r/nottheonion • u/vincevega87 • 18h ago
Russian air defenses shoot down Santa Claus in Christmas video
https://www.newsweek.com/russia-shoots-down-santa-air-defense-2006514396
u/GreenStickBlackPants 17h ago
The point of the video is to get rid of the "foreign" Santa so that Grandfather Frost, the Slavic version of the same trope, can come back. That's the "Grandfather" at the end.
In terms of the "War on Christmas," this is friendly fire. Literally.
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u/kattmedtass 16h ago edited 13h ago
Ironically, Grandfather Frost isn’t even that traditional in Russia. The figure was pretty much invented by the Soviet regime. They wanted to get rid of all religious symbols in the USSR, so naturally they couldn’t have Saint Nicolaus around anymore. So they popularized “Grandfather Frost” to replace him.
So, one could easily argue that their portrayal here of “Western Santa Claus” is a more traditional figure in Russian culture than “Grandfather Frost” is.
It’s all just very ridiculous.
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u/Dertroks 7h ago
What kind of ridiculousness are you talking about? Ded Moroz is old folk tradition
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u/catcherx 14h ago
Grandfather Frost was not invented by the Soviet regime. Just fucking look it up. It is the Russian Saint Nicolas from before the Soviet regime. And there are many more names for the role around the world
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u/BarnardWellesley 13h ago
In 1840, V. F. Odoevsky’s “Children’s Tales of Grandfather Irinej” were published, in one of which (“Moroz Ivanovich”) the image of the folkloric Frost as a good giver was first introduced. Santa Claus, as a New Year’s character, began to crystallize in Russia at the beginning of the 20th century[9]. He first appeared at Christmas in 1910, but did not become widespread. When the anti-religious campaign began in the USSR in the mid-1920s, the Christmas tree and Santa Claus were banned. Santa Claus returned to Soviet life in 1937 by party directive. Since the 1930s, he has been a mandatory participant in theatrical performances that take place on the eve and during the winter holidays in kindergartens, schools, palaces of culture, on city squares, etc. (he first appeared on the Kremlin Christmas tree in 1937[10]). According to a typical scenario, he does not appear immediately, but after several invitations, which are chanted by all those present. Children do not receive gifts before his arrival[11]. Traditional gifts from Santa Claus consist of a set of sweets. At the same time, specialized companies (during Soviet times - bureaus of good services) provide a service for Santa Claus to visit families and institutions with pre-ordered gifts. Santa Claus is depicted in a long blue or red fur coat, girded with a belt, with a long white beard, in a fur hat and felt boots. He appears accompanied by his granddaughter, the Snow Maiden, and sometimes with a boy, the personification of the New Year. None of his foreign counterparts have similar companions.
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u/catcherx 13h ago
Since the 19th century the attributes and legend of Ded Moroz have been shaped by literary influences, which were also influenced by the Western tradition of Santa Claus.[4] The play The Snow Maiden (named Snegurochka in Russian) by Aleksandr Ostrovsky was influential in this respect, as was Rimsky-Korsakov’s The Snow Maiden with libretto based on the play.[1][5] By the end of the 19th century Ded Moroz became a popular character.[citation needed] The children’s tradition of writing letters to Ded Moroz has been known since the end of the 19th century.[6]
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u/NonEuclidianMeatloaf 17h ago
The ironic part would be to hear their response to “well where did the character Grandfather Frost come from?”
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u/lthovesh 16h ago
The answer to that is a much older tradition, Grandfather Frost from Slavic mythology predates Christianity as a whole. “The origins of the character of Ded Moroz predates Christianity as a Slavic spirit of winter”
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u/Lrauka 15h ago
Without reading the cited source, but from everything I can see, that's similar to saying Christianity predates Jesus, because it borrows from older pagan religions for a lot of its stories.
