Morozko- Slavic SpiritSpirit"Father Frost"

The Stepdaughter in the Snow

A stepmother sends her husband's daughter into the winter forest to die. The girl sits beneath a tree in the killing cold, and Morozko finds her. He descends through the branches, cracking the frozen wood as he comes, and asks: "Тепло ли тебе, девица?" Are you warm, maiden?

She is nearly frozen. She answers: "Тепло, Морозушко." Warm enough, dear Frost.

He returns twice more, each time driving the cold deeper. Each time she answers with the same courtesy. Pleased, Morozko wraps her in furs, fills a chest with gold and jewels, and sends her home in a sleigh.

The stepmother's own daughter goes next, expecting the same reward. When Morozko asks his question, she screams at him to leave her alone. He freezes her solid.

The Widow in the Forest

In Nekrasov's "Moroz, Red Nose," a peasant widow named Darya enters the winter forest to cut firewood. Morozko circles her, crackling through the branches, and invites her to become his queen. As the cold takes hold, he promises her warmth and an end to suffering. Darya sees her dead husband waiting and her children fed and warm. She freezes smiling.

Calling the Frost

On Christmas Eve or the eve of the New Year, the eldest man of the household stepped onto the porch and called into the dark:

"Мороз, Мороз! Приходи кисель есть! Мороз, Мороз! Не бей наш овёс!" Frost, Frost! Come eat kissel! Frost, Frost! Don't beat our oats!

A spoonful of kasha was placed on the windowsill. The invitation was a contract: feed the frost during his season of power, and he would not return uninvited in spring to destroy the grain with late freezes. Farmers knew that a winter too mild could be as damaging as one too severe. The crops sleeping under the snow needed the cold. They needed Morozko to do his work.