiday
retaining many of the traditions we associate with Christmas
so the whole thing is weird
some people even sued the new Russian government
claiming it was illegal to recognize Christmas
but most people just don't care either way
there was a similar situation in Yugoslavia
but a lot more creepy as you can see in this photo
it's not the weird makeup or monobrow that's truly scary
nor is it the wimp behind the kid
it's something about the beard
but Yugoslavia is another story