The second image up there is not of Ded Moroz and Snegurochka, it's a scene from a famous fairy tale about Morozko (embodiment of Frost) and the poor orphaned girl he helps when she is abandoned by her evil stepmother int eh forest in the dead of winter. That's him putting a fur coat around her before sending her home laden with precious gifts.

A note on Snegurochka herself: in recent years I've seen her outfits become shorter and skimpyer, in line with the general ultra-sexualised image of women in post-communist Russia. Naturally, traditionally she'd be wearing heavy robes & furs like in your first image, cause, duh, Russian winter, but miniskirts and heavy cleavage are not uncommon now. A bit like what happened to the Oktoberfest outfits you wrote about a while back... Funnily enough the Anglo world is responding by introducing female "elfs" in microminis out of nowhere. Weird cross-pollination of objectification!

Wait, does this mean Santa has SEX?

And where are his middle-aged children?

Reminds me - my daughter's school this year (and possibly last year) had mixed Santa Lucia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Lucy's_Day) parades / choirs, i.e., allowing boys in what was in my day very much for the (pretty) girls.

I want that first Snegurochka's outfit!

That's pretty cool, we should totally appropriate Snegurochka for our own culture.

ahhh memories. for some reason i had completely forgotten about Snegurochka even though i knew about her when i was small....hmm

Unlike Black Pete and Krampus, at least Snegurochka isn't easy to connect to White supremcy & negative stereotypes about dark skinned people.

Just like there are Black men who dress up as Santa Claus, there could be Black females who costume up as snow maidens.

The only problem I can see is with that name "Snegurochka". It has too many syllables, it's too hard to pronounce, and it's just too darn foreign looking for red blooded Americans.

But I have faith in Hollywood writers. They'll come up with a more acceptable name that with widespread promotion (in the USA & elsewhere) would soon be considered the Snow Maiden's real name.

Aren't the Russian Santa (Father Frost) and the Snow Maiden characters related to New Year rather than Christmas?

While definitely a cool story, I think it is kind of misinforming. Grandpa Frost (as is the literal translation of the name, though people do call him Father Frost) is not associated with Christmas, much less with religion. He is a character most used for Russian New Year. Also, he stems from pagan roots (though I guess one could say that about Santa and Christmas as well). Really, calling him a Santa figure doesn't seem to be well received by my Russian relatives. They all scrunched up their face and shook their heads. My husband pulled up the Russian wikipedia article to quote things at me. lol

Apparently he was a cruel and evil God who would freeze people. From the beginning of 20th century, especially since the 1930s, the Soviet "propaganda machine" (wikipedia's words, not mine) recast him as a benevolent character who brings kids presents on New Year's eve.

Orthodox Christmas,one of the most holiest church holidays of the Russian Orthodox Church is January 7, not December 7 !! This holiday has nothing to do with Snegurochka. It is the celebration of the birth of Jesus Christ. Snegurochka, Santa Claus, Father Frost are not a part of our celebration.

I love your reply