Everyone knows that Russia’ Father Frost (a Russian version of Santa Claus, the Christmas gift giver) lives near the city of Veliky Ustyug. But where does the Snow Maiden (named Snegurochka in Russian), live? In the frosty Urals? In snowy Siberia? In icy Norilsk? Not at all! She lives in Sochi. That’s right, here the Berendey’s Kingdom (Tsar Berendey is a fairy-tale king and character in the Russian literature who lives in the southern forests). And the New Year’s fairy tale was created thanks to a real person.
Alexander Ostrovsky, a Russian writer and the creator of the wonderful fairy tale Snegurochka (The Snow Maiden) told from the very beginning where and when this nice story took place. Here is an excerpt from the instructions for the actors.
“The action takes place in the Berendeys’ Land in prehistoric times. Prologue is on the Krasnaya Gorka (Red Hill), near the Berendey Posad (craftsmen and tradesmen settlement in Old Russia), the capital of Tsar Berendey’s Kingdom. The first act is in Berendey’s settlement across the river. The second act is in Tsar Berendey’s palace. The third act is in the pristine forest…”
Well, where is this country? Where did the glorious Berendey live? Where did Lel (a cheerful and frivolous god of love passion among the Slavs) sing his beautiful songs? Where did the courageous Mizgir (a spider; in traditional culture, it is a creature close to the host of evil spirits) yearn for his beloved girl? Where did the slender Snow Maiden - Snegurochka - delight everyone with her friendliness? All this happens in the Caucasus. More precisely, in the mountains near the Lazarevskoye, a district in the city of Sochi. All local guidebooks now inform about this. And it is high time to tell a very wonderful story.
In the early 1950s, a little boy named Salim Khusht came to study at the school of the village of Ashe where the Shapsugs (a very large tribe that occupied extensive areas of the Black Sea coast and the Kuban River) lived. He could speak his native language only, and did not know how to read or count at all. His first teacher was also a Shapsug girl, Faina Khunova. She was good at conducting lessons and worked real miracles! She helped the children studying at the small school of the tiny village to get acquainted with the richest culture of Great Russia, including the poems by Alexander Pushkin and Mikhail Lermontov! As well as the stories by Anton Chekhov! The teacher said “All this now belongs to you, children, the kids from the Shapsug village!”
One rainy autumn day, the teacher told her pupils about the fairy tale by Alexander Ostrovsky ‘Snegurochka’ (The Snow Maiden). It was windy and wet outside, but the teacher’s words made the classroom warm and cozy. A wonderful Russian fairy tale! Salim Khusht remembered that lesson forever.
The boy became a grown-up! He has lived all his life in his native village, worked as a tea grower, truck or tractor driver. He retired, like many of his fellow villagers. And one day, he decided to do something brave. He and his children decided to clean a gorge and make an access for tourists to this place. And as soon as they were under the tree crowns, Salim Khusht saw the stunning beauty of the nature around and exclaimed:
- How beautiful it is here! The real Berendey’s Kingdom, like in the fairy tale about Snegurochka!
The Sochi National Park’s employees agreed that the name was good. Everyone even thought it was funny to ‘populate’ the local forests - the Berendey’s Kingdom - the with the heroes of Alexander Ostrovsky’s fairy tale. And Salim Khusht really managed to do it. So, places related to the fairy-tale ‘heroes’ appeared in the Berendey’s Kingdom. The Lel River, the Kupava (a Russian female name) Waterfall, the Berendey’s Beard Rock Canyon, the Mizgir’s Bridge, and the most graceful, amazingly beautiful Snegurochka Waterfall.
Now, tourists come to the natural attraction - the Berendey’s Kingdom - every day. Many of them come from of ancient Russian cities - Moscow, Vladimir, Novgorod the Great, Yaroslavl, and Kostroma. Everyone is surprised where the local villagers’ great love for Russian traditions came from to the Caucasus. Salim Khusht, a wise Shapsug, told us about his falling in love with Alexander Ostrovsky’s fairy tale Snegurochka in his early childhood. And he invited us to walk around the Berendey’s Kingdom where the heroes we all know from childhood feel so wonderful - the singing Lel, the beautiful Kupava, the courageous Mizgir, the wise Berendey and, of course, the beautiful Snow Maiden - Snegurochka.
