99% Invisible - 470- The Three Santas of Slovenia

Episode Date: December 15, 2021

Slovenia is a small country in Central Europe nestled between Italy, Austria, Croatia and Hungary. It's a land of snowy white peaks, green valleys, and turquoise rivers. The country is beautiful in all seasons, but it is perhaps at its most magical around Christmastime. This nation of just over 2 million people is visited by, not one, not two, but three different "santas" every festive season. But it hasn't always been this way. Each Santa has had his moment in the spotlight—each in a different period of Slovenia’s complicated history. And in order to have a Christmas season that reflects that history and speaks to all Slovenians, you need three magical men.The Three Santas of Slovenia

A quick note. The following story acknowledges the existence of Santa Claus and explores his origin story. If you or someone in the car seat next to you are not ready to hear that, you might want to save this episode for another time. This is 99% invisible. I'm Roman Mars. Slovenia is a small country in central Europe, nestled between Italy, Austria, Croatia and Hungary.

It's a land of snowy white peaks, green valleys, intercoise rivers, beautiful and all seasons, although especially at Christmas time. It snowed really early on during my first winter here and it was just magical. It felt like I was walking through a Christmas card. That's reporter Will Aspenar. I moved here from the UK with my wife and young family back in 2018 because we were enchanted with Slovenia's landscape and wanted a new life for the kids. And in that first year we were really curious what Christmas was going to be like in this snow globe of a country. We love Christmas,

and I thought we did it pretty well back in Britain. But let's just say what Slovenia gets up to every December kind of blew us away. Like children in the U.S. or the U.K., Slovenian kids are visited by Santa Claus, every Christmas Eve. They call him Boziczek. These are the voices of kids that I recorded at my daughter Marnie's elementary school. And that's Marnie translating. But kids in Slovenia don't have to settle for just one center they also have a more traditional option available a Catholic saint called Miklausi who dishes out the gifts on the night of December the 5th. My clouch is a little kid. He likes him. My clouch because when you go to the show, he throws down sweeties and also brings presents.

And if you're a kid in Slovenia, I think a G-s, too soon, it just really doesn't feel like enough. Well, don't worry. There is yet another option. He's a festive figure who comes down from the country's highest mountain every New Year's day to shower the children of Slovenia with good wishes and yet more presence. His name, if you didn't catch it, is Dedek Marass, grandpa Frost. I'm very glad I'm a papal choma. It's got a big beard and she's got a stick. I'm glad that it's more of a drill to do the camera. It was good, we did it right,

because then we took a picture with him and had a fun time. If you're doing your sons, that means that this nation of just over 2 million people is visited by not one, not two, but three different Santas every festive season. As far as I know, they have the highest Santa Decidice and ratio of any country in the world. When I found out about Slovenia's three Santas, I had so many questions. Why was one Santa not enough for these people?

Where on earth did they all come from and how do they manage to coexist? It turns out that each Santa has had his moment in the spotlight, each in a different period of Slovenia's complicated history. And today, if you want a Christmas season that reflects that history and speaks to all Slovenians, you need all three magical men. The people of Slovenia have long been protective of their customs and language, and you can understand why.

For hundreds of years, they were ruled by the Habsburg Empire, one of the most powerful dynasties in Europe. Their language superficially was German because they were part of the empire. That's art historian and self-described anglophone cheerleader of Slovenia, Noah Charni. But anyone living at home and going about their daily activities would have spoken Slovenian. And so that preservation of the language has helped keep them a relatively homogenous solid group despite all of the issues that plagued Europe over the past centuries. The Slevings were a distinct group of people with their own language but they

did share the same religion with almost all other subjects of the Hapsburg Empire, Roman Catholicism. Roman Catholics loved their saints, and around Christmas time, there was only one saint that mattered. Interest Slovenia's first magical Christmas man, St. Nicholas. St. Nicholas, or Sveti McLeodshin's Slovenia, was a bishop born in the third century's CE. There are a lot of stories that surround St. Nicholas. Some of them very gory and uncrismacy, but the one that matters for our purposes is about

