This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (December 2010)

A man dressed as Ded Moroz in Veliky Ustyug.

Ded Moroz or Did Moroz (Russian: Дед Мороз, diminutive: Dedushka Moroz; Ukrainian: Дід Мороз) is a fictional character who in some Slavic cultures plays a role similar to that of Santa Claus. The literal translation of the name would be Grandfather Frost, although the name is often translated as Father Frost. Ded Moroz is said to bring presents to children, however, unlike the secretive Santa Claus, the gifts are often delivered "in person", at New Year's Eve parties and other New Year celebrations.

The "in-person" gifts usually occur at organized celebrations at kindergartens or schools and at circus performances around New Year time where the gifts can be standardized. Various agencies provide Ded Moroz visits to families and offices. In such cases specific gifts can be chosen for particular members at the parties. The clandestine placing of gifts under a New Year tree occurs when a Ded Moroz visit is not arranged for some reason.^[1]

Depictions of Ded Moroz commonly show him accompanied by Snegurochka (Russian: Снегурочка), or 'Snow Maiden', his granddaughter. She is a unique attribute of Ded Moroz, no traditional gift-givers from other cultures are portrayed with a similar companion.^[2]

The traditional appearance of Ded Moroz resembles that of Santa Claus, with his coat, boots and long white beard. Specifically, Ded Moroz is often shown wearing a heel-length fur coat, a semi-round fur hat, and valenki or jackboots on his feet. Unlike Santa Claus, he is often depicted as walking with a long magical staff.^[3]

The official residence of Ded Moroz in Russia is considered to be the town of Veliky Ustyug.^[3] The residence of the Belarusian Ded Moroz (Dzied Maroz in Belarusian) is said to be in Belavezhskaya Pushcha.^[4]

Development of the character[link]

Snow sculpture of Ded Moroz in Samara.

The earliest tales of Ded Moroz presented him as a wicked and cruel sorcerer, similar to the Old Slavic gods 'Pozvizd' — the god of wind and good and bad weather, 'Zimnik' — god of winter, and the terrifying 'Korochun' — an underworld god ruling over frosts. According to legend, Ded Moroz liked to freeze people and kidnap children, taking them away in his gigantic sack. Parents were said to have to give him presents as a ransom in return for their children. However, under the influence of Orthodox traditions, the character of Ded Moroz was completely transformed, later adopting certain traits from the Dutch Sinterklaas (or Saint Nicholas), the prototype of Santa Claus.^[5]

Since the 19th century the attributes and legend of Ded Moroz have been shaped by literary influences. The fairy tale play Snegurochka by the famous Russian playwright Aleksandr Ostrovsky was influential in this respect, as was Rimsky-Korsakov's Snegurochka with libretto based on the play.^[3][6] By the end of the 19th century Ded Moroz had become the most popular of the various mythical New Year gift-givers in Russia.^[5]

Following the Russian Revolution, Christmas traditions were actively discouraged because they were considered to be "bourgeois and religious".^[7] Similarly, in 1928 Ded Moroz was declared "an ally of the priest and kulak".^[8] Nevertheless, the image of Ded Moroz took its current form during Soviet times, becoming the main symbol of the New Year’s holiday that replaced Christmas. Some Christmas traditions were revived following the famous letter by Pavel Postyshev, published in Pravda on December 28, 1935.^[7] Postyshev believed that the origins of the holiday, which were pre-Christian in any case, were less important than the benefits it could bring to Soviet children.^[8] In 1937, a man playing Ded Moroz arrived at the Moscow Palace of Unions for the first time. Joseph Stalin ordered Palace of Unions' Ded Morozes to wear only blue coats, so that they would not be mistaken for Santa Claus.^[9] During Stalinist times, Ded Moroz, Snegurochka (or "Snow Maiden"), and New Year Boy were featured in Communist-type Nativity scenes, or public appearances, with Ded Moroz as the equivalent to Joseph, Snegurochka as the equivalent to Mary, and the New Year Boy as the equivalent to the Christ child.^[10]

During the period of the Soviet Union's dominance over Eastern Europe, Ded Moroz was introduced to many nations. Following the fall of the Soviet Union, there have been efforts to revive local characters.