New Year’s gift
By the way, our country also received its most important New Year’s gift in Sochi. Just a little bit of history.
The tradition of celebrating the New Year with nicely decorated fir trees appeared in Russia in 1700, after the decree of Emperor Peter I. The tradition came from Germany. But in 1914, the First World War began, and Russia was plunged into bloody conflict with the German state. Under the pressure of patriotic sentiments of the population, the Germans were evicted from territory of the German colonies located in the Caucasus and the Volga region, signs written in German disappeared everywhere, the name of Russia’s capital - St. Petersburg - was changed for ‘Petrograd’ so that to sound in the Russian manner. New Year trees were ‘cancelled’ and banned by decision of the highest body of the Russian Orthodox Church, the Holy Synod.
Then the revolution came in 1917, civil war and devastation, no one remembered the New Year trees. In an attempt to pull the country out of the economic collapse, Joseph Stalin, General Secretary of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks), pursued a tough policy aimed at the industrialization and collectivization of the country. And he succeeded greatly. At first, Russia coped with the starvation in the USSR, and by the mid-1930s, ration tickets were abolished in the country, the Soviet ruble strengthened, villagers were allowed to keep cows and cattle, students continued their studies at institutes and universities. The people wanted festivals, and the Bolshevik leaders of the country understood this very well.
In October 1935, Joseph Stalin, as usual, spent his vacation at his state dacha (vacation house) Green Roshcha (Grove) in Sochi. Pavel Postyshev, the second secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Ukraine, came to the resort city for a meeting with the ‘leader of all peoples’. He grew up in a very poor family in the town of Ivanovo-Voznesensk, and remembered forever how the children from working-class families stood outside and secretly looked through the windows of wealthy families’ houses during the New Year’s holidays, admiring the fun of the children around the beautiful New Year Tree.
- Pavel Postyshev asked Stalin, “Why don’t we bring back the tradition of holding children’s New Year parties around a Christmas tree?”
To Pavel Postyshev’s great amazement, Joseph Stalin agreed. Soon, Pavel Postyshev’s letter was published in Pravda newspaper titled “Let’s Organize a Nice New Year Party for Children!” By his order, a large children’s New Year party with a nicely decorated New Yar tree was held on January 1, 1936, in the Kharkov Palace of Pioneers. The wonderful New Year party was a great success and soon, a decree of the USSR Government signed by Joseph Stalin was issued that officially permitted holding New Year parties for children who could play and make fun around a decorated New Year tree.
It was decided to install the country’s first main New Year tree in the Column Hall of the House of Unions in 1937. Entertainer Mikhail Garkavi, who was better known as the husband of the great USSR singer Lidiya Ruslanova, worked on the preparations for the party. He knew Russian folklore very well and decided to use the clothes of Moroz (Frost) Ivanovich (a character from the collection of works by famous Russian poet Vladimir Odoevsky, Tales of Grandfather Iriney, to appear before the children. During the rehearsals, Moroz Ivanovich turned into Ded Moroz (Father Frost, or Grandfather Frost in Russian). In the early 1950s, Snow Maiden - Snegurochka - ‘came’ to help him. The entertainers during the New Year parties noticed that little children were scared by the sudden appearance of Father Frost, they needed to be gradually prepared for this. Who could do this? A sweet young woman who looked like their mother. This image was created by two children’s writers Lev Kassil and Sergei Mikhalkov based on the fairy tale by Alexander Ostrovsky. Since then, Father Frost and Snegurochka have been entertaining children who love them both. And this tradition began in Sochi. So, while spending the New Year holidays in the resort city, do not forget to visit Stalin’s dacha Green Grove.
