The danger of Soviet Santa Claus (Did Moroz in Ukrainian) “Gifts”.
Recently, I read Oksana Yatsiuk’s reflection on the story of Soviet Santa (Did Moroz), who visited children and brought them “gifts”. The Did Moroz character was created during USSR rule and aimed to replace Saint Nicolas (Svyatyj Mykolay), who had stronger religious connotation that was not allowed during USSR rule for Soviet kids. Several generations of Ukrainian children since 1930s grown up thinking that if they followed Soviet ideology, Did Moroz would keep coming to their house and bringing them “gifts.” This year, Ukraine commemorated the 90th year of Holodomor-Genocide. It is time to decolonize Did Moroz’s story and teach kids the history of Soviet Did Moroz and what “gifts” he was bringing to Soviet kids.
Here are the original words from Oksana Yatsiuk translated by Dr. Oleksandr (Sasha) Kondrashov. The read is emotionally challenging but needed to understand the danger of Did Moroz “gifts”.
“I’ve read in discussions that many people don’t understand what’s wrong with a “good New Year’s character (Did Moroz)”. He brings “gifts” to children.
I’m going to write my explanation.
Let’s imagine that we are now in the 1930s in the USSR. Our family was a little more prosperous than others. We worked from dawn till dusk and had a thresher, a mill and an apiary.
All this was taken away to the collective farm.
My uncle’s wife protested, and they took her away.
There was no bread. My great-grandmother took her earrings to Vinnytsia, handed them to the state-run Pawn shop and bought bread. On the way home, they spent the night at a friend’s house, who wanted to feed their guests and took out a tub with the remains of a human body. (No matter how much I tried, I cannot describe this part, but it happened to my relatives).
The church was destroyed.
The priest was summoned to Vinnytsia, he said goodbye and left. No one saw him again.
When your neighbours were being dekulakised (e.g. Dekulakization was the Soviet campaign of political repressions, including arrests, deportations, or executions of millions of kulaks (prosperous peasants)), they wanted to take your friend’s coat. The teenage daughter put it on and ran away from the house. They caught up with her and took the coat. The girl fell ill and died.
Children were allowed to go to school when you joined the collective farm. They gave you tea and a piece of bread. But other children were not allowed. Every day, 10-12 people were taken to the cemetery. From your small village, not even a village, a hamlet.
And then at school they said, “Children, the Soviet government and Comrade Stalin are giving you a New Year tree. And Did Moroz came…
You didn’t want the children to go to that New Year tree party, and you didn’t want that Did Moroz But there was no choice, everyone was told about Did Moroz at school.
And only you told about the famine and killed relatives, and very quietly so that no one would tell…
It was terrible and unfair. The Soviet government took away your relatives, freedom, property, community and neighbours and then “gave the children Did Moroz”.
Your children grew up, their children went to school. TV sets appeared in their homes. Children listened to teachers, watched films about pioneers and “Masha and Vitya”, danced with Did Moroz, decorated the New Year tree and believed that it had always been like that. They would tell their children stories about “our family’s traditions”, such as “once my mother went to see Did Moroz and brought me a present”. They no longer knew about famine or collective farms, but knew that “there was always Did Moroz”.
I emphasize they did not know. But I do. And now you know where the fairy-tale character came from. By supporting the “good fairy tale” about Did Moroz, you support the executioners of your people, those who robbed, killed, destroyed cultural monuments and folk traditions.
Our grandparents could not tell us the truth, but we can and must tell our children the truth now.
Our grandparents could not refuse the imposed “Did Moroz fairy tale”, but we can.
Think about the girl in the coat, chased by the Soviet party members. To take off the coat and leave her in the cold.
Think that in a few years, these Soviet party members will organize a New Year tree and come dressed as Did Moroz to the children who survived. To the children who attended the girl’s funeral, who know about the famine and the forced collective farm.
How will these children feel?
Will their suffering be enough to make us abandon Did Moroz and not carry on this “tradition” for the next generations?” Here ends the reflection from Oksana Yatsiuk.
I hope in places outside of russia you will not see Did Moroz coming to your house and bringing “gifts”. Soviet, now russian ideology, brings destruction. It was hard seeing news from Mariupol last year where Did Moroz kept coming on Ukrainian-occupied land, knowing that russia destroyed the city and now keeps promoting their ideology as they did in 1930s……
Key learning from the story:
- Did Moroz story erases families’ true hardships and traumas under Soviet rule – famine, dekulakization, religious oppression.
- It covers up the lack of basic rights and needs – no bread, destroyed churches, exile of dissenters.
- It whitewashes state atrocities like mass graves and State-run Pawn Shops (Torgsin’s) exploitation.
- The story was used alongside coercion to force collective farms.
- It manipulates children via schools to accept Soviet propaganda and false “gifts”.
- Generations losing connection to the past come to actually believe Did Moroz as a Soviet “tradition”.
- The narrative buries families’ lived experiences of suffering and political violence.
- Keeping the myth alive supports historical revisionism about the brutality under Stalin.
- Did Moroz endures while memory of victims fades away.
- Rejecting the myth honours the real stories of resistance and resilience. The truth must be passed on.
Action steps to decolonize the Did Moroz story:
- Develop alternative folk tales and children’s stories highlighting truth and resilience under Soviet oppression.
- Promote grassroots education initiatives outlining the history of Soviet propaganda and whitewashing.
- Demand removal of state-sponsored and tax-funded Did Moroz events and characters.
- Advocate for memorial sites/museums contextualizing the victims of Stalin-era atrocities.
- Petition schools to add units analyzing Soviet repression and questioning historical myths.
- Sponsor community seminars for intergenerational dialogue and truth-sharing around lived oppression.
- Support independent media directly confronting past propaganda with facts.
- Fund research into Soviet memory holes and the harms of disinformation.
- Reward student projects interviewing elders and surfacing family/local perspectives.
- Critique current russian regimes amplifying historical revisionism across regions.
The core emphasis should be on constructing authentic, ethical narratives that give voice to silenced experiences under Soviet rule. This replaces state myth-making with truth-telling while promoting informed resistance to the lingering effects of imperialist propaganda.
References:
Дід Мороз: що поганого в цій казці? https://maidan.org.ua/2022/12/did-moroz-shcho-pohanoho-v-tsiy-kaztsi/
До чого тут дід Мороз: продовження https://maidan.org.ua/2022/12/do-choho-tut-did-moroz-prodovzhennia/
До чого тут дід Мороз https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Acx5BVG31Pk
Дед Мороз продолжает дарить подарки жителям Восточного https://mariupol-news.ru/society/2023/01/03/28385.html
Ded Moroz: the story of the soviet Santa Claus https://www.zmescience.com/feature-post/culture/culture-society/ded-moroz-soviet-santa-claus/
How Soviet Russia Banished Their Version of Santa Claus, Then Brought Him Back to Spread Communist Cheer https://time.com/5922931/santa-claus-soviet-history/
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