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u/Anihillator 14h ago
But that's pretty much it? Like Christmas being Yule, like renaming Samhain into Halloween. It's not "Christianity predates Jesus", it's just old stories and traditions suddenly becoming "Christian" to please the locals and keep the tradition alive.
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u/recycleddesign 12h ago
In the uk Father Christmas technically predates Christianity too. He used to be an old bearded wassailer with a Yule log, staff and bowl. That type character is a shared idea and it seems fair to say dates back to the vikings. This kind of character became known as a Father Christmas in the uk when the church moved jesus’s birthday to hijack the midwinter season and to incorporate Yule. More or less. There wasn’t necessarily just one father xmas at that point and a father xmas was basically all about crashing other people’s houses and feasting and drinking with them during the season, he didn’t give presents to kids really till the Victorian age. More or less. And he isn’t really Saint Nicholas to us, that’s been sort of absorbed too as a cross over with Santa Claus (Spanish/Latin name anyway of course) coming from uks shared culture with the US rather than Europe. The nearest we get to relating directly to European Xmas now is German style markets (that aren’t anymore) and singing the chorus to felis navidad. At this point there probably isn’t any real difference between all our folkllore figures of this kind and what they mean. They probably all originate from a version of Odin after the great hunt, which probably sort of served as an example to everyone to hunt, stock up, have plenty during midwinter and enjoy bountiful feasts.
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u/KP_Wrath 17h ago
This is not the flex they think it is.
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u/Mega-Steve 17h ago
Especially since they likely shot down a passenger plane in Kazakhstan the other day
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u/coalsucks 17h ago
When the santa video rises to the top of "russian missile shot down plane" search results, the Russian plan will have been successful.
Just like "fraud guarantee."
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u/pydry 14h ago
short video spreading on Russia's pro-government Telegram channels
There's a good chance that the "they" is not the "they" you think it is.
About 1/4 of all Telegram channels that claim to be pro Ukrainian are run by Russia to deliver propaganda and vice versa.
"It appeared on a telegram channel" carries about as much evidential weight as "it was announced by Donald Trump".
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u/yaOlSeadog 17h ago
Where is Tucker Carlson on this? Is he still ranting about the war on Christmas?
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u/ITividar 17h ago
Nah, russia could invade Santa's workshop and Trumpers like Fucker Carlson would still simp for him.
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u/Forsaken_War_5110 16h ago
Pretty sure Santa and the Elves could repel a Russian invasion at this point.
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u/Hinter-Lander 14h ago
Are you saying Santa and his Elves are militarily stronger than Ukraine?
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u/Forsaken_War_5110 14h ago edited 13h ago
No Comrade... I'm saying Russias military and leadership are a joke. Russia is the largest country in the world... and was supposedly a 'Superpower'. They've been getting their ass kicked by a country the size of Texas for almost 3 years now. Remember when Putin said it was going to be a couple weeks 'Special Military Operation'? Lol! Now he's groveling to China and North Korea for help... pretty pathetic.
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u/SimiKusoni 13h ago
The USSR was a superpower, Russia has never been considered a superpower outside of hyperbole and overexcited journalists conflating the two. They have similar GDP to Canada or Brazil and even that's questionable given how unreliable Rosstat have become over the last decade or so.
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u/Hinter-Lander 13h ago
Russia has occupied a good chunk of land for almost 3 years now. I do not equate this to 'getting their ass kicked'
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u/Forsaken_War_5110 13h ago
Lol! Found the Russian troll... You're seriously embarrassing yourself at this point Comrade. Imagine the United States invading Cuba 3 years ago and our military had advanced about 10 miles inland... and had to ask Canada and Mexico for help to get that far. We would be the laughing stock of the world... like Russia is now.
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u/dan_dares 16h ago
FREE PRESENTS!!!!
COMMUNISM!
oh, wait, no we like that now
SOCIALISM!
wait.. do we like that?
rich person whispers in ear
SOCIALISM BAD,
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u/ITividar 16h ago
He is the rich person. Tucker ain't broke.