Ded Moroz in modern Russia[link]

Vladimir Putin, then President of the Russian Federation was reported to have visited Ded Moroz' residence in Veliky Ustyug on January 7, 2008.

Ded Moroz is very popular in modern Russia.^[11] In 1998, the town of Veliky Ustyug in Vologda Oblast, Russia was declared the home of the Russian Ded Moroz by Yury Luzhkov, then Mayor of Moscow.^[12] Between 2003 and 2010, the post office in Veliky Ustyug received approximately 2,000,000 letters from within Russia and from all over the world for Ded Moroz.^{[12][13][14][15][16]} On January 7, 2008, then President Putin of the Russian Federation was reported to have visited Ded Moroz' residence in the town of Veliky Ustyug as part of the Russian Orthodox Christmas Eve celebration.^[17]

The western Santa Claus made inroads in the Russian Federation during the "turbulent" 1990's when many western ideas such as liberal democracy and market-oriented capitalism were considered panacea solutions for Russia.^[18][19] The resurgence of Russia in the early 21st century brought about a renewed emphasis on the basic Slavic character of Ded Moroz.^[20] This included the Russian Federation and subordinate governments sponsoring courses about Ded Moroz every December, with the aim of establishing appropriate Slavic norms for Ded Moroz and Snegurochka ("Snow Maiden" - Ded Moroz' granddaughter) roles for the New Year holiday.^[19][21][22] People playing Ded Moroz and Snegurochka now typically make appearances at children's parties during the winter holiday season, distributing presents and fighting off the wicked witch, Baba Yaga, who children are told wants to steal the gifts.^[23]

Ded Moroz, and on occasion the Belarus Dzied Maroz, are presented in the media as being in on-going détente with various counterparts from other cultures, such as the Estonian Santa Claus (Jõuluvana or "Old man of Christmas"), the Finnish Santa Claus (Joulupukki or "Yule Goat"), and other Santa Claus, Father Christmas, and Saint Nicholas figures.^{[24][25][26][27]} The détente efforts portrayed have included one-on-one meetings, group meetings and friendly competitions, such as the annual November Santa Claus championships of Celle, Germany.^[28][29][30]

In November and December 2010, Ded Moroz was one of the candidates in the running for consideration as a mascot for the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia.^[12]

GLONASS Tracks Ded Moroz[link]

In November 2009, for the first time, the Russian Federation offered competition to NORAD Tracks Santa with GLONASS Tracks Ded Moroz, which purports to use GLONASS (GLObal NAvigation Satellite System or “the Russian GPS”) to track Ded Moroz on New Years Eve (according to the Gregorian Calendar).^[31]

The Russian language website (a language not currently offered by the competing NORAD Tracks Santa) includes these features: "real-time tracking" of Ded Moroz, "news" of Ded Moroz throughout the year, a form to send e-mail to Ded Moroz, photos, videos, streaming audio of Russian songs, poems and verses from children's letters to Ded Moroz, information on Veliky Ustyug in Vologda Oblast (considered to be Ded Moroz's hometown) and opportunities to enter competitions and win prizes.^[32]

Regional differences[link]

There are equivalents of Ded Moroz and Snegurochka all over the former USSR, as well as the countries once in the so-called Soviet bloc and in the former Yugoslavia.

Armenia[link]

In Armenia Ded Moroz is known as Ձմեռ Պապ (Dzmer Pap) literraly means winter grandfather.

