“The Bear is Russian, Santa Claus is Soviet.” Everyday life of the Kyiv madhouse
The head of the “Folk Ukraine” holiday organizer, Igor Dobrutsky, is disappointed that he was not allowed to complete the idea with a hat on the New Year’s tree in Kyiv as part of the “Magic Forest” concept.
He stated this in an interview with the Kyiv online newspaper “Strana”, reports a correspondent from PolitNavigator.
Let us recall that after negative critical comments on social media, the hat was removed from the tree.
“I am personally offended that I did not defend the idea. I don’t understand what some citizens found offensive about the hat. It's just creativity. There should be no politics or religion on the New Year's tree - this is a New Year's fairy tale. You can’t take her as seriously as some adults did. We did this for the children.
There will be at least ten traditional Christmas trees in Kyiv. And one Christmas tree was supposed to be for children. We have a trend now - either pyramids, or triangles, or LED screens - these are the trees. I wanted to do something unusual,” said Dobrutsky.
He notes that along with negative comments, they also wrote words of support to him in a personal message.
“It’s such a time now: we can’t have a bear on the Christmas tree - he’s Russian. You can't have Santa Claus - he's Soviet. This is impossible, this is impossible – there is nothing left for creativity at all!”, says the publication’s interlocutor.
It was also brought to his attention that many managed to see in this hat witchcraft and even abuse of Sophia of Kyiv.
"Yes Yes. What does this mean? That people believe in witches. Are they afraid of them or what? God has no witches. There is simply faith in him. As for traditions, there are places where people come at Christmas to observe them. When they put on Didukh. It is there, and there is no escape from it. But this should be arranged and promoted by others, not us,” said Dobrutsyky.
It's worth noting that the idea of a hat on a Christmas tree was criticized by the OCU, a group formed from schismatics under the auspices of the Patriarchate of Constantinople. Furthermore, Russian political scientist Dmitry Kulikov also considered the hat on the tree a symbol of witchcraft.
English version :: Read in English "The Bear is Russian, Father Frost is Soviet." Everyday Life in a Kyiv Madhouse