a poor old man who got so desperate he was about to sell his daughters into prostitution. St. Nicholas intervened by delivering bags of gold coins to the man's house in the middle of the night. St. Nick coming in with an extremely intense origin story. And his St. day on to Samus 6 is when Slovenian children traditionally received presents while they were sleeping, just like those bags of gold one and a half millennia ago. But the action really happened the night before during Miklaus Vagnier, St. Nicholas Eve. In the capital of Vienna there was a church-sp parade with Maclaus at the center dressed like a Catholic bishop with that iconic pointed hat, golden slippers, and a curling

bishop staff. St. Nicholas in the Slovenian tradition is kindly, but he's accompanied by a group of little demons called Parclinni. And their role is essentially as a tool to be used by parents to frighten children into being obedient. And these Parclinni, these demons are supposed to carry around clanking chains

that they drag you off with. That is intensely swirky for our Christmas story. Yeah, Mikhail Ashtovaniy really knocks Halloween into a cocked hat. Some of the people I spoke to were genuinely traumatized by it because in rural areas, people would actually dress up as these demons and take the opportunity to torment local children. Mikhail Astervaniy was Slovenia's only Santa for generations, until the 1940s, when the country traded one empire for another and swapped centers in the process.

When the Austro-Hungarian Empire crumbled after World War I, the Slevinge peoples decided to join a collection of six nations who identified themselves ethnically as southern or Yugo Slavs. Yugoslavia was born. At first Yugoslavia was a monarchy, but after World War II it became a communist country led by a charismatic strong man named Josep Braz, better known as Tito. Under Tito, Catholicism was suppressed and St. Nicholas aka McClausch was banned. So after World War II, the new Yugoslav communist authorities wanted to banish religious customs from public life and they wanted to replace them with the new, let's say, socialist holidays. That's Nina Gido, a curator at the Slovenian ethnographic museum who has researched this

period. And I must say that I even met one man. He was playing the role on Sam Nikolas and then the police came. And he told to me that he was in the prison for two days because of playing the role of Sam Nikolas. because of playing the role of San Nicolas. Burning dressing up as a Catholic saint was one thing, but taking away presents for children during the darkest month of the year would have been unforgivable. Tito knew that, and so he needed something, or rather someone,

to take Maclauch's place. Exit Maclauch, enter our next magical Christmas man. At this point Yugoslavia relied on the Soviet Union for economic assistance, and Tito decided to borrow from its culture too. Since the 1930s, the Soviet Union had deployed a communist center to hand out the gifts. And that figure is called in Russian dead mortals or grandfather Frost in Slovenia he's called Dedek Miraz. Dedek Miraz looked like an enormous bearded man from the Russian countryside. We would appear in factories and if we're being pragmatic he was probably someone from the factory team dressed up. The

children would come to the factory and then they would have this positive association with going to the factory and then they would have this positive association with going to the factory and the parents would feel that the factory was the one giving the gifts to their children. And it's this good communist alternative to Catholic St. Nicholas or capitalist Santa Claus. But a political crisis threatened to end, Dedic Morass, before he had even had a chance to spread the holiday cheer. Joseph Stalin wanted Yugoslavia to become a puppet state for the Soviet Union, but Tito was having none of it.

And Stalin didn't take kindly to Tito's independent streak. There is clear evidence that Stalin tried to have him assassinated on at least 20 different occasions, including with such James Bond-like gadgetry as a music box that released nerve gas. Tito eventually outlawed all Soviet influence in Yugoslavia, but he wanted to keep Dedek Miraz, just not dressed like a Russian.

He wanted to, you know, you just love him up a bit. But Tito's initial attempts were a little haphazard. Over the next few chrysances, Grandpa Frost appeared dressed up as a soldier, a minor, a sailor, even a striking worker, basically socialist archetypes of Yugoslav proletarian heroes. Yeah, at the beginning it was quite political, like the Dukmeras was bringing the greetings from Tito. But neither the original recipe Russian Dachmeras or the Yugoslavian cosplay version really caught on in Slovenia. The people just didn't buy it, it felt phony and so Tito decided to

