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

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.
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.
A Taste of Russia

A Taste of Russia

The definitive modern cookbook on Russian cuisine has been totally updated and redesigned in a 30th Anniversary Edition. Layering superbly researched recipes with informative essays on the dishes' rich historical and cultural context, A Taste of Russia includes over 200 recipes on everything from borshch to blini, from Salmon Coulibiac to Beef Stew with Rum, from Marinated Mushrooms to Walnut-honey Filled Pies. A Taste of Russia shows off the best that Russian cooking has to offer. Full of great quotes from Russian literature about Russian food and designed in a convenient wide format that stays open during use.
Davai! The Russians and Their Vodka

Davai! The Russians and Their Vodka

In this comprehensive, quixotic and addictive book, Edwin Trommelen explores all facets of the Russian obsession with vodka. Peering chiefly through the lenses of history and literature, Trommelen offers up an appropriately complex, rich and bittersweet portrait, based on great respect for Russian culture.
Woe From Wit (bilingual)

Woe From Wit (bilingual)

One of the most famous works of Russian literature, the four-act comedy in verse Woe from Wit skewers staid, nineteenth century Russian society, and it positively teems with “winged phrases” that are essential colloquialisms for students of Russian and Russian culture.
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...
A Taste of Chekhov

A Taste of Chekhov

This compact volume is an introduction to the works of Chekhov the master storyteller, via nine stories spanning the last twenty years of his life.
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.
The Little Golden Calf

The Little Golden Calf

Our edition of The Little Golden Calf, one of the greatest Russian satires ever, is the first new translation of this classic novel in nearly fifty years. It is also the first unabridged, uncensored English translation ever, and is 100% true to the original 1931 serial publication in the Russian journal 30 Dnei. Anne O. Fisher’s translation is copiously annotated, and includes an introduction by Alexandra Ilf, the daughter of one of the book’s two co-authors.
Tolstoy Bilingual

Tolstoy Bilingual

This compact, yet surprisingly broad look at the life and work of Tolstoy spans from one of his earliest stories to one of his last, looking at works that made him famous and others that made him notorious. 

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