‘Ded Moroz’ exists! We visited Veliky Ustyug ahead of New Year's Eve (PHOTOS)

Where does ‘Ded Moroz’ [Grandfather Frost] live? In the North, of course! More precisely, in Veliky Ustyug, Vologda Region. There, he has two houses at once – a city residence on one of the central streets and a country house near the village of Morozovitsy.

The terem of Ded Moroz.

The New Year atmosphere reigns there all year round, but the main fun begins after November 18, the day ‘Ded Moroz’ celebrates his birthday. That’s when it is believed winter begins in the Russian North. We hurried to visit him ahead of New Year’s Eve.

Visiting a fairy tale

Do you believe in Santa? He's real!

“My time to shine has come!” says ‘Ded Moroz’ when we enter his house. Every day, more and more guests visit him and he is only too happy about it.

The huge fir near Ded Moroz's terem.

His possessions are vast: a children's town, a fairground, a blacksmith's shop, guest houses. He goes around them himself, overseeing everything.

"I like all winter sports very much, but, most of all, I like to race down the magic slides along with the kids!" he says.

It's always winter holidays here!

It seems that everything in the estate is indeed magical: while you are standing near the ‘terem’ house, the glowing stove of Emel from the ‘By Pike's Will’ fairy tale whizzes by. We wanted to take a closer look, but we couldn't catch up with it – it was very fast!

Would you ride a stove?

On a fairy-tale forest path, we meet ‘Baba Yaga’, who was trying to charge her phone after a call with ‘Koschei the Immortal’.

"Have you behaved well all year?"

We learned from her that she is really ‘Vasilisa the Beautiful’, but she is just under a spell. And, to cast a counterspell, you have to go into her hut. Well, we'll take your word for it, old hag. we mean, Vasilisa!

The entrance to the path.

This path is full of riddles. In the depths of the forest, we come upon a fire, where, as in the fairy tale about ‘The Twelve Months’, ‘Ded Moroz’s helpers – ‘Petrushka’, the ‘Raven’ and the ‘Hare’ – are warming themselves up. It’s cold in the forest, but it’s meant to keep ‘Ded Moroz’ from melting!

Even fairy tale characters get cold.

He himself constantly lives in a ‘terem’, a Russian fairytale house. “I get up early in the morning, wash my face with cold water and exercise. Every morning!” says ‘Ded Moroz’. “I like porridge for breakfast. Then, I sit down in my office, sort out letters, meet guests, organize festivals and holidays!”

A post office on the Ded Moroz domain where letters are kept.

There are 12 rooms inside: a library, an observatory, a room where children's fairy tales are kept and a room for storing presents. After all, ‘Ded Moroz’ also likes to receive them and how could he not! Both children and adults constantly congratulate him and his “colleagues” – other bearded winter storytellers from other regions.

“Come to me more often! I hope that our friendship with you will also continue to grow stronger!” ‘Ded Moroz’ tells us.

At the city residence

The city residence is located in the very center of Veliky Ustyug.

‘Ded Moroz’ also visits his city house – which he considers his first residence. As his assistants tell us, when he returned home to Veliky Ustyug after a long journey in the late 1990s, he decided to settle there. It is located in a merchant's house from the late 19th century.

The first throne of Ded Moroz.

In it, you can see his first throne, many of his fairytale gadgets and also look at the ‘Book of Good Deeds’.

The scales of good deeds.

“‘Ded Moroz’ watches us through the frosty patterns and writes down a list of good deeds,” his assistants say. “The scales of good deeds help him to determine how good a deed is!”

He also has a bottomless bag with gifts for everyone. The gifts become weightless in his bag, so ‘Ded Moroz’ doesn't have a hard time carrying it.

He goes to hard-to-reach places on self-guided skis. For his birthday, ‘Ded Moroz’ received magic staffs – each symbolizing a different season. You can see them in his office, too.

What do people ask ‘Ded Moroz’ for?

This is where all the letters to Ded Moroz come in.

‘Ded Moroz' has a post office also located next to the city residence. The number of letters he has received is approaching 5 million this year! All of them are stored in his country house, while new messages are sorted out in the city office.

“In early October, there were 20 letters a day and there were even days when nothing was sent at all. But now, we are already counting thousands per day,” ‘Ded Moroz’ assistants at the post office tell us. “Yesterday, we sorted out 2,633 letters, today 1,083!”

Letters are sorted by region, country and also by different categories: kind, creative (drawings, poems, songs), social, etc. Often, contests are organized. Of course, ‘Ded Moroz’ tries to answer everyone and even attach a gift.

Letters are sorted by topic and region.

“Do not worry, my friends, not a single message from you will remain unread,” ‘Ded Moroz’ assures us.

In this letter, 6-year-old Kolya asks how the forest animals are doing and asks Grandfather Frost for health, happiness and a merry New Year.

“For me, an old man, everyone is the same – adults, children, everyone is equal,” ‘Ded Moroz’ says. “Kids, of course, ask for modern toys, phones, computers, but, I like it most of all when they write: ‘Make sure that my grandparents never get sick, that my dad always has a good job and my mom is home with us more often!’”

Let’s wish ‘Ded Moroz’ a magical holiday season!