The Soviet Union didn’t have a tradition of celebrating holidays with costumes (like Halloween, for instance), but, for the New Year’s Eve celebrations, every parent spent nights sewing and DIY-ing costumes for their kids. Snowflakes, golden fish, fairy tale heroes, fluffy hares and foxes – these were the most popular characters Soviet kids were dressed up into.
Below is one of the first New Year’s Eve parties with a decorated tree pictured in an Uzbek school, circa 1936. The kids are dressed as ‘Scheherazade’, ‘Ded Moroz’ (aka ‘Father Frost’, Russia’s ‘Santa Claus’), a funny old man and in national costumes. Kids are holding up two banners that say: "Thanks to Stalin for our happy childhood"
New Year’s Eve celebrations were, first of all, considered for kids, not for adults. And the main New Year’s Tree party was arranged at the House of the Unions that housed lots of the Communist Party’s events.
The main part of the show were the scenes with ‘Ded Moroz’. Kids would tell him how good they behaved in the passing year and get a present from the ‘Russian Santa Claus’.
One of the most popular and easy-to-make costumes was a snowflake. It was enough just to cut it from paper and stick it on your head!
Another widespread costume was a fluffy, white hare…
…and birds!
Kids also dressed up as Russian peasants and would make ‘khorovods’ (a Russian folk dance) around the New Year’s tree.
Can you guess which animals the kids are dressed up as below?
And what about these?
After the cult Soviet movie ‘D'Artagnan and Three Musketeers’ was released in the late 1970s, many Soviet boys picked dressing like Musketeers for New Year’s Eve.
The more glittery tinsel (which was very affordable), the better!
And, of course, dressing like a cosmonaut was always popular, as many Soviet kids dreamed of becoming one.
While the West’s ‘Santa Claus’ had elfs and deer as assistants, the ‘Russian Santa Claus’, aka ‘Ded Moroz’, had his ‘granddaughter’ named Snegurochka (literally ‘Snow Maiden’) for help. And girls were keen on dressing up as her.
Even small kids took part in the morning festivities, reading little poems aloud, dancing or acting out scenes from fairy tales. Pictured below is a Little Red Riding Hood!
Dressing in the national costumes of ethnic peoples from Soviet republics was also a popular thing, proving the ‘Friendship of Nations’ motto.
Some school kids would also make up their own versions of costumes – be it national costumes with a kokoshnik or dress of a favorite literary character.
In modern Russia, the tradition has continued and, despite there now being a huge variety of different costumes to choose from, hares and little red riding hoods are still the most popular!
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