A Half-Million Yolkas

In the waning days of 1999, twenty-six leskhozes (forest farms) put on sale 450,000 fir trees at Moscow selling points. Last year 226,200 fur trees were sold.

Moscow candy factories prepared five million packages of candies for the New Year, according to Vladimir Malyshkov, head of the Moscow City Government’s Department of Consumer Markets and Services.   

The headquarters for Russia’s Ded Moroz were declared to be in the village of Morozovets (near the town of Veliky Ustug). The Moscow Mayor’s Office officially proclaimed Morozovets the “Russian Lapland” (the Finnish fairy tale homeland of Father Frost). There, as this issue was going to press, carpenters were putting the finishing touches on the freshly-built pine palace of Ded Moroz.

On December 25 a huge sleigh, drawn by a troika of horses, was to drive Ded Moroz from his magic palace in Morozovets to Moscow via Vologda and Kostroma (where he was joined by his granddaughter Snegurochka—the Snowmaiden). Once in Moscow, Ded Moroz was to stay in a special residence not far from the Izmailova Tourist Complex. On December 26, Ded Moroz was to lead a parade on Red Square, along with the main characters of other popular Russian fairy tales.

The New Year’s celebrations in Russia were to include 133 cultural events. A Solemn Religious Service dedicated to the Nativity of Christ was to be held on January 7 at Moscow Christ the Savior Cathedral. (The cathedral will be officially consecrated in August 2000.) The Russian Organizing Committee for the Preparation  for the Third Millenium, chaired by Russian Premier Vladimir Putin and Patriarch Alexei II approved an eight-pointed Star of Bethlehem as the symbol of the celebration of the 2000th anniversary of Christ’s birth. An oval in the middle of the star will feature the Russian letters ê and ï (êÓ ‰ÂÒÚ‚Ó ïËÒÚÓ‚Ó) and the Greek letters “alpha” and “omega,” referring to Christ’s words in the Gospel, “I am the alpha and the omega.”

Moscow was also to trim the world’s largest Christmas tree, as scintillating “branches” were to be added to the 530 meter high Ostankino TV tower.