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Soviet Santa

atlasobscura.com

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Re: Soviet Santa

#51

Post by ddsea »

nbabitskiy wrote: post #38
rimliu wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Mostyl correct but it somehow gives impression that religon pracitce was banned in USSR ("After the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991, religious practice became legal again."). Which is not true. There were still churches and priests and religious practice. While being religious was seriously frowned upon and would not allow you to have any serious hopes for making a bigger career it was legal. I remember my mother tell…

Religious practice was certainly illegal, unless it was official Orthodox, Muslim, Jewish etc. There was no way to organize a non-canonical congregation, unless it was a clandestine operation for a dozen people. There was an article in the RSFSR Felony codex ("breaking the laws of separation of the church from the state, and of the school from the church", #142) the sole purpose of which was to outlaw religious congr…

The repressions varied in time, place and also depended on who's in charge. As the old anecdote goes, bent along the line of the Communist Party.

Re: Soviet Santa

#52

Post by cema »

dmix wrote: post #17
andreyk wrote: post #2

As a Russian, can confirm this article is quite accurate - my family only ever celebrates New Years, it's the same as Christmas is usually in the West, and Ded Moroz is totally a thing.

How do you pronounce Ded Moroz in an anglophone way? I noticed you used “Dez” instead of Ded.

Joke is, it is pronounced "dead morose". Close but not quite (the first word is more like "dzed").

Re: Soviet Santa

#53

Post by cema »

xmars wrote: post #42
izacus wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yep, we called him "Dedek Mraz" in the balkans which also literaly translates into Grandfather Frost. (Although we did celebrate christmas since the anti-religion clampdown wasn't that aggressive in Yugoslavia.)

Mraz, sounds like мразь, not a very good word :))

Close languages often sound funny to reach other.

Re: Soviet Santa

#54

Post by tomhoward »

tomaszs wrote: post #45
dang wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm a moderator here; it's my job to prevent this site from destroying itself, which is what subthreads like this converge to. I said "all" as a way of addressing every commenter who was posting in this spirit—not just you. Your comment wasn't so bad, since you were simply describing your experience and your feelings. But it's the root of exactly the sort of flamewar we don't want on HN. The internet can't handle arg…

I browse the comment section and all i see ia regular discussion. With no flame whatsoever. And a moderator who censored my experience and offended not only me but everyone who would like to share theirs. I still didnt get an apology for it.

> I browse the comment section and all i see is regular discussion. With no flame whatsoever.

One time many years ago, as a much younger man, I received a parking fine for parking too long in a time-limited spot outside my home, having not bothered to organise a residents' permit.

Irate, I took it "all the way to city hall" to contest the fine on the grounds of injustice and superfluousness.

On meeting the municipal officials in the arbitration room, I protested "I don't understand why you need to issue tickets in that street; there's always plenty of parking available".

They looked back at me as the naive young fool that I was and explained: "Do you know why there's always parking available for you? It's because we enforce the rules."

Duly chastened, I paid the fine, got a permit, and received no further penalties.

And for the subsequent three years I lived at that house, there continued to be plenty of parking available.

Re: Soviet Santa

#55

Post by skrebbel »

RickJWagner wrote: post #44
aasasd wrote: post #39

Even though we're behind Europe in religiosity and far behind the US, Orthodox Christianity was alive and well here after the fall of the SU, and Christmas and Easter are variously observed. It's rather notable that despite the Bolsheviks' no-nonsense and literal approach to eradicating religion, Christianity and the church have survived the Soviet era pretty well. One reason for this is said to be that in the ramp-u…

It's just my opinion, but it's not uncommon. I believe Blaise Pascal (the brilliant French mathematician) got it right when he said "There is a God-shaped vacuum in the heart of each man which cannot be satisfied by any created thing....." For this reason, I doubt religion will ever die. It will be with us always.

I'd wager that most atheists assume that God is very much a "created thing", which makes that quote feel pretty awkward.

Re: Soviet Santa

#56

Post by pandaman »

xmars wrote: post #42
izacus wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yep, we called him "Dedek Mraz" in the balkans which also literaly translates into Grandfather Frost. (Although we did celebrate christmas since the anti-religion clampdown wasn't that aggressive in Yugoslavia.)

Mraz, sounds like мразь, not a very good word :))

The word literally means "something that causes chills" so it's not that different from slavic "mraz". It just had been used exclusively in a figurative meaning to describe something that is so disgusting that it makes one shake.

Re: Soviet Santa

#58

Post by m0zg »

ddsea wrote: post #49
peapicker wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It moves 3 days forward versus the Gregorian calendar every 400 years. So about 24,000 years (a little less) to hit July

Think positive: it's just another reason to drink in July in 400 years.

It shows that you're not an Eastern European. There they need a reason to stay sober. Drinking is the natural state, hence the lower life expectancy.

Re: Soviet Santa

#59

Post by tomaszs »

tomhoward wrote: post #54
tomaszs wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I browse the comment section and all i see ia regular discussion. With no flame whatsoever. And a moderator who censored my experience and offended not only me but everyone who would like to share theirs. I still didnt get an apology for it.

> I browse the comment section and all i see is regular discussion. With no flame whatsoever. One time many years ago, as a much younger man, I received a parking fine for parking too long in a time-limited spot outside my home, having not bothered to organise a residents' permit. Irate, I took it "all the way to city hall" to contest the fine on the grounds of injustice and superfluousness. On meeting the municipal…

I get it. I am from Poland and dont understand the rules. Your story explained it to me so i can understand it in a simple way. Thanks. Great day on HN. I have learned today more than i have expected to.

Re: Soviet Santa

#60

Post by aasasd »

skrebbel wrote: post #55
RickJWagner wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's just my opinion, but it's not uncommon. I believe Blaise Pascal (the brilliant French mathematician) got it right when he said "There is a God-shaped vacuum in the heart of each man which cannot be satisfied by any created thing....." For this reason, I doubt religion will ever die. It will be with us always.

I'd wager that most atheists assume that God is very much a "created thing", which makes that quote feel pretty awkward.

I vaguely heard some theories that in the absence of better explanations, humans gravitate to attributing weird phenomenons to divine will. Not sure if this is in any way scientific. Inventing forest spirits seems to come pretty naturally by anthropomorphizing a variety of things, but I guess it gets complicated when dealing with lightning and such, and the deities evolve accordingly.

Afaik neuroscience also can induce ‘divine’ experience by applying current in a proper place.

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