In the past, under the soviet regime in USSR, the soviets tried to replace santa claus with Dedo Mraz. As you may know, the red outfit of Santa Claus was imposed by Coca Cola. He was previously dressed in green. Santa Claus was a western figure and they wanted to get rid of him.

So, I found some soviet articles pretending that Dedo Mraz was worshipped in Slovakia too. I wonder if Dedo Mraz, the soviet replacement for Santa Claus was really part of the Slovakian tradition or if it was an invention of the soviets. Have you already heard of Dedo Mraz?

Dedo Mraz has a magic rod and he can make snow or ice. He is helped by his granddaughter. He wears blue, white or red. He is also called father frost.

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ded\_Moroz](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ded_Moroz)

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https://preview.redd.it/r18mo9vfc18a1.png?width=300&format=png&auto=webp&s=2df3532705f39ec95b1d1e69e910b3bccc3a9ed3

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https://preview.redd.it/ypx46bnvc18a1.png?width=450&format=png&auto=webp&s=14d015eb3f05fdc8d4ae1eec9b708fb24717cf4c

15 comments

  3. Of course I’ve heard of him. When I was little some kids got presents from him. Even my high school friend told us they used to get presents from Dedo Mráz when they were little.

    I thought it was pretty common.

  5. Slovakia has a long tradition of St Nicolas visiting kids on 6th December. The good kids get sweets, naughty ones also pieces of coal or potatoes. St Nicolas or Svätý Mikuláš is often accompanied by two assistants, an angel and a devil. During socialism, Russians tried to replace this tradition by Dedo Mráz. Thankfully they failed miserably.

  6. Communists tried to replace Baby Jesus with Dedo Mraz.
    Head of government even had a speech, where he tried to push this change in 50s: https://youtu.be/72yxNER7Dhk

    In our household it was always Dedo Mraz as we are atheists. But with my wife and other people I am learning we were exception and everyone around me actually uses Baby Jesus, which for me simply does not make sense 😀

  9. Yop, it was pretty common I think mainly in less religous regions and families. In my family we still use term dedo mraz instead of baby jesus “jezisko” and “santa claus” is actially saint nicholas “svaty mikulas” who brings sweets for children on 6th of december.

  10. V časoch, keď sovietsky svätý Mikuláš (Dedo Mráz) chodil rozdávať deťom darčeky, ale som si istý, že mnohé rodiny s tým teraz prestali.

  11. you have messed it up a little bit

    there has absolutely no been Santa Claus tradition in Czechoslovakia before Soviet era

    there was tradition of Ježiško (Baby Jesus) bringing gifts on Christmas. Communists in Czechoslovakia replaced Ježiško with Dedo Mráz, because they wanted to remove any Christian references – communists were anti-Christian.

    here, bit of funny propaganda, if you understand Czech:

    [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=72yxNER7Dhk](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=72yxNER7Dhk)

    Slovak/Czech version of St. Claus was more like Svätý Mikuláš, that comes at December 6th (not on the Christmas!). here, Communists only removed “svätý” (saint) and any religious symbols, but otherwise this tradition did still remain.

  12. When I was a kid I thought Dedo Mráz is just another fictional character, like a male snow fairy from movies/books. Same category as 12 mesiačikov or something like that. Never met anyone who believed he was real. So it’s actually interesting to read about his history in this comment section.

    When it came to Mikuláš (dec 6.) and Ježiško (Christmas), I knew some of my friends believed in them so I wasn’t supposed to ruin the magic for them. My parents always made it clear that we’re exchanging gifts to surprise each other (same as birthdays, just for everyone at the same time)

  15. What do you mean “pretended”? I know Dedo Mraz. Can’t say I “worship” him because I don’t worship anything apart from Captain James Flint, but I definitely grew up with him as an entity of myth as large as Jezisko or Cert.

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