Who is Father Frost?

Give up? Well... he originates from a Russian fairy tale, looks a little bit like Santa Claus, has a granddaughter named Snegurochka (Snow Maiden), and delivers presents on New Year's Eve (I have yet to see him; hence, this photo was snagged from the Internet). Why New Year's Eve and not Christmas? Well, in Soviet times people were not permitted to practice their religion or celebrate religious holidays. But... people used to buy trees anyway and exchange gifts. So the government officially encouraged people to buy "New Year's Trees" and exchange gifts on that day making it non-religious (this is how I understand it). I asked a local how Father Frost managed to get the presents under the tree on December 31 while everyone was waiting to ring in the new year. In her experience, she is now in her 40's, she said that "Ded Moroz", as he is called here, either:
(1) hid the presents under fake snow that was laid under the "New Year's Tree" or
(2) he brought a bag of presents to the house and knocked loudly. As the children ran to open the door or window, Father Frost ran off to deliver presents to other households. So they children never caught a glimpse of him.
No, she had never heard of him coming down a chimney - she said they "don't have chimneys here." This whole scenario begs the question: "Why does Santa Claus deliver presents on Chrismas Eve and not New Year's Eve in America?" The logical answer is that he needs time to get from one continent to the other - that's my answer anyway.

New Year's Eve promises to be interesting as there are supposed to be numerous Father Frost and Snegurochka lookalikes mingling with the mere mortals in Maidan - Independence Square downtown. I'll make sure my digital camera has new batteries...

By the way.... where is our snow? All this talk about Father Frost and Snow Maidens.... we are, up to this point, having the warmest winter in 120 years!!! Crazy! I just saw photos of New Mexico - the amount of snow Santa Fe has gotten was incredible! Who-da-thunk that Kyiv would be less snowy and warmer?