Now, in almost every kindergarten, kids gather around the Christmas tree, then Santa Claus and his beautiful granddaughter come, and with the help of a magic staff and cheers from the kids: “Fir-tree, light up!” - on a fluffy elegant tree lights are lit.
Historical aspect of the problem
Of course, the question of how old the Snow Maiden is is usually of more interest to popes (a joke), but if you approach the problem purely scientifically, you will first have to figure out when it became customary in the Russian Empire to celebrate the New Year using attributes familiar to us from infancy.
In fact, this custom did not always exist and is not even originally Russian: other trees — birch, linden, oak, were more revered in the local latitudes. The Germans have long adorned the Christmas tree - along with them, tradition also “moved” to the East, which is not surprising: the Romanov dynasty was heavily involved in German blood. The first Christmas tree in the capital was arranged by Empress Maria Fyodorovna, and this happened in 1817.
Thus, when answering the question about how old Snegurochka is, you need to keep in mind that (in any case, precisely for the New Year character), there must be no more than two hundred. The fashion introduced by the empress spread widely around 1830: at first people installed richer trees, then - middle-income people.
The church, in its conservative nature, fought with "German mischief". The Holy Synod even forbade holding a holiday in the gymnasiums, however, it did not achieve success: both the adults and children fell in love with the New Year tree, and because of its harmlessness, the struggle of the holy fathers looked very odious.
Santa Claus is a naturalized foreigner, and Snegurochka is a native Russian
A little later, Santa Claus appeared. This image is associated, on the one hand, with the figure of St. Nicholas, popular in the West, and on the other hand, with a Russian folk character who at first was not particularly like a good grandfather: we all remember perfectly the tale of Morozko, who severely punished Sloth. Santa Claus The red nose from the Nekrasov work was also not harmless at all: it’s just that a very truncated version is being studied at school now.
One way or another, but the fairy-tale character in a fur coat and with a staff, too, seems to be "not entirely ours." But the Snow Maiden is an exclusively Russian girl. Analogues do not exist anywhere in the world.
This image first appears in folklore, so no one will give an answer to the question of how old the Snow Maiden is for sure. A folk tale says that a childless couple, making a doll out of snow, witnessed a miracle: the girl came to life. Overjoyed parents decided to warm their newborn child, which ended very sadly.
Snow Maiden in art
Inspired by the dramatic plot, Ostrovsky wrote the play in 1873, interpreting in his own way how old the Snow Maiden is: if the fairy tale featured a girl no older than 12-13 years old, then the play is about a young girl who melts not so much from the sunlight as from love.
The first production of the work, it must be said, failed miserably. The public reacted to the suffering of the snow maiden mockingly, laughs and epigrams rained down on the playwright. It is all the more surprising that when Rimsky-Korsakov created the opera of the same name with the same plot, the same audience redeemed it in glory - and it took only 9 years after the release of the play! Verily, the viewer is a windy and changeable creature.
Now the question of how old the Snow Maiden is at each holiday is decided individually. Some children's groups provide Santa Claus with a granddaughter "of their own." The cutest and / or brisk girl with pleasure plays the role of the Snow Maiden. If this character is necessary as an aid to the fairy-tale Santa, preference is given to an older lady: nevertheless, together with the children it is much easier to cope with than with alone.
