Babushka: A Christmas Tale

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Every region, area, country has its own favorite Christmas story that elders and children alike love recounting during this time of the year.

The purpose of the editable script is to allow you to adjust the allocation of speaking parts for smaller or larger cast sizes and/or to make minor changes to the text for staging purposes. The grandmotherly Babushka of this tale is shaped similar to those dolls, which could have been some of the toys she gave away to children she met. Apparently, the story of Baboushka was very popular in the country already before the revolution of 1917. Babushka was a poor, hardworking woman who owned little, but she managed to gather several small toys, some sweets and tiny candles to take with her. Babushka walks and walks, and everywhere she goes she finds children in need of toys to play with or a shawl to keep them warm.

Children like Christmas stories, because they already live in a world where everything is possible, magical, poetic, but adults like them too, because they allow them to dream of a world where goodness and beauty triumph. Still, she's determined to go and when she reaches the edge of the forest, there's a poor girl dressed in only a thin dress, shivering with cold.

She went to open it and stared in amazement for there on her well-scrubbed doorstep stood a tall black man dressed in fine golden robes, with a golden turban on his head. Primitive colors, rigid vertical lines, stylized figures, an unusual typeface that satisfied both artist and designer, – this combination of graphic skills was an experiment and one which in the main succeeded.Now Babushka was a widow who lived alone, and she was so house-proud that she spent nearly her whole time cleaning and sweeping, dusting and polishing, scrubbing and washing. The star isn't shining in the bright sunlight and the snow has covered the tracks of the three travelers. So much work to be done, and they waste time staring at the night sky as though they’d never seen it before! Babushka shows us, that we miss out on important things, if our life just consists of endless work and a lot of meaningless tasks. In the morning, Babushka filled a container with gold balls, wood toys, and other play things for children.

And now the three kings thanked her, very politely, and left, riding on their camels just as though they were horses. They invite Babushka with them on their journey, to which Babushka replies, “What, without washing the dishes? However, The New Year celebrations are still very important to Russians, when Father Frost, or Ded Moroz, brings presents to children (accompanied by his grandaughter Snegurochka).In partnership with Your Accompanist, we are able to offer a music package for this play which includes downloadable MP3 piano accompaniments, sheet music (for piano and vocalists) and an instruction sheet. If you are an adult or youth drama group that charges a paying audience, you will then have to apply to us for a licence to perform. After the kings leave, Babushka has a dream about the Baby Jesus and realises that she must follow the kings. Babushka decided that they would all need to be cleaned, and she polished all of the toys until each one shined.

Babushka gives them food and shelter and they try and persuade her to go with them to see the Holy Child. Hall’s ( Brother Giovanni’s Little Reward) vibrant illustrations feature jewel tones of pink, purple, turquoise, and gold, setting the snowy landscape aglow as Casey ( A Lullaby for Little One) gracefully delivers a message about selflessness and how kindness begets kindness. Reprinted with permission from BABUSHKA: A CHRISTMAS TALE © 2016 by Dawn Casey, Good Books, an imprint of Skyhorse Publishing.

As soon as they walked across the threshold, the three kings were delighted with all the food they saw: home-baked bread, pies and cakes. Your e-mail address is only used to send you our newsletter and information about the activities of Christmas FM and partners.