Ivan with Firebird Antique Russian Christmas Spun-Cotton Ornament 1950 15 см (6") tall. There is a paper-mache face. It's in good condition for its age. Please inspect the photos carefully. Once upon a time there was a Tzar. He heard that there was a bird that lived in a beautiful garden and ate golden apples there. There was just one of these birds in the whole world. It was named Firebird because it looked with an intense glare. Nobody could touch it - its plumage would burn everyone. The Tzar ordered his servant, Ivan, to catch Firebird. Ivan took the fastest horse and to arrive at the garden. He climbed over the wall to enter the garden. Ivan saw the Firebird. Its wings were gold and its eyes resembled a diamond. He knew that nobody could touch it, but he had very course mittens. He caught Firebird in a cage. Then he delivered Firebird to the Tzar who was happy that nobody else in the whole world had this amazing bird, except him. Only Ivan wasn't happy because he knew that he had opened Pandora's box for the Tzar. Like all good stories this fairy tale has a happy ending. After the Great October Revolution of 1918, there was a ban on celebrating the New Year in Russia. However, some people continued to put up Christmas trees at home, but it was not easy to find Christmas decorations in the USSR. It was during this period that the fashion for home-made Christmas toys from improvised materials appeared. In 1935, the ban on Christmas trees was lifted! Factories in the USSR began to produce Christmas decorations, including glass balls with images of Lenin and Stalin. Today it is fashionable to collect Soviet Christmas decorations, they are becoming a rarity. New Year's decorations of the Soviet period attract the attention of collectors, because the history of several generations of the inhabitants of the Soviet Union is reflected in the New Year's decorations. The main characters of the New Year are, of course, Santa Claus (Father Frost) and his beautiful companion - the Snow Maiden (Snow Maiden). Toys and fairy tale characters are especially valued: Little Red Riding Hood, Puss in Boots, Ivan Tsarevich and other heroes of Russian folk tales. In addition, such Christmas decorations as birds, animals - squirrels, bears, rabbits, dogs, sheep, etc. were popular. In the 1950s and 1960s, Christmas decorations such as sportsmen, Soviet symbols, pioneers, red stars, cars were popular in the USSR. During that time the factories also produced Christmas ornaments in fruit and vegetable shape - corns, eggplant, tomatoes, zucchini, carrots, cucumbers, and other vegetables, strawberry, grape, pear, and lemon. In the 1970s "girls and boys" dressed in national costumes of all the republics of the USSR were very popular Christmas ornaments.