Belarus[link]

In Belarus Ded Moroz is known as Dzied Maroz. He is not a traditional Belarusian character and is never mentioned in national folklore.^[4][33]

The official residence of Dzied Maróz (Belarusian: Дзед Мароз, is considered to be in Biełavieskaja Pušča.^[4][33]

Bulgaria[link]

The original traditional Bulgarian Christmas related male figure is Koledari. This later changed with the growing popularity of Santa Claus around the world during the 19-th and the 20-th century. The Bulgarian name of Santa Claus is Дядо Коледа (Dyado Koleda, "Grandfather Christmas"), with Dyado Mraz (Дядо Мраз, "Grandfather Frost") being a similar Russian-imported character lacking the Christian connotations and thus popular during Communist rule. However, he has been largely forgotten since 1989, when Dyado Koleda again returned as the more popular figure.^[34]

Croatia[link]

After the breakup of Yugoslavia, Djed Mraz was labeled Communist and Djed Božićnjak (literally: Grandfather Christmas) was introduced. Attempts were made in the mass media and advertising to replace Djed Mraz with Djed Božićnjak. After 1999 the names of Djed Mraz and Djed Božićnjak became more or less synonymous, including in their use on public television. In some families Djed Mraz is still said to brings gifts at New Year.^[35]

In Croatia, children also get presents on December 6. The presents are said to be brought by a traditional figure called Sveti Nikola (Saint Nicholas) who closely resembles Djed Mraz or Djed Božićnjak, except for the fact that he is accompanied by Krampus who takes misbehaving children away.^[36]

In some religious families, little Jesus (Isusek, mali Isus) is said to brings gifts at Christmas instead of Djed Božićnjak.^[36]

Former Yugoslavia[link]

In socialist Yugoslavia (Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, the Republic of Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia and Slovenia) the character who was said to bring gifts to children was called "Grandfather Frost" (Bosnian: Djed Mraz, Croatian: Djed Mraz, Macedonian: Дедо Мраз (Dedo Mraz), Serbian: Деда Мраз (Deda Mraz), Slovenian: Dedek Mraz). He was said to bring gifts for the New Year as celebration of Christmas was discouraged by the Communist regime.^[37]

Poland[link]

While there is no traditional analog of Ded Moroz in Polish folklore, there was an attempt to introduce him as Dziadek Mróz during the communist period. Communists, opposed to religion in general, considered Christmas and traditional Święty Mikołaj (Saint Nicholas) "ideologically hostile". Therefore, propaganda attempted to replace him with Dziadek Mróz (literal transletion of Ded Moroz). Authorities often insisted on using the figure in schools and preschools during celebrations and events for children. This was also supposed to create an illusion of cultural links with the Soviet Union. Despite these efforts, Dziadek Mróz never gained any popular support among the Polish people and after the fall of communism he disappeared from Poland.^[38]

Romania[link]

In 1948, after the Communists gained power in Romania, it was decided that Christmas should not be celebrated. December 25 and December 26 became working days and no official celebrations were to be held. As a replacement for Moş Crăciun (Father Christmas), a new character was introduced, Moş Gerilă (literally "Old Man Frosty", a Romanian language adptation of the Russian Ded Moroz).^[39] He was said to bring gifts to children on December 31.

Officially, the New Year's Day celebrations began on 30 December, which was named the Day of the Republic, since it was the day when King Mihai I of Romania abdicated in 1947.

After the Romanian Revolution of 1989, Moş Gerilă lost his influence, being replaced by Moş Crăciun.^[40][41]

Slovenia[link]

A man dressed as Dedek Mraz in Slovenia.

In Slovenia the name Ded Moroz was translated from Russian as Dedek Mraz (literally, 'Grandpa Frost'). Dedek Mraz is depicted as a slim man wearing a grey leather coat, which has fur inside and is decorated outside, and a round dormouse fur cap. This version of the character is based on traditional imagery, especially as depicted by Maksim Gaspari. Initially he was said to live in Siberia, but with the Informbiro crisis and the schism between Yugoslavia and the Soviet Union his home was relocated to Mt. Triglav, Slovenia's (and also Yugoslavia's) highest peak. The notion of Grandpa Frost was ideologically useful because it served to reorient the December/January holidays away from religion (Saint Nicholas Day and Christmas) and towards the secular New Year.

After the demise of the Communist regime at the beginning of the 1990s, two other "good old men" (as they are currently styled in Slovenian) reappeared in public: Miklavž (Saint Nicholas) is said to bring presents on December 6, and Božiček ("Christmas man") on Christmas Eve. St. Nicholas has had a strong traditional presence in Slovenian ethnic territory and his feast day remained celebrated in family circles throughout the Communist period. Until the late 1940s it was also said in some areas of Slovenia that Christkind (called Jezušček ("little Jesus") or Božiček ("Christmas man")) brought gifts on Christmas Eve.

