The arrival of Father Frost is a tradition that has been maintained by the Friends of Youth Association (FYA) Maribor for many years. The first media records of such an event were found in 1948, which means this year marks 70 years of celebrating the arrival of the good man. The highlights from individual visits, not only in Maribor but in other Slovenian towns as well, are presented at the exhibition called Gray fur hat, white beard, which opened a few days ago at the Museum of National Liberation Maribor.

"The programme of Father Frost has changed over the years, however, it always reaches a large number of children. All children received gifts during the first post-war years; first at the main event, and then at the labour organisations. They encouraged modest gifts and rich cultural content of events," explained at the museum.

Father Frost – "The autochthonous Slovenian fairytale character"
The costume of Father Frost was created by the academic painter Maksim Gaspari. His fur is made out of white or brown sheepskin, he also wears a fur hat and ribbons in national colours.

"This is a true autochthonous Slovenian fairytale character and our mission is to maintain this tradition," said Tadeja Dobaj from the FYA Maribor. "We are working on adding him to the list of Unesco's intangible heritage because he really is part of our tradition which is globally important," she added.