Where to find Ded Moroz

The winter wizard has already begun opening residences across the country. Now is the time to plan a trip for gifts and festive mood. Let us tell you where to find Ded Moroz in Belarus.

Photo by BELTA

Palace of the Republic

The brightest lights are traditionally lit on the country’s main Christmas tree — in Minsk. The iconic concert hall prepares a fabulous performance for each New Year with the best artists, scenery, special effects and musical accompaniment.
This year, the writers have relied on fantasy. According to the scenario, children Ales and Rada come to their old village house with their parents on the eve of the holidays. The children will learn an old legend about the Star Bison and the wishing star that makes dreams come true on New Year’s Eve. But this time all the stars went out. Ded Moroz sends Ales and Rada to help the Star Bison restore power to the cosmic luminaries. Together with the heroes of the performance, the little spectators will go on an exciting journey in search of the mysterious New Year’s Star Thief. The organisers promise many interactive zones, entertainment, holiday customs and gifts.
Where: Minsk

Khovanshchina

For real forest adventures, we are heading to the Ivatsevichy Historic and Regional Studies Museum. Cultural workers there collected information about how the New Year was celebrated in partisan camps during the Great Patriotic War bit by bit. On the basis of archival data, a whole quest appeared, which is carried out... in a swamp.

Photo: www. trofei.by

Among dugouts and tall firs in a snowy forest, children are offered to feel like scouts and find Ded Moroz. He looks to match the entourage of past years — in a sheepskin coat, belted with a machine-gun belt, with a linen beard and a duffel bag over his shoulders. There will also be combat missions — for example, to throw snowballs and cones at Adolf Hitler himself.
Instead of sweets, the kids are given gingerbread baked according to local recipes, they don’t dance around the Christmas tree, but by the fire with a pot-bellied retro samovar.
Where: Ivatsevichy District, Brest Region

Naliboki

Ded Zimnik will be waiting for guests not alone, but with his companion Baba Zavirukha. Figures of Belarusian mythology have long settled down here. Together with them, one can see Koshchei, Kikimora and Baba Yaga there.

PHOTO BY BELTA

The fabulous company arranges holidays in their estate with songs, dances, fun and competitions. Each year, a new theme is chosen for the interactive performance. If one still has strength after the fairy-tale performance, one can take a walk along the eco-trails to the Pushcha. Deer and roe deer, capercaillie and owls, bison and wild horses — there is a whole zoo if one is lucky enough to see them.
Where: Grodno Region, the village of Zaleyki 

Belovezhskaya Pushcha

Ded Moroz lives all year round in the thicket of the relic forest. The doors of his marvellous estate are open to visitors even in summer. A whitish beard to the waist, a fur coat with national embroidery and a funny straw hat — the magician loves to surprise.

PHOTO BY BELTA

The fame of the wonders of Ded Moroz from Belovezhskaya Pushcha has long spread around the world, every year up to 150,000 tourists come to see him. About twenty thousand more people send him letters — he personally answers each one. In gratitude for fulfilled wishes, souvenirs and gifts are sent to the Pushcha. So many of them have accumulated over almost two decades of the residence’ operation that it was necessary to start a separate treasury!
Here one can look into the tower of the Snow Maiden, walk through the glade for twelve months or grind all the bad things that have accumulated over the year in the Magic Mill. However, grandfather’s assistants are not deer, but bison. Belarusian giants meet visitors at the entrance to the national park.
Where: Kamenets District, Brest Region

Stalin Line

If one wants a bright holiday, one should see Ded Moroz in uniform. An unusual residence with a patriotic twist will work in the historical and cultural complex.
The New Year’s wizard will not let the kids down: the gift must be earned. During animated tours, children will be able to show their ingenuity, creativity and show themselves in sports. Young patriots will be offered to compete in accuracy and dexterity — to shoot not only ‘snowballs’, but also from a blanked weapon. At the end of the programme, each participant leaves a note with a cherished desire in a real sleeve. Ded Moroz and the Snow Maiden will bury messages under a fluffy Christmas tree until next December.
Where: Minsk Region

By Sofia Arsenyeva