Slovenian families have different preferences regarding their gift-giver of choice, according to political or religious persuasion. Slovenian popular culture depicts Grandpa Frost, Saint Nicholas and Santa Claus as friends [1] [2] and has also started blending attributes of the characters, for example, mention of Santa's reindeer is sometimes mingled into the Grandpa Frost narrative at public appearances. Due to his non-religious character and strong institutionalization, Grandpa Frost continues to retain a public presence.^[42]

Tatarstan[link]

In Tatar Ded Moroz is known as Qış Babay (Кыш Бабай, literally: "Winter Grandfather") and Snegurochka is known as Qar Qızı (Кар Кызы or "Snow Girl").^[43]

Ukraine[link]

A man dressed as Did Moroz in the Kharkiv Metro in Ukraine.

Grandpa Frost is known as Did Moroz (Ukrainian: Дід Мороз) in Ukraine. The roots of the Did Moroz tradition in Ukraine go back to pre-Christian (pre-988 AD) tribal traditions of Kievan Rus,^[44] which after the Baptism of Rus became Christianized as part of the Christmas tradition.

Until early in the 20th century, it was a customary ritual in Ukraine to call out and invite Moroz (Frost) to the Christmas dinner to eat the traditional dish of Kutia. This tradition was later secularized in the atheistic Soviet Union as the calling of Did Moroz to the New year celebrations. There has been a moderate revival of traditions after Ukraine achieved its independence in 1991.

The traditional residence of Did Moroz in Ukraine is considered to be the Rivne region.^[45]

Moroz is also a traditional last name in Ukrainian culture.

Yamal[link]

The Nenets people of Yamal know Ded Moroz as Yamal Iri (Grandfather of Yamal).^[46]

Tajikistan[link]

In Tajikistan the tradition of Ded Moroz has continued, despite its origins in Soviet propaganda. In Tajik, Ded Moroz is known as "Boboi Barfi" (Grandfather Snow), and Snegurochka is called "Barfak."

See also[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Ded Moroz

References[link]

External links[link]

• "Just Don't Call Me Santa!" A history of Ded Maroz in English.
• "Father Frost, the Red Nose" on Russia Info-Centre.
• Reveling in Russian Santa’s fairytale home.
• Home page all of the Ded's Moroz (in Russian).
• GLONASS Tracks Ded Moroz (in Russian).
• Геральдика Деда Мороза Heraldry of Ded Moroz (in Russian).

This article may contain original research. Please improve it by verifying the claims made and adding references. Statements consisting only of original research may be removed. More details may be available on the talk page. (August 2011)

This article does not cite any references or sources. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (April 2007)

A dedicated hosting service, dedicated server, or managed hosting service is a type of Internet hosting in which the client leases an entire server not shared with anyone. This is more flexible than shared hosting, as organizations have full control over the server(s), including choice of operating system, hardware, etc. Server administration can usually be provided by the hosting company as an add-on service. In some cases a dedicated server can offer less overhead and a larger return on investment. Dedicated servers are most often housed in data centers, similar to colocation facilities, providing redundant power sources and HVAC systems. In contrast to colocation, the server hardware is owned by the provider and in some cases they will provide support for your operating system or applications.

Operating system support[link]

Availability, price and employee familiarity often determines which operating systems are offered on dedicated servers. Variations of Linux and Unix (open source operating systems) are often included at no charge to the customer. Commercial operating systems include Microsoft Windows Server, provided through a special program called Microsoft SPLA. Red Hat Enterprise is a commercial version of Linux offered to hosting providers on a monthly fee basis. The monthly fee provides OS updates through the Red Hat Network using an application called yum. Other operating systems are available from the open source community at no charge. These include CentOS, Fedora Core, Debian, and many other Linux distributions or BSD systems FreeBSD, NetBSD, OpenBSD.

