Yuriy Norstein and Hedgehog in the Fog

The Sochi Winter Olympics Opening Ceremony last Friday kicked off with "Dreams of Russia", showing a little girl reciting the cyrillic alphabet. Each letter of the alphabet was associated with one or several important Russian figures or landmarks, images that all Russians would know.

Since we were last on the subject of cartoons, I wanted to delve into the letter "ё" (pronounced "yo"). The word associated with this letter was ёжик (yozhik), or hedgehog. Those who aren't Russian and aren't familiar with Russian animation were probably wondering, "Why hedgehog? Do Russians really like hedgehogs?"

The image of the hedgehog that came up in the video comes from the animated short, "Hedgehog in the Fog" (Ёжик в тумане) by Yuriy Norstein, one of the most famous Soviet/Russian animators. The film was made in 1975, and it's an adorable story about a hedgehog who, on his way to his daily tea with his bear friend, sees a beautiful white horse in the fog and decides to follow it. As he descends into the fog, it becomes so thick that he can no longer see his paw. The fog thickens and thins, giving the hedgehog glimpses of strange and marvelous creatures. 

Watch Hedgehog in the Fog here:

Norstein's first cartoon short, "Who Said Meow?", is also really adorable and worthy of watching:

He is also well-known for "Tale of Tales":

The hedgehog was billed as an image that all Russians would know, and now you know it too - plus a little more!