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    Christmas gift-bringers in European countries
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    Christmas gift-bringers in European countries


    Christmas gift-bringers in European countries

    Posted by vladgrinch

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    32 Comments

    8. Ampersand55 on

      Tomte/nisse is not a “gnome”. It’s a unique household spirit from Nordic folklore that deserves to be recognized in it’s own name instead of being translated as various other unique creatures like gnome, elf, brownie, goblin, kobold etc.

    9. Tulevik on

      Why Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania are all with same colours?

      Jõuluvana = Christmas old (fellow). Similar to Danish, German, Dutch

    11. ben_bliksem on

      _De Kerstman_ is Santa Claus. In the Netherlands _Sinterklaas_ brings the gifts and its on the 5th of December.

      So I guess if children actually do get gifts on Christmas day here it’s technically correct.

      But it’s not.

    14. CornishPaddy on

      The Catalonian Christmas Log might be the best. They cover it over with a blanket then the kids have to hit it with sticks until the log shits out presents

    15. neonmarkov on

      The way this map shows Reyes Magos makes it seem like it’s a regional or secondary thing, when they’re actually the traditional and most popular gift-bringers in Spain. Papá Noel is an imported custom, you can even tell the name is borrowed from French.

    16. nikolapc on

      Macedonia is Grandfather Frost(but ours in in the image Santa) like most Slavic post communist countries and he brings gifts at NY. We do have St. Nicholas but he’s a saint and very venerated and has his own day which we do Slavas on. The Albanian is posted all over the country so that’s a mistake. Slovenians have all 3, Grandfather Frost, St. Nick, and Father Christmas(Santa Coca Cola version). The Croats and Bosnians had Grandfather Frost like all of us but got him cleansed in favour of St. Nick and Santa.
      Christmas Daddy for Turkey LOL.

    19. earthbound-pigeon on

      Jultomten IS Santa, literally means “the Christmas tomte” but it is Santa. Tomte is its own kind of folklore creature, and yes, it looks like a gnome but it isn’t one, even if Swedish like to translate it to gnome.

    20. PsychonautPedro on

      In Portugal, it used to be baby jesus too in the past but it’s long since been replaced by “father christmas”

    21. Nigelinho19 on

      Saint Lucy brings gifts to the kids that live in the lands of former Venetian Republic in Northern Italy!

    22. fuck1ngf45c1574dm1n5 on

      WTF is this bullshit on Bulgaria? That’s the moscovian trash that was imposed during their occupation. Now it’s only Дядо Коледа.

    23. NocturneFogg on

      Santa or Santy is the far, far more usual phrase in ireland. Father Christmas sounds like a Victorian novel to my ears.

    25. AmaroGLZ on

      In **Galicia** (northwest Spain), we have the ´*O Apalpador*´, a traditional Christmas character from the region. He’s a charcoal burner who, on Christmas Eve or New Year’s Eve, goes into houses, visits the kids, feels their bellies, and if they’re not full, leaves them a handful of chestnuts. The rest of the year, he lives in the eastern mountains of Galicia 🙂

    26. the_alfredsson on

      *TL;DR*: The situation in Germany is a lot more complicated than pictured in the map. The basic idea that there’s two options (unless you hate fin and “don’t want to lie to the kids” of course) is correct though.

      I think the reason why there’s a difference is quite interesting, though.

      So, traditionally the gift-bringer in Germany was *Saint Nicholas* and he came on the 6th of December. This should sound familiar to anyone Dutch, I guess.

      *Martin Luther* with his general hatred of saint-worship moved the gift-giving to Christmas and came up with the *Christkind* (=Christ-child) as an alternative gift-bringer. Well, not so much ‘came up with’ as ‘popularised an already existing alternative’. Anyway, the tradition spread quickly through the Protestant regions of Germany. It seems that the *Christ child* quite quickly became decoupled from *Jesus* and rather be viewed as its own entity. Later it also spread to the Catholic areas.

      In the 19th Century (maybe already in the 18th) the *Weihnachtsmann* (Christmas-man, pretty much the German ‘version’ of Santa with all the same complicated fuzzy history) began to replacethe *Christ-child* in northern Germany. Because most of the regions in the north were Protestant and most in the south were Catholic, the *Christ-child* became, somewhat ironically, associated with Catholicism. (This is not universal though. E.g. I come from a northern protestant tradition and the *Christ-child* brought my presents)

      And lastly, what happened to good old Saint Nick? He too is still going strong in Germany! As per tradition German children will clean their shoes on the evening of the 5th and put them outside. In the morning, if they have been good, Saint Nicholas will have put a present in their shoes.

      So we actually (kind of) have 3 gift-bringers in Germany. Saint Nick brings a (usually smaller) present on the morning of the 6th of December and either the *Christ-child* or the *Christmas-man* brings a large present (or presents) on Christmas Eve.

    29. Vihruska on

      Bulgaria doesn’t use “Grandfather Frost” since the fall of the communist regime. It’s “Grandfather Christmas” (дядо Коледа).

    30. cerberus_243 on

      For Hungary, the little angel (angyalka) exists, too.

      Hungary is historically divided between Christian denominations, and not all denominations tolerate the Baby Jesus thing…

    32. Cheeseburger2137 on

      “Gwiazdor” does not mean “Star”, it’s closer to something like “Starman”. Also, unlike the map suggests – he’s used specifically in Western, not Southern, Poland.