Support for any of these operating systems typically depends on the level of management offered with a particular dedicated server plan. Operating system support may include updates to the core system in order to acquire the latest security fixes, patches, and system-wide vulnerability resolutions. Updates to core operating systems include kernel upgrades, service packs, application updates, and security patches that keep server secure and safe. Operating system updates and support relieves the burden of server management from the dedicated server owner.

Bandwidth and connectivity[link]

Bandwidth refers to the data transfer rate or the amount of data that can be carried from one point to another in a given time period (usually a second) and is often represented in bits (of data) per second (bit/s). For example, visitors to your server, web site, or applications utilize bandwidth *Third – Total Transfer (measured in bytes transferred)

95th Method: line speed, billed on the 95th percentile, average or peak usage, refers to the speed in which data flows from the server or device. Line speed is measured in bits per second (or kilobits per second, megabits per second or gigabits per second).

Unmetered Method: The second bandwidth measurement is unmetered service where providers cap or control the “top line” speed for a server. Top line speed in unmetered bandwidth is the total Mbit/s allocated to the server and configured on the switch level. For example, if you purchase 10 Mbit/s unmetered bandwidth, the top line speed would be 10 Mbit/s. 10 Mbit/s would result in the provider controlling the speed transfers take place while providing the ability for the dedicated server owner to not be charged with bandwidth overages. Unmetered bandwidth services usually incur an additional charge.

Total Transfer Method: Some providers will calculate the Total Transfer, the measurement of actual data leaving and arriving, measured in bytes. Measurement between providers varies, though it is either the total traffic in, the total traffic out, whichever is the greater or the sum of the two.

Bandwidth Pooling: This is a key mechanism for hosting buyers to determine which provider is offering the right pricing mechanism of bandwidth pricing. Most Dedicated Hosting providers bundle bandwidth pricing along with the monthly charge for the dedicated server. Let us illustrate this with the help of an example. An average $100 server from any of the common dedicated bandwidth providers would carry 2 TB of bandwidth. Suppose you purchased 10 servers then you would have the ability to consume 2 TB of bandwidth per server. However, let us assume that given your application architecture only 2 of these 10 servers are really web facing while the rest are used for storage, search, database or other internal functions then the provider that allows bandwidth pooling would let you consume overall 20 TB of bandwidth as incoming or outbound or both depending on their policy. The provider that does not offer bandwidth pooling would just let you use 4 TB of bandwidth, and the rest of the 16 TB of bandwidth would be practically unusable.

One of the reasons for choosing to outsource dedicated servers is the availability of high powered networks from multiple providers. As dedicated server providers utilize massive amounts of bandwidth, they are able to secure lower volume based pricing to include a multi-provider blend of bandwidth. To achieve the same type of network without a multi-provider blend of bandwidth, a large investment in core routers, long term contracts, and expensive monthly bills would need to be in place. The expenses needed to develop a network without a multi-provider blend of bandwidth does not make sense economically for hosting providers.

Many dedicated server providers include a service level agreement based on network uptime. Some dedicated server hosting providers offer a 100% uptime guarantee on their network. By securing multiple vendors for connectivity and using redundant hardware, providers are able to guarantee higher uptimes; usually between 99-100% uptime if they are a higher quality provider. One aspect of higher quality providers is they are most likely to be multi-homed across multiple quality uplink providers, which in turn, provides significant redundancy in the event one goes down in addition to potentially improved routes to destinations.

Bandwidth consumption over the last several years has shifted from a per megabit usage model to a per gigabyte usage model. Bandwidth was traditionally measured in line speed access that included the ability to purchase needed megabits at a given monthly cost. As the shared hosting model developed, the trend towards gigabyte or total bytes transferred, replaced the megabit line speed model so dedicated server providers started offering per gigabyte.

