A picture of Ded Moroz, also known as Father Frost.
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Origins

Ded Moroz (known as Father Frost in his early years) is from Slavic lore and is kind of a merger of multiple legends. Father Frost was a mean wicked sorcerer who enjoyed freezing people. Ded Moroz’s was described as wearing a blue coat so he wouldn’t be confused with Santa Claus, and often carried a large magical staff. He went through many costume changes throughout the years and sometimes he would wear an elaborate red jacket with white design elements. He also has a long white beard and a hat that resembles the pope hat, or sometimes he wore a hood Like Santa. He wears boots, but instead of a sleigh with reindeer he rides a troika, a horse drawn sled or carriage. He brought his granddaughter around with him, known as the “Snow Maiden” or Snegurochka.

His roots are pagan, and he was considered a winter sprite. He acted as 3 Slavic pagan gods, the god of wind, good, and bad weather, Pozvizd, god of winter, Zimnik, and the underworld god who ruled over frosts, Korochun. He would carry around a large sack and would use it to kidnap children. He would hold them ransom and the parents were told to give him presents in exchange for their children. Over the years under the Orthodox traditions he then became very generous and started to give presents to children instead. He took over some traits from Saint Nicholas.

Eastern European Traditions

In Russia from 1916 to 1935, Christmas trees were considered sacrilegious and banned. Perhaps because the tree originated from Germany and they were enemies during the World War. Later, in the USSR Christmas became their favorite holiday and images of Father Frost began emerging.
In Yugoslavia, he was known as “Grandfather Frost” and would bring presents during New Years, but they didn’t celebrate Christmas, which was outlawed by the Communist regime.

In Croatia, Djed Mraz (Croatian for Ded Moroz) was considered communist and was replaced by Djed Bozicnjak (Grandfather Christmas), and would bring gifts on Christmas. Sometimes Djed Mraz would still bring gifts for the New Year. Children would also receive presents on December 6th from Sveti Nikola (Saint Nicholas). If the children misbehaved, evil Krampus would punish children and warn them to be good.

In Slovenia he was known as Dedek Mraz (Grandpa Frost). He was described as being skinny, wearing a decorative leather gray coat lined with fur. and a round fur hat. He was said to live to in Siberia, but then war broke out between Yugoslavia and the Soviet Union his home was moved to Slovenia’s tallest mountain, Mt. Triglav. They also believed that St. Nicholas (Miklavz) brought presents on December 6th and Santa Claus (Bozicek) brought presents on Christmas Eve. Dedek Mraz would bring gifts on New Year’s Eve. Santa Claus was the less popular of the three, but the three would get along publicly.

Zwarte Piet from European traditions was depicted as being covered in soot.
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Introduction

Zwarte Piet originated in Belgium and the Netherlands, and translates into “Black Peter.” He is described as being very black, with big eyes, huge red lips, wearing Asian clothes, and wearing a feathered cap. In some legends he was a servent boy, and in the early descriptions he was not very bright, but after the second half of the 20th century when immigration started, he was more respected. He hangs around Saint Nicholas and leaves small gifts in shoes that are left out by children in early December, before Saint Nicholas’s arrival. If the children were bad he would kidnap the children with his sack and take them to Spain. He is said to carry around a birch rod or a whilp to hit people. He enters the house the same way that Saint Nicholas does, down the chimney. All the soot from the chimney makes his face and hands all black. He appears a few weeks before Saint Nicholas’s feast, this is when the saint is celebrated and welcomed with an extravagant parade as he arrives in the Netherlands by a steam boat from Spain. This is usually December 5th or 6th depending on the location. Many dolls of Zwarte Piet are made and displayed everywhere around this time. These dolls depict him doing different things, for example there’s a cooking Piet, an acrobatic Piet, etc.

A Schism

In 1945, discussions on having more than one Saint Nicholas broke out, but the majority didn’t want to break the tradition. Instead, they added more Piets, they had Hoofd Piet (Head Pete), Rijm Piet (Rhyme Piet) who carried books of Sintersklaas. Sinterklaas was celebrated by the Dutch on December 5th. Presents were given anonymously and most had poems signed by Rijm Piet and were read aloud for entertainment. During this time, if someone did a job or solved a problem they would mention the name of different Piets that helped, for example “it comes from the (chef) Piet”, the adults would really know who did it while the children think that a different Piet helped out.

Some view the Zwarte Piet as racist.
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Slave Originations

The relationship between St. Nicholas and Zwarte Piet is boss and worker, never as owner and slave, although it was believed he was a slave before the emancipation. He needed an assistant since he was old. In some traditions he decided to serve as a free servant rather than actually being free, so there is no obligation.

In Germanic Europe, Zwarte Piet was a devil forced to slavery and to assist the man that captured him, but then in the 19th century he is then a companion.
In modern day Netherlands people celebrate Zwarte Piet by painting their faces black, put on bright red lipstick, put on an afro, and parade up the streets throwing candy to children and adults. Some people see him as tradition while others don’t celebrate him feeling that the character was an expression of racism. Most people don’t consider him African American, they just know him as Zwarte Piet, just as people in America have elves instead.

Since the 20th century people have tried to replace Zwarte Piet with many different colored make-up instead of the traditional black. but the Dutch are not catching on. They believe that it is a symbol of their heritage rather than symbol of racism.

Jack Frost, a popular frozen persona during wintertime.
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Jack Frost is believed to have come from Germanic folklore, and was very popular with the Anglo-Saxon and Norse during winter. The crystal patterns of frost found early in the morning on the windows were said to be from Jack Frost. He is described as being the persona of cold winter and is elfish. He is also a variant of Father Winter. In a Finnish epic he comes from his father, Blast.