As thousands of Kyivites get fired, Kyiv Mayor Leonid “Kosmos” Chernovetsky imports a Finnish Santa Claus and paints the sky with fireworks.
On December 20, Kyivites witnessed the best of bread and circuses.
The Finnish Santa Claus-for-hire
Kyiv Mayor Leonid "Kosmos" Chernovetsky: Kyiv has many problems, but today we will not talk about bad things. Today, there’s a holiday waiting for us. At the City Hall, we prepared for you the best, the tallest, the most beautiful, and the fluffiest Christmas tree. It’s made up of four hundred…and fifty pines. We spent half a million hryvnias on it.
Bystander: Let’s not talk about how much we spent!
Mayor Chernovetsky: Every year, we add one meter to the Christmas tree. Soon, it will reach the sky. Citizens, have fun! It’s all for you! Now, I have the magic word. I suppose the Christmas tree should be lit. You’re not screaming loud enough! Louder!
Finito la comedia!
P.S. Here’s a funny Soviet postcard I found by happenstance.
Happy New Year!
6 comments:
Cosmos, apparently, needs to hire a person who would write speeches for him. Questions like "do you like your mayor" can be dangerous. :-))
Thank you for noticing, Olenka:)!
Yeah, he should have hired some shills, not just the Santa.
Merry Christmas!:)
One of my Ukrainian friends went on and on about how Santa Claus came to Ukraine and Grandfather Frost has lost his territory here and why does Kyiv now not have Grandfather Frost visit and I was like, "What?!" Thanks for the proof that it was indeed Santa Claus!
As I watched this silly show, my Christmas wish was for Santa to take that other guy to the North Pole.
I'm sure Grandfather Frost would have approved:)
2 questions:
1) Has ANYONE explained why the hot water and heat got turned off in Kyiv?
Or are the fireworks supposed to make people forget about it?
2) What on earth do military marching music and fireworks have to do with Santa Claus, or Christmas?
You know, the US has turned Christmas into a national shopping frenzy, with an almost patriotic duty to go out and shop - for Christmas. But in all of that, people do manage to somehow remember what Christmas is all about - I have yet to see military marching music and fireworks. I do hear lots of Christmas carols all over the place, on the radio and TV, in the shopping malls, etc.
But I don't hear any "do you love your mayor for Christmas" and "you're not screaming loud enough for the Christmas tree" and military music and fireworks.
Who paid for all this stuff?
I haven't quite yet decided whether this beats the "New Year's Tree" in vulgarity or not, the tree that the sovoks used to sort of replace Christmas trees when they couldn't quite get rid of Christmas.
Christmas/New Year trees and fireworks can be seen in many parts of the world.
Yet given Ukraine’s current condition, the fireworks I saw fit the category of squandermania and self-promotion.
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