allow each of the six Yugoslav nations, including Slovenia, to design their own bespoke version of Grandpa Frost. In Slovenia, this country that had long been a part of a bigger empire, took the opportunity to redesign Detic Maras and turn him into something distinctly Slovenian. A 69-year-old painter called Maxine Gaspari was brought in to handle the design. This was a genius decision because although Gaspari was brought in to handle the design. This was a genius decision because although Gaspari was a classically trained artist, he was first and foremost a commercial illustrator with a broad fanbase. I think of him as a Slovenian Norman Rockwell. And when it came to Christmas, Gaspari knew what would appeal to as many Slovenians as possible. He tends to be known

to the general public because he did this series of paintings that were made into postcards and collectibles of folk scenes related to the Christmas holiday. They're very tweey now, but this was the Christmas aesthetic that people would be used to in Slovenia. In 1952, Kasparri created three postcards of his new updated Slovenian version of Dedek Maras.

He's smoking an old-fashioned decorated pipe that is associated with this one small town in the mountains. He's got a long sheepskin coat with these ancient Slovenian flower motifs on the coat tails, and he's got a hat made out of doormouse for her. Doormice were one of the few sources of protein available to the rural poor, and it takes a lot of doormice to make a hat. And Dedek Muros is like that. He is a trapper who hunts doormice. He is not wealthy, but what wealthy has, he shares by bringing gifts to children.

Sluvenian fairy tales are full of modest and humble heroes who rise to the challenge when needed. Mountain men ready to answer the call. So Gospari was making sure that his dead egg morais spoke directly to the character of the people. A voluntary organization called the Association of Friends of Youth was in charge of the Deadic Marass rollout. They made ten identical costumes from Gaspar's designs, and in 1952 the new Deadic Marass made appearances in and around the capital. This was followed by a booklet called Deadic Marass Prehaya. Deadic Marass is coming in 1957.

The booklet had one main instruction. Deadic Marass was a fairy tale figure designed only for kids. He wasn't a piece of state propaganda the way Stalin or Tito had treated him. He was fun. Translated into English, the booklet said, that Derek Marass is not a didactic figure, but a lively, cheerful, witty, fairy tale figure that sinks into the child's world, so that child comes to life with it. And it seems to have worked.

I believe that Eddickmas was real, but I was younger. This is my friend Yasna. She was a child of the Slovenian 70s and 80s and grew up with the distinctly Slovenian Eddickmas. You know, because you really saw him, because he came to kindergarten. He was not a fictional character, you know, that you see it only in on TV or just hear stories about him or, you know, he will come during night and no, he came in during day, he came to you. He gave you his hand, he hugged you, so it was a real person.

And it gets better, because they also hired one of the greatest writers of children's songs in Slovenia, Janis Beatens, to give Dedek Maras his own catchy theme song. Siva, kuc, má, bela, brada. I don't remember the words. Just a second. I don't remember the words. Just a second. Here it is. Great Hat, White Beard, Warm Coat, Full Basket. Oh, he's already come among us. Good old deadig morass.

Red Bulls, Books, Notebooks, Dolls, Sleds and more. Oh, he's already come among us. Good old dead emeras. Yeah, maybe say sort of hello to listeners in America on dead emeras. In English or in Slovenia? Slovenian, why not? Hey, pozdrauljeni drubiš. This Jolly Fellow is Robert Valtel. He started playing Dead in Marass at the main parade in L'Abiana in 1987. Robert is quite a character in his own right. We talk for hours in his apartment,

alongside the love of his life, his dog Umbra. OK, Umbra, Mir de Iprosim. Mir, what breed is Umbra? L'agoto Romanieolo, Italian water dog. Fancy. Yeah, fancy, fancy. When Robert started performing as Deleg Marasse, Tito had been dead for seven years,

and Yugoslavia was on a downward spiral to complete the integration. But Slovenia was actually doing well economically and felt that the other republics were dragging her down. So in 1991 Slovenians took their chances and declared independence from Yugoslavia. And it was fantastic. It was really fantastic because it was like almost everyone for the independence. Jasna remembers this period feeling almost too good to be true. Yeah, it was scary a little bit because we knew that they wouldn't let us go, that easy. So it was exciting and also you didn't know what will happen. And then when it happened, it was like Everything at once.

