Tajikistan reportedly joins war on Santa

“Tajikistan Joins War on Santa” item by David Trilling, which was posted on Eurasianet’s website on December 6, says that authorities in Tajikistan are taking a leaf out of Ebenezer Karimov’s book and forbidding Santa Claus – or Father Frost, as he’s known in the Russian-speaking tradition – from appearing on television this holiday season, news.tj reports.

“Last year arch-rival Uzbekistan, presided over by President Islam Karimov, banned the beloved Father Frost from New Year’s broadcasts in efforts to shield Uzbeks from foreign influences and invent a unique Uzbek “culture.”

“New Year’s remains one of the most popular holidays throughout the former Soviet Union, celebrated with family meals and fireworks. The robed Father Frost (“Ded Moroz”) brings children gifts, much as Santa Claus does on Christmas Day in the West. But the New Year’s holiday is entirely secular.

“The new ban in Tajikistan applies to Father Frost, his maiden sidekick Snegurochka, and Christmas trees, Radio Ozodi reported on December 5.  (The ban applies to state television, but Tajikistan has no independent television stations. Many people watch Russian satellite TV.)

“In recent years, some Islamic clergy have complained that the New Year holiday, with its Christian undertones, is not appropriate for a Muslim country like Tajikistan.

“But the ban is not a nod to the clergy, Dilafrouz Amirqulova, deputy head of Tajikistan’s Committee for Television and Radio Broadcasting, told Radio Ozodi: “Our main holiday, in general, is Navrouz.  Of course we respect holidays of other people, but our real holiday is Navrouz,” the Persian New Year, which is celebrated on the vernal equinox in March.

“The prohibition comes almost two years after a man in a Santa costume was murdered on the streets of Dushanbe.  Officials initially suspected Islamist radicals, but a court later declared the murderer was not motivated by religion.”