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u/Prophayne_ 14h ago
Just ain't smart enough to think for himself, thus the other rich white dude whispering in his ear.
It's easy to be rich if you live on Grifter Street.
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u/Killersmurph 14h ago
You just got Elon the Muskrat SO EXCITED when he thought you said Free Peasants...
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u/hectorxander 17h ago
Yeah no shit someone should turn the tables on him, this would help make a great half joking ad about tucker and his patrons and allies actually waging the war against Christmas.
Not to mention warring against truth, the enlightenment, and representative government.
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u/MisterFives 17h ago
In all fairness to Russia, they mistook Santa's sleigh for a passenger aircraft.
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u/Rylonian 17h ago
Russian civilians cannot have nice things from the West because their dictatorship would rather shoot down anything foreign.
I see no deception in this video. Tbh, I am surprised that they are being so straightforward with it actually.
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u/ur_edamame_is_so_fat 8h ago
We don’t know the source for this video. It could have been made by either side
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u/Alpha_Zerg 5h ago
What are you on?
Oh, wait, nevermind. You're either a bot or a troll, and I can't be arsed to figure out which.
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u/YossarianGolgi 17h ago
They didn't wait for Santa to go near a window.
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u/MrT735 13h ago
The bloke has a flying sleigh and jumps 2/3 stories down chimneys for a living, they probably couldn't guarantee going out of a window would finish him.
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u/kooshipuff 12h ago
But their surface to air missiles could? Dude visits all the houses in the world in a night- if he's in any danger at all, he can just hit the boost and outrun anything.
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u/SKULL1138 17h ago
The reason we know it’s fake is that the Russian guns all worked and hit their target.
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u/Consistent_Pound1186 15h ago
Hey hey they just shot down a civilian jet. As we know their weapons only works on civilians
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u/Commercial-Fennel219 14h ago
Santa was clearly defecting with a pile of NATO munitions... Why would they shoot him down!?!
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u/Skyhook91 17h ago
Passenger Jets, Mythical Figures, you name it ! Nothing is safe in Russian Airspace. Goodluck Russian Pilots LOL
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u/Nobody275 15h ago
Explains why they hit so many passenger deaths. Imagine a world without Russia - so much happier
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u/Hunter20107 14h ago
Pretty poor timing of the Russians to have this advert playing after the Aviation Incident.
Then again the Russias think 3 days is 2+ years so I guess timing isn't their forte
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u/JuuzoLenz 14h ago
Welp I guess Ignis Corps first Christmas operation has become a little too real now
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17h ago
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u/CatProgrammer 16h ago
Reminds me of an anti-communist commercial I saw once that had the USSR nuking Santa.
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u/purpleWheelChair 14h ago
I like how they try to act all strategic, but they’re the dumbasses that shot down a passenger plane.
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u/FireZord25 2h ago
They'd be lucky to get off with a lump of coal. That's what Santa sends Darkseid every year.
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u/RoyalRien 16h ago
This is fucked up but I must admit the moment just before Santa Claus gets obliterated is hilarious
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u/TheRC135 16h ago
"No presents this year because daddy decided to fuck with the civilized world and got sanctioned."
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u/Helgafjell4Me 15h ago
I like Steven Colbert's Christmas special better... the one where Santa punches Putin in the face.
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u/koiproductions 15h ago
So at the same time they’re vehemently denying having anything to do with the Azerbaijan flight, they release this? SNL couldn’t write better irony
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u/Chassian 15h ago
The red coat Santa Claus was allegedly popularized by Coca Cola, so he literally is a capitalist Santa Claus...
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u/Pyrhan 14h ago
Holy shit that's some bad timing, immediately after they shoot down a civilian airliner! (Again...)
https://theaviationist.com/2024/12/26/azerbaijan-airlines-flight-8243-crash/
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u/Greyhaven7 17h ago
Just like they shoot down passenger jets.