Doing miracles

Report from the New Year’s estate of Father Frost in Belovezhskaya Pushcha

It is winter in Belovezhskaya Pushcha. The road at the entrance to the national park is in a grey haze. And at the Father Frost estate — we ate in fluffy snow, ice on the lake and frost in the air.
“We had a little fight with Winter, so the old lady decided to play pranks — to bring in some warmth before the holidays. But mother moved away, became kinder and again sprinkles the Pushcha with snow,” Father Frost explains why there is a thaw in mid-December.


When it’s minus outside, it’s hot in the estate of the fairy-tale Belarusian wizard. The winter tourist season has opened in the Belovezhskaya Pushcha National Park. The whole of December promises to be full of events — the estate is celebrating its 20th anniversary. Snow Maiden has arrived. One of the first events of the Our Children campaign took place at the residence of the Belarusian Father Frost in Belovezhskaya Pushcha. Colleagues from Kostroma and Veliky Ustyug, Zyuzya Poozersky from the Vitebsk Region and Bolotnik from the Berezinsky Biosphere Reserve, came to visit Father Frost. Like the national park, the Father Frost estate welcomes guests all year round — up to 150 thousand people. But the most fabulous atmosphere in the relict forest, where bison live, reigns on the eve of the New Year. By the anniversary, the estate had been spruced up — the shopping arcades and cafes where they serve national cuisine were thoroughly updated, fabulous wooden sculptures were painted, which should bring colour and light to the grey winter days. However, there are no such people here, Father Frost is convinced, “In the winter season, the estate sparkles with fairy lights, and there are so many guests that I need assistants. In addition to the granddaughter Snow Maiden, this is Mother Winter and our daughters — Vyuga, Stuzha and Metelitsa.”


Every year, up to 20 thousand letters arrive at the wizard’s residence. Now the postman brings them in bags. Letters in envelopes of different colours, which children and adults wrote with pens and felt-tip pens, lie in the chest and are waiting to be read.
“Someone needs a new toy, someone asks for a brother or sister. Recently, a boy sent a letter and told about his father, asking that he undergo spinal surgery ahead of schedule — before the holiday. I called the capital's medical centre, and they heard me there. The operation was successful, the man is recovering and will be able to go to the New Year’s party with his son,” Father Frost admitted that he is capable of miracles.

Snow Maiden adds, “Not a single letter is left unattended. We answer everyone. If you believe in miracles, they happen.”

From the Father Frost residence, a forest path leads to the apiary. On the way we meet the moose Rogalik with a sleigh. A magical clearing with 12 months calls to the fire. The magic mill is ready to reveal its secrets... We go, accompanied by two persistent jays.
“These are hooligans, they always give me away with their screams, you can’t get through quietly,” Father Frost complains.
Covered in fluffy snow, the legs of the fir trees, which have grown well over the twenty years of the estate’s existence, reach out to meet us. And the centuries-old knight trees Oak Dubovich and Elm Vyazovich look down on them — is this really age?
Father Frost looks at the power of the forest centenarians and says that he is still older, “Sometimes children wonder if I’m mortal. I answer them, ‘My life depends on your faith’. When children believe in me, my beard grows longer. And with the loss of faith, the beard will melt like snow, and I will disappear. I hope this never happens.”


The Snow Maiden Tower, the Treasure Box where children’s crafts are kept, a magical bridge, an alley with zodiac signs — guests will see all this at the Father Frost estate. And the most popular place is near the New Year tree. Starting this season, round dances are held not at the 140-metre beauty, which was considered the tallest Christmas tree in Europe, but at her granddaughter. The grandma spruce passed the baton to a slender baby, who was decorated with balloons and lights. Near the Christmas tree there is a lot of space for round dances and a selfie zone. It is planned that in the future the residence of Father Frost will also move closer to the tree — the symbol of the New Year. There will be more carved towers than the current one. And the wizard will be able to invite guests to his house.


“On November 18th, I went to visit a colleague in Veliky Ustyug for his birthday, I liked his mansion. I would like something like this,” Father Frost, it turns out, also has a wish to fulfil. He knows that it will come true, the main thing is to believe in a miracle and be able to wait.
The New Year’s marathon of surprises and gifts is open, Father Frost reminded us all. The wizard from Belovezhskaya Pushcha wished the readers of The Minsk Times to be healthy and happy themselves and not to forget to help others find a holiday. 



By Valentina Kozlovich

Photos by Pavel Bogush