On June 24th, Robert and a group of actor friends were performing all over the capital. He still vividly remembers how happy everyone was in the hours leading up to Slovenia's formal declaration of independence. It was beautiful in Dubljana, everywhere, you know, happy people. So, and then we went to sleep, I don't know, four or five morning and then start the alarm for the bumps. So that was really shocked. The Yugoslav Air Force dropped five and it's in Tannen, that Slovenian militia targets throughout the day. But the war only lasted 10 days. Slovenia

escaped the horror that befell many of the other former Yugoslav nations throughout the 1990s. What's happened in Croatia first and Bosnia it's horrible. It's really horrible. But for Slovenia we were lucky. Of the centuries of being part of monocles, empires, and failed six-part nation-states, Slovenia had achieved independence in under two weeks. But this victory led to a battle over Slovenian culture, one that almost spelled the end for We were afraid that the Dereck-Mras can disappear.

Because some people, they want you to know to kill him. Many Slovenes saw this moment as an opportunity to move into the modern world and reject everything from the past. And despite his fun Slovenian rebrand, some people still associated dead in Miras with the Soviet Union. But what was really funny? They want to replace him with Santa Claus. Inter Slovenia's third magical Christmas man, Santa Claus. The red suit wearing reindeer having rosy cheek jolly fellow that you probably are picturing right now thanks in part to the Coca-Cola Company. Their Christmas character was designed to be used in coca-ads starting in 1931, and like the beverage itself, their Santa Amage went nearly everywhere in the capitalist world.

And suddenly, Slovenia was a democratic capitalist-friendly country, and looking to America and looking to Western Europe and hoping for a brighter, more independent economic future. Well, if you're interested in economic futures and capitalism, then you want your Santa wearing red pajamas and bringing as many gifts as possible. Many Slovenians embraced Santa Claus, but this time the new Santa didn't push the old one off the stage. In the end, Dedek Moraz survived the transition from socialist Yugoslavia to democratic Slovenia. It's hard to say exactly why, but I can't help wonder if it's because he was so well designed. Even though he was a relatively new creation, Dedek Miras was crafted to feel like he'd always been there, like he was an ancient artifact of Slovenian culture.

And people like Gazna weren't going to let him go without a fight. It's still a part of our history. Why kill it? I grew up with it. I didn't grow up with Santa Claus. The rest is a part of us. So no way.

Totally, no way. So, no way. So, it's in no way. Dagmaras and Sena Claus were side by side, sharing the Christmas spotlight, and that would have been enough for most countries. But there was a sleeping giant in this story, our first magical Christmas man who had never really gone away.

Sveti Miklausch, the original Catholic St. Nick. While the government had banned public religious celebrations in the Yugoslav era, Catholic families still held festivities in private. Yeah, so after the independence, all these customs connected with the religion, they were again introduced in the public life. So San Nicolas came back. And Robert Valtel, Lubbiana's go-to Detic Maraz, actually played a key role in the cloud she's returned. He believed that if Slovenia was to move on, it had to reconcile its past as a faithful Catholic nation. When you show that they can be together,

suny colors and grandpa throws the decmaras and that they can both say something nice and do something nice, it's a beautiful. And so in 1991, Robert, already the capitals go to De decmaras, decided to organize a parade from Mikklaush. It was the first one since the Second World War, the Saints' grand return to public life. Never shying away from a challenge, Robert decided to play the central role of Mikklaush himself.

You know, for me this is theatre, and when I work theatre I want to do perfection. To get into character, only the most authentic costume for Sveti McLeosh would do. I ask the bishop of Rubljana to rent me original, old, you know, Catholic bishop stuff, and I was really beautiful, even with the golden shoes. And ever since that moment, when Maclaus returned the streets of the capital, Slovenia has had all three centers at Christmas time.

And Slovenes have not only completely accepted all the three good men, Trigdobri Moseje, they've been packaged together in a month of non-stop festivities called Mary of Vaselli December. Vaselli December. It's the whole month, you know. It's like the month of the parties and happy stuff. And that's why we have all three men because it's the whole month of good and merry stuff. Each Santa gets its own specific time slot to perform their own brand of Christmas magic. First on the calendar is Maclaus.

Here appears at churches across the country and parades in the big cities on the evening of December the 5th. I took my family to this parade in 2018. My daughter loved Maclaus, but she didn't react too well when his demon helpers first appeared. Oh my God! Oh my God! Oh my God! Oh my God! Oh my God! Oh my God! Oh my God!

