Around the world, there are a surprising number Christmas holiday gift bringers, and not all of them are jolly old elves transported by overworked reindeer.
Christkind
For some, Christmas presents are delivered by the Christkind, or Christ Child. This diminutive gift bringer is a described as being a sprite-like child, often with angel wings and blonde curls. I don’t know about you, but this sounds suspiciously like Cupid is moonlighting over the holidays.
Children never quite manage to lay eyes on the Christkind, parents and other adults will always tell the kids that he was there a moment before they came into the room. Most often seen (or not seen) delivering gifts to children in the Czech Republic, Italy, Germany, Switzerland, Hungary, Austria and parts of Brazil.
The Three Magi, or Three Kings
Apparently after delivering their presents to a baby in a manger, these three wise men were without a job. Deciding they liked the delivery business, they have been bringing presents to children ever since.
As part of the Christian celebration of the twelve days of Christmas, the Magi are celebrated on the last day, known as Epiphany. The largest celebrations occur in the Spanish speaking countries, where the Three Kings get letters from children and fulfill their wishes by bringing them gifts on the night before Epiphany.
Riding their camels, they visit the houses of every child in one night, which means they must get their high speed camels from the same place that supplies Santa with his flying reindeer. The children prepare a drink for each of the Magi, and food and drink for the camels, for this is the only night of the year that the animals actually eat. If I ate at every house I stopped at, I wouldn’t eat for a year either!
Ded Moroz
Slavonic countries often celebrate the New Year with the coming of Ded Moroz, or Father Frost.
He is an old man with a long white beard and a white or blue fur coat, fur hat and high boots. He carries a magical staff and drives a troika, a sled pulled by three horses. He travels with Snegurochka, the Snow Maiden who is his granddaughter and helps him deliver his toys and treats, likely while making sure he doesn’t eat more cookies than the Mrs Ded Moroz said he could have this year.
He brings his gifts to the New Year Tree and gives them out to the children, sometimes leaving them beneath the tree in their homes, but often arriving at large organized celebrations and handed the gifts out to each child in person.
Julemanden – The Yule Man
On December 24th Danish children are visited by the Yule Man, a figure much like the traditional Father Christmas, save that he lives in Greenland instead of the North Pole and far prefers rice pudding to cookies and milk.
Time, the internet and the influence of corporate advertising have helped to morph Julemanden into something very similar to the modern day Santa Claus, including his tendency to appear in Coca-Cola commercials.
He is traditionally assisted by the nisser or tomte, an elf of Scandinavian origins whose red cap and beard are as distinctive as his diminutive size. In some lands it is the tomte who brings gifts to farmers and other rural dwellers, each tomte having their own farm that they watched over and either helped or hindered, depending on how they are treated.
Both elf and Yule Man enjoy their gift of rice pudding, if any child dares to skimp on this small gift, they must be prepared for the nisser to get impish and get up to tricks to show their displeasure.
La Befana
In Italy the New Year is celebrated with a visit from La Befana, an old lady who rides a broomstick as she flies from house to house. Her shawl and dress are covered in soot from flying down chimneys, and she carries a sack filled with presents and candy for the children of the house. Despite her appearance, she is no witch, merely a woman without much fashion sense.
On January 6th she makes her rounds, filling good children’s socks with candy and other goodies and leaving lumps of coal for the wicked ones. Nearly every child gets a blackened candy, a warning from La Befana that she knows they were naughty at least once in the past year. A bit of a neat freak, La Befana often sweeps up the floor before she leaves, and enjoys the small glass of wine and delicacies the families leave for her at each house.
Children are warned that if you see La Befana she’ll thump you with her broomstick, because she does not wish to be seen.
Yule Lads
In Iceland the gift delivering business is seen to be the thirteen Yule Lads, who arrive one per night on the 13 days leading up to Christmas Eve. They bring small trinkets, toys and other gifts and stuff them in the shoes children leave in their windows. A truly rotten child will get a potato in their shoe instead of a present.
The lads are pranksters and tricksters as well as gift bringers, each one of them having their own special brand of mischief they get up to in the two weeks they stay in town; much like your own relatives as they descend on your house for the holidays. They are said to be the sons of the mountain dwelling trolls Grýla and Leppalúði. They wear late medieval style Icelandic clothing, and are sometimes seen in the company of the Yuletide Cat; a beast that is infamous for eating children who do not manage to get new clothes in time for the Christmas season.
Sinterklaas
The Netherlands and Belgium have their own gift bringer, one who visits the homes of children on December 5 each year, which happens to be on Saint Nicholas’ Eve. Stories of Saint Nicholas are considered to be the basis on which Sinterklaas and his more modern counterpart, Santa Claus, were created.
Sinterklaas is from Spain and rides from roof to roof on a white horse wearing a long red cape and a mitre hat. His outfit is much like a bishop’s dress and he carries a long golden staff. Under his arm is the terrible important and somewhat massive book that chronicles each child and whether they have been good or bad. He is often accompanied by Zwarte Piet, (Black Pete), who helps deliver the gifts and carries the bag containing candy and gifts for the good children and a willow wand called a “roe” to spank the bratty ones. Older legends mention that Sinterklass would take truly naughty children back to Spain with him for further punishment, making him the scariest of the holiday gift bringers by far, and the only one in violation of child welfare laws.
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The 2010 U.S. Census is about to hit full swing, and it’s critical that we commit to counting everyone.
Contributor: “Dr. J”