Featured image: “Snegurochka: Snow Maiden” by Irina Skorohodova.
Snegurochka is a character from Russia. She is unique among the companions of Saint Nicholas, and I am grateful for her existence because she adds some needed diversity to the main cast of my upcoming novel Son of Hel. Although originally associated with Christmas, Snegurochka is, since the Soviet regime suppressed Christmas celebrations, now more closely associated with New Year’s. It is New Year’s Eve as I write this, so it seems an appropriate time to discuss this character.
Snegurochka, or Snegurka, is the “Snow Maiden,” who comes from a fairy tale. In some versions, an elderly couple created her from snow because they had no children. In others, she is the daughter of Ded Moroz, or “Grandfather Frost,” a god of wintertime. At the age of fifteen, she met her untimely demise either when her friends challenged her to leap over a fire on St. John’s Day or because she fell in love.
Whichever version you prefer, she melted tragically, like Frosty.
As he is usually depicted, the Russian character of Ded Moroz is a man with a full, white beard and a long robe, and he hands out presents at Christmastime (or now on New Year’s). This figure clearly draws from St. Nicholas, but has become completely decoupled from the original saint, becoming instead a personification of the season, rather like the character of “Father Christmas.” Snegurochka has accompanied him since around the late nineteenth century.
Being sweet-tempered and tasked with assisting the gift-giving, Snegurochka is unique among the characters associated with Santa Claus or a Santa Claus-like figure, in that she is not menacing and does not dole out punishment.
She is a popular character in Russia. She has been the subject of opera, ballet, film, and animation. A Soviet-era cartoon about her, Snow Maiden, from 1952 may or may not be in the public domain; the information I have found is confusing and seems to suggest it is considered public-domain in Russia but not the United States—however that works.
In the world of Son of Hel, I attempt to collapse together as many similar characters as possible, so I assume the Ded Moroz whom Snegurochka accompanies is actually St. Nicholas, though the real Ded Moroz, the winter god, is somewhere in the background, having been responsible for bringing her to life for the sake of elderly couple who carved her out of snow, much as Zeus brought the statue to life for Pygmalion.
Although Snegurochka is usually depicted as sweet and warm, her backstory suggests something different: Since she died once before from falling in love, I suppose that she must be cold and distant, not because she wants to be, but because it is necessary for her survival. Thus, I depict her as aloof from the other inhabitants of the North Pole, avoiding both affections and warm places. She eats only cold foods, stays away from fires, and often walks alone in the freezing arctic night.
The basic premise of the book is that the misfits of Santa’s workshop must band together to save Christmas (and win a war): Krampus is the last child of the old gods and a reluctant servant of St. Nicholas; the “Captain” is a reindeer who wears a lead mask over his radioactive nose and shuns company to avoid inflicting others with the radiation sickness that killed his parents; and Snegurochka keeps others at a distance to preserve her own life.
Snegurochka, as you can see in the image above, is usually depicted in a long, blue coat with braided blond hair. Since the sequel to Disney’s Frozen recently appeared, I will mention that I was recently discussing Christmas legends with an associate who asked me if Snegurochka was the inspiration for the Disney princess Elsa. I had no certain answer, but thought it probable.