Oh my God! Oh my God! Oh my God! Oh my God! Oh my God! Oh my God! Oh my God! Oh my God!

Oh my God! Oh my God! Oh my God! Oh my God! Oh my God! Oh my God! Oh my God! Oh my God! Oh my God! Oh my God! Oh my God! That's a lot of screaming inter, for a Santa parade. Then comes Santa Claus or Bozycheck. Christmas Eve is obviously his allotted night,

but he tends to hang around the shops and malls. And finally, there's Dedek Moras. He actually makes appearances in kindergarten and schools throughout December, but post Christmas time, he's the only Santa left on the scene. His parade happens around New Year's. I met performers of all three centres, including Robert, and they take their jobs extremely seriously. This is not carneval. This is something very important for children.

Helping children is fundamental to Robert's role in the Slovenian Christmas, but it's not always easy. So the children, they're not all happy. They're not living all in happy families. And when they see, they have opportunity to speak with the de-chmraz. They can say a lot of settings from, you know, their lives. Kids ask you for help, like my father, bit my mother, he's an alcoholic, please, did a mask and I stay with you. I don't want to go home. That's really difficult. That's really difficult. I Normally, I'm not social worker. I cannot really help to them. Yeah, it's it's a lot of

frustrations also behind this because how to really help? Robert's response really moved me. I always thought dressing up as a Santa would be an almost entirely wonderful experience, but it's clear that there's also this feeling of a real responsibility. All of the Santas are supposed to provide comfort to the kids of Slovenia, but according to Robert, its deadic morass they tend to most, the Santa designed for the Slovenian people by the Slovenian people. Today, almost no one thinks the Dekmraz came from Soviet Union because we make completely new story.

Slovenia has survived empires and a socialist autocracy to emerge as a proud independent state. Instead of repressing the past, it has embraced the Santas that once defined it, coordinating a festive season that has a time and a place for all of them. One last question. How long are you going to be Telegmaras? And who will you hand it on to?

How long I will be Telegmaras? Who knows? I will try my best but it's the paint of my health so I already have some my colleagues they can replace me and this will be this will continue for sure. Yeah, the decmaras will live forever. Thank you. We are coming up after the break, we find out which of Slovenia's three centers is the most popular of all. So I'm back with Porter, Will Aspinol. And well, I just want to ask you a little bit more about how the Sanchez operate in Slovenian society. When we talk about how they divide up the month of December,

but does everyone celebrate each of them equally or do some of these political and religious factions that's recreated them sort of extend into today? Like how does it really work with your average family? Yeah, you can see that these three Santas do represent of three tribes. If you like, McClouch goes with the Catholic faithful, Deedick Rouse with old school socialists and Santa Claus with, you know, the new coming aspirational consumers. But it's not quite as simple as that, you know, many

parents with young children will opt for all three, some will opt for one or two. I mean, my friend Yasner, and when I asked her this question, she explained to me how each of the three centers functioned in her life. Now she comes from a coastal town called Copa, near Italy. The coast was more communist, red area, let's say, and we have only dead thickness, although we knew Santa Claus because of Italy, because of the border, because they had Santa Claus. So after independence in 1991, she moved north to the mountains close to the border with Austria, and then she married and had two kids. And as a parent, she welcomes all three sounders as a way of celebrating Mary December with both sides of the family. And usually we went for Christmas in copper and from for the new year we were here. So in copper came Santa Claus and

here came the decmaras and okay me claus it was only for fruit and sweets, no toys. So we had also this, we have all three. So someone clout to stuck with fruits and sweets, no toys. So how are you raising your kids? Like all three Sanas in their lives? I'm afraid it's totally unavoidable. It was Michael Giovanni last night. So this this morning they received their stockings from Mickalash, and that's a new thing for them, which they have totally, they're very happy with, indeed, when they got a stuffed toy, they got a tangerine chocolate shaped like the devils and Mickalash, and a new book. But we also have, obviously, we we have Father Christmas as we call him in

the UK Santa Claus Christmas Eve that he's coming up. Denik Miras actually we haven't been in the country for New Year's Eve. So we need to give that a go this year. Oh so is Denik Miras coming to your house or to the kindergarten? It's still a bit of white and sea with the pandemic this year, but actually I track down the guy who is the Dellic Marass in our area. He's a wonderful man called Grega Antolin. All three centers will survive because they are super heroes and we need super heroes. Before the pandemic, he would make his living doing live performances in Ken Gardens all over December.