Prominent players in the dedicated server market offer large amounts of bandwidth ranging from 500 gigabytes to 3000 gigabytes using the “overselling” model. It is not uncommon for major players to provide dedicated servers with 1Terabyte (TB) of bandwidth or higher. Usage models based on the byte level measurement usually include a given amount of bandwidth with each server and a price per gigabyte after a certain threshold has been reached. Expect to pay additional fees for bandwidth overage usage. For example, if a dedicated server has been given 3000 gigabytes of bandwidth per month and the customer uses 5000 gigabytes of bandwidth within the billing period, the additional 2000 gigabytes of bandwidth will be invoiced as bandwidth overage. Each provider has a different model for billing. As of yet, no industry standards have been set.

Management[link]

To date, no industry standards have been set to clearly define the management role of dedicated server providers. What this means is that each provider will use industry standard terms, but each provider will define them differently. For some dedicated server providers, fully managed is defined as having a web based control panel while other providers define it as having dedicated system engineers readily available to handle all server and network related functions of the dedicated server provider.

Server management can include some or all of the following:

• Operating system updates
• Application updates
• Server monitoring
• SNMP hardware monitoring
• Application monitoring
• Application management
• Technical support
• Firewall services
• Antivirus updates
• Security audits
• DDoS protection and mitigation
• Intrusion detection
• Backups and restoration
• Disaster recovery
• DNS hosting service
• Load balancing
• Database administration
• Performance tuning
• Software installation and configuration
• User management
• Programming consultation

Dedicated hosting server providers define their level of management based on the services they provide. In comparison, fully managed could equal self managed from provider to provider.

Administrative maintenance of the operating system, often including upgrades, security patches, and sometimes even daemon updates are included. Differing levels of management may include adding users, domains, daemon configuration, or even custom programming.

Dedicated server hosting providers may provide the following types of server managed support:

• Fully Managed - Includes monitoring, software updates, reboots, security patches and operating system upgrades. Customers are completely hands-off.
• Managed - Includes medium level of management, monitoring, updates, and a limited amount of support. Customers may perform specific tasks.
• Self Managed - Includes regular monitoring and some maintenance. Customers provide most operations and tasks on dedicated server.
• Unmanaged - Little to no involvement from service provider. Customers provide all maintenance, upgrades, patches, and security.

Security[link]

Dedicated hosting server providers utilize extreme security measures to ensure the safety of data stored on their network of servers. Providers will often deploy various software programs for scanning systems and networks for obtrusive invaders, spammers, hackers, and other harmful problems such as Trojans, worms, and crashers (Sending multiple connections). Linux and Windows use different software for security protection.

Software[link]

Providers often bill for dedicated servers on a fixed monthly price to include specific software packages. Over the years, software vendors realized the significant market opportunity to bundle their software with dedicated servers. They have since started introducing pricing models that allow dedicated hosting providers the ability to purchase and resell software based on reduced monthly fees.

Microsoft offers software licenses through a program called the Service Provider License Agreement. The SPLA model provides use of Microsoft products through a monthly user or processor based fee. SPLA software includes the Windows Operating System, Microsoft SQL Server, Microsoft Exchange Server, Microsoft SharePoint and shoutcast hosting, and many other server based products.

Dedicated Server Providers usually offer the ability to select the software you want installed on a dedicated server. Depending on the overall usage of the server, this will include your choice of operating system, database, and specific applications. Servers can be customized and tailored specific to the customer’s needs and requirements.

Other software applications available are specialized web hosting specific programs called control panels. Control panel software is an all inclusive set of software applications, server applications, and automation tools that can be installed on a dedicated server. Control panels include integration into web servers, database applications, programming languages, application deployment, server administration tasks, and include the ability to automate tasks via a web based front end.

Most dedicated servers are packaged with a control panel. Control panels are often confused with management tools, but these control panels are actually web based automation tools created to help automate the process of web site creation and server management. Control panels should not be confused with a full server management solution by a dedicated hosting provider.

Limitations[link]

Many providers do not allow IRC (bots, clients or daemons). This is due to rogue IRC users triggering DDoS attacks against the provider, which may overwhelm their networks, lowering service quality for all customers.

• Adult content is disallowed by many providers as it may either be of questionable legality or consume large amounts of bandwidth.
• Copyright violation Hosting copyrighted material of which you do not own the copyright to is against the terms of service of most hosting companies.

See also[link]

• Hosting environment
• Data center