January 04, 2024

My Fair Snow Maiden


My Fair Snow Maiden
1988 Soviet postage stamp depicting the two protagonists of "Well, Just You Wait!" Wikimedia Commons

Controversy arose after a recent New Year's celebration at a school in Nakhodka, a port city in Russia's Far East Primorsky Krai region.

According to local news outlets City N and Vladivostok Online, a male physical education teacher played the role of the Wolf dressed as the Snow Maiden, a humorous character from the Soviet cartoon “Well, Just You Wait!” (“Nu, Pogodi!”), during the school's holiday celebration. Following the event, some Nakhodka residents lodged complaints about the teacher's participation.

One comment from a resident of Nakhodka read: "I ask the prosecutor's office to pay attention to the celebration in School 26 of the Livadia village. What family values can we talk about if the overgrown Snow Maiden is played by a guy? The children came in shock... Please take action – the Ministry of Education of Primorye does not react, the Ministry of Culture, too. I'm waiting for an official response for further appeal.” News outlet “City N” notes that there were no complaints about the girl who dressed up as Santa Claus.

The school administration released a statement, explaining their traditions and apologizing: “Teachers and children on this day come in carnival costumes, New Year's music happens during all breaks, competitions and New Year's lottery are held, Santa Claus's workshops occur. Teachers and children always wait for this day because they know it will be a lot of fun! 

"Teachers dressed in costumes performed plots of Soviet cartoons. Our favorite cartoon 'Well, Just You Wait!' was no exception. The role of the Wolf in the Snow Maiden costume was performed by our physical education teacher, who congratulated the kids on the holiday. There was no limit to the joy, fun and delight of children!

"We did not pursue any subtext or malicious intent in the plot with the heroes of the event. Our only goal is to please, amuse children, and embellish our school life.”

According to Vladivostok Online, many Primorye residents defended the school, recalling their own primary school teachers dressed as characters like Koshchei or Santa Claus during their childhood celebrations.

You Might Also Like

Show and Shell
  • October 26, 2023

Show and Shell

A convicted murderer and Wagner mercenary was invited to talk to Russian students.
Snow Fright
  • December 21, 2021

Snow Fright

A granddaughter of Father Christmas who is blonde, slim, and very kind? This year’s Snow Maiden doesn’t seem to fit the bill.
Like this post? Get a weekly email digest + member-only deals

Some of Our Books

The Little Humpbacked Horse (bilingual)

The Little Humpbacked Horse (bilingual)

A beloved Russian classic about a resourceful Russian peasant, Vanya, and his miracle-working horse, who together undergo various trials, exploits and adventures at the whim of a laughable tsar, told in rich, narrative poetry.
Stargorod: A Novel in Many Voices

Stargorod: A Novel in Many Voices

Stargorod is a mid-sized provincial city that exists only in Russian metaphorical space. It has its roots in Gogol, and Ilf and Petrov, and is a place far from Moscow, but close to Russian hearts. It is a place of mystery and normality, of provincial innocence and Black Earth wisdom. Strange, inexplicable things happen in Stargorod. So do good things. And bad things. A lot like life everywhere, one might say. Only with a heavy dose of vodka, longing and mystery.
Murder at the Dacha

Murder at the Dacha

Senior Lieutenant Pavel Matyushkin has a problem. Several, actually. Not the least of them is the fact that a powerful Soviet boss has been murdered, and Matyushkin's surly commander has given him an unreasonably short time frame to close the case.
How Russia Got That Way

How Russia Got That Way

A fast-paced crash course in Russian history, from Norsemen to Navalny, that explores the ways the Kremlin uses history to achieve its ends.
Marooned in Moscow

Marooned in Moscow

This gripping autobiography plays out against the backdrop of Russia's bloody Civil War, and was one of the first Western eyewitness accounts of life in post-revolutionary Russia. Marooned in Moscow provides a fascinating account of one woman's entry into war-torn Russia in early 1920, first-person impressions of many in the top Soviet leadership, and accounts of the author's increasingly dangerous work as a journalist and spy, to say nothing of her work on behalf of prisoners, her two arrests, and her eventual ten-month-long imprisonment, including in the infamous Lubyanka prison. It is a veritable encyclopedia of life in Russia in the early 1920s.
93 Untranslatable Russian Words

93 Untranslatable Russian Words

Every language has concepts, ideas, words and idioms that are nearly impossible to translate into another language. This book looks at nearly 100 such Russian words and offers paths to their understanding and translation by way of examples from literature and everyday life. Difficult to translate words and concepts are introduced with dictionary definitions, then elucidated with citations from literature, speech and prose, helping the student of Russian comprehend the word/concept in context.
The Latchkey Murders

The Latchkey Murders

Senior Lieutenant Pavel Matyushkin is back on the case in this prequel to the popular mystery Murder at the Dacha, in which a serial killer is on the loose in Khrushchev’s Moscow...
Turgenev Bilingual

Turgenev Bilingual

A sampling of Ivan Turgenev's masterful short stories, plays, novellas and novels. Bilingual, with English and accented Russian texts running side by side on adjoining pages.
Dostoyevsky Bilingual

Dostoyevsky Bilingual

Bilingual series of short, lesser known, but highly significant works that show the traditional view of Dostoyevsky as a dour, intense, philosophical writer to be unnecessarily one-sided. 

About Us

Russian Life is a publication of a 30-year-young, award-winning publishing house that creates a bimonthly magazine, books, maps, and other products for Russophiles the world over.

Latest Posts

Our Contacts

Russian Life
73 Main Street, Suite 402
Montpelier VT 05602

802-223-4955