Yeah, there are other jobs during the rest of the year. But obviously, with the pandemic in 2020, with the lockdown that we had, he had to think fast. Before Corona, we make in December live performances. And now we must do something new because we were at home. His genius plan was that he would do an online videogram service for Slovenian kids. It was inspired by a US Santa graham video messaging service that he saw. And yeah, he decided to bring it to Slovenia. So, so, so, Sennagram is like a video message from Santa, two kids, and you said he plays

Dedic Marass in these. Not just Dedic Marass. This is Slovenia, so he has to do all three. And that requires quite a little bit of financial outplay and planning because he needs not just three costumes, which are pretty expensive because I've seen them and they are the real deal. I mean, this Dedic Marass one was almost $2,000. Wow.

Custom made. He then has to do three different sets and then he records a different video with each of the most common children's names in Slovenia. To be recorded, 150 names of boys and 150 names from girls. This was the most common names in past two years. Okay, so 150 girls names, 150 boys names, that's 300 names for each Santa. So 300 times three is 900 names that he has to record

and it has to work first time. So imagine retakes. Wow, that's really a lot of work. And then I should say that the parents can choose their Santa and they can choose the name and then they can choose the message. And cleaning teeth is a very high priority for Slovenian parents. So this is the message that's Sando or MacLeod or Doug Marass has to say is to like be a good child this year and clean your teeth and then I'll bring your presents. Yeah, exactly. Classic. I really wish I really wish I could have seen it in person. I did pass to him,

but it was a close set. You got to keep these things secret. I mean, this is magical stuff we're talking about here. He did very kindly send me some sneak peeks of his performance. So would you like to hear some? Oh, absolutely. Let's hear them. Okay, first up, Santa Claus. Ha-ha-ha! In my dreams, I see that life is so much better. To have time and time, we'll take a long time,

if we have a long time to do it. Včeš, kako je vidno tako živahno, da učasih škrati kar pozabimo, kodila imamo in pakoliko da riliša za zaviti. Meneč, včeš, ješ, ješ, ješ, ješ, ješ, ješ, ješ, ješ, ješ, ne, ne, ne, ne, ne, ne, ne, ne, ne, ne, ne, ne, ne, ne, ne, ne, ne, ne, ne, ne, ne, ne, ne, ne, ne, ne, ne, ne, ne, ne, ne, ne, ne, ne, ne, ne, ne, ne, ne, ne, ne, ne, ne, ne, ne, ne, ne, ne, ne, ne, ne, ne, ne, ne, ne, ne, ne, ne, ne, ne, ne, ne, ne, ne, ne, ne, ne, ne, ne, ne, ne, ne, ne, ne, ne, ne, ne, ne, ne, ne, ne, ne, ne, ne, ne, ne, ne, ne, ne, ne, ne, ne, ne, ne, ne, ne, ne, ne, ne, ne, ne, ne, ne, ne, ne, ne, ne, ne, ne, ne, ne, ne, ne, ne, ne, ne, ne, ne, ne, ne, ne, ne, ne, ne, ne, ne, ne, ne, ne, ne, ne, ne, ne, ne, ne, ne, ne, ne, ne, ne, ne, ne, ne, ne, ne, ne, ne, ne, ne, ne, ne, ne, ne, ne, ne, ne, ne, ne, ne, ne, ne, ne, ne, ne, ne, ne, ne, ne, ne, ne, ne, ne, ne, ne, ne, ne, ne, ne, to the old age of the song Piszkot or the first song of the day of the year of the 16th century Parking the song of the soul of the soul of the soul of the soul of the soul of the soul of the soul of the soul of the soul of the soul of the soul of the soul of the soul of the soul of the soul of the soul of the soul of the soul of the soul of the soul of the soul of the soul of the soul of the soul of the soul of the soul of the soul of the soul of the soul of the soul of the soul of the soul of the soul of the soul of the soul of the soul of the soul of the soul of the soul of the soul of the soul of the soul of the soul of the soul of the soul of the soul of the soul of the soul of the soul of the soul of the soul of the soul of the soul of the soul of the soul of the soul of the soul of the soul of the soul of the soul of the soul of the soul of the soul of the soul of the soul of the soul of the soul of the soul of the soul of the soul of the soul of the soul of the soul of the soul of the soul of the soul of the soul of the soul of the soul of the soul of the soul of the soul of the soul of the soul of the soul of the soul of the soul of the soul of the soul of the soul of the soul of the soul of the soul of the soul of the soul of the soul of the soul of the soul of the soul of the soul of the soul of the soul of the soul of the soul of the soul of the soul of the soul of the soul of the soul of the soul of the soul of the soul of the soul of the soul of the soul of the soul of the soul of the soul of the soul of the soul of the soul of the soul of the soul of the soul of the soul of the soul of the soul of the soul of the soul of the soul of the soul of the soul of the soul of the soul of the soul of the soul of the Exactly, I'm afraid I've been here three years and I can pick out one or two words. I had Palkalney, I had the demons mentioned. But yeah, a little bit more serious, maybe. So let's hear that, Maraz. Good day, my friend. At home, I was in the middle of the river. I was in the middle of the river. I was in the middle of the river. I was in the middle of the river.

