(Lights up on: GRANDFATHER FROST, a rotund Russian character who looks suspiciously like Saint Nicholas, dressed all in blue.)

     G. Frost     In the Soviet era, religious celebrations were curtailed in favor of state-sanctioned holidays in order to ensure that every citizen’s highest allegiance was not to God, but country. Even children were forced to set aside their dearest traditions when Saint Nicholas was replaced with the secular fairy tale of Grandfather Frost who brings gifts to children on New Year’s Day, instead of Christmas, with the help of the snow maiden Snegurochka, instead of elves.

It was not easy for a whole generation of children to suppress their fondest beliefs, but for the generations that followed, Grandfather Frost and New Year’s became the tradition and Christmas only a fairy tale…