I was in the middle of the river. I was in the middle of the river. Wow, he does that 900 times. I must be so nasty. I really, I like this guy. He's dedicated to his craft. That's fantastic. Did he mention that he had like a preference of which one he'd like to perform the most?

He is a big fan of deadigmas. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, they're all excellent, but like, there's like, you can, I mean, you mentioned that he spent $2,000 on the costume alone, that deadigmas is really like, that's a great one. It's a great one, and it's, you know, it's the Slovenian icon, isn't it? And I think he really embodies it. But after the first year of data gathering

from the Christmas 2020, he actually has this very unique data set of who is Slovenia's favorite digital center. Oh, because people order these custom videos. And so therefore he knows how many people want Santa versus Maclash versus dead Marass. Oh, this is fascinating. Okay, so what was the result? The 80% ordered Santa Claus video, 15% was Dedic Marass, and only 5% was McLeod. Wow, I mean, Santa Claus is great. You'll never get me distant Santa Claus,

but I have to admit, I'm a little disappointed that Dech Merass isn't like really the most favorite in Slovenia, just because, you know, it's unique to Slovenia, that's what makes it so special. Yeah, you kind of want Dech Merass to be number one, don't you? But you do. But the way I see it is that Santa Claus has got everything, you know, as Greco says, you know, he's got the TV, he's got the songs, most of the songs, he's got the merch, he's got the advertising, you know, he's the king of the screen. And Slovenia, like any country is as outward facing as it is inward. So I think to have 20% of Slovenian parents choosing on turns, he was actually pretty incredible.

Yeah, yeah, that's a good point. That's a good point. Well, I'm totally fascinated by these three centers and how much they mean to the country and how much they sort of map onto the history of Slovenia. I just can't thank you enough for bringing the story to us. I just had a joy watching you make it and bring it to us. It's been fascinating. Thank you, Roman. It's been a pleasure. It's been fascinating. Thank you Roman, it's been a pleasure. 99% Invisible Was Produced This Week By Will Aspenaw edited by Emmett Fitzgerald and Joe Rosenberg, mixed in tech production by Jim Briggs, fact checking by Graham Haysha, music by a director of Sound, Swan Rihau.

To Lingihong is the executive producer, Kurt Colxton is the digital director. The resident is Vivian Le, Lashemadon, Christopher Johnson, Chris Baroupe, Sophia Klatsker, and me Roman Mars. Special thanks this week to Robert Kuznick. We are part of a Stitcher and Serious Exam podcast family.

Now headquartered six blocks north in the Pandora building. In beautiful, uptown, Oakland, California. You can find the show and join discussions about the show on Facebook. You can tweet me at Roman Mars and the show at 99PI org. Well, on Instagram and Reddit too. You can find links to other Stitcher shows I love,

as well as photos of Dedic Marass in action in Slovenia at our website. It's 9ibi.org. For all those who celebrate, I wish you a Merry Stitchmas and a seriously exam new year.