Christmas Gift-bringers in Europe

...

The correct one is Saint Basil, since saint Nicholas doesn't have any relation to that gift giving tradition. But anyways, live it to the Catholics to put paganism in Christianity through the back door, and for Protestants to make Coca Cola commercials out of it.

Nah. Concept art for the Finnish film Rare Exports.

youtube.com/watch?v=9RQlikX4vvw

As far as im aware Finland tends to have some hickups to old european words in their language. For example kuningas is an old germanish loan word they still use for king. I think there was a bunch of goat like santa claus clones in europe back then and most of them had goat horns so its probably one of those kind of leftovers.

WTF that picture

The name comes from St. Knut (Nuuttipukki), it's a Swedish tradition originally. Christmas itself is as well. Kekri is the original Finnish celebration, but as it was tied to agriculture it's pretty much disappeared by now.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kekri_(fest)

It's Santa Claus.

>yule goat

Any relation to Amalthea? Are goats regarded as symbols of plenty in european tradition?

>Christmas lads
do their gifts consist of cans of beer, packs of durries and rolls of condoms?

wtf I love Finland now

>Ireland
>Father Christmas
We just call him Santa. Or Santy.

The only people I've ever heard say "father Christmas" are English people on TV.

Also
>Christmas lads

Doesn't Santa come before Christmas in Finland? Like in Central Europe where December 6 is Santa day but on Christmas baby Jesus brings the presents (which is hilarious to picture).

On the 24th.

No one in Ireland calls him Father Christmas, it's been Santa Claus/Santy for as long as I've known
Unless it's a south Dublin thing
>tfw it's not Christmas lads

Not that I know of.

In Serbia it's either Grandfather Frost (Deda Mraz), but Christmas Bro is also used (Bozic Bata)

Wrong

Here in Spain the children wait Three Wise Men.

Los tres reyes magos.

You got Spain wrong, we have 3 different giftbringers, the three wise men in Castile, the cagatio in Catalonia and the olentxero in the basque provinces

In Spain the Three Wise Men are very important, on the night before January 6.

Pic:

In Catalonia, on Christmas Eve, they have the Tió de Nadal (Christmas log). It is probably related to the Yule Log. Kids hit it with a stick, and it "shits" gifts.

Traditionally, the log is put to burn before starting to hit it (it has to be in flames to give gifts), but this is becoming less common due to people living in cities and not having a fireplace in the house.

It is not the "cagatio". It is just the "Tió" (which means "log"), or Tió de Nadal (christmas log).

"Caga Tió" is what you sing to it during the "ritual". It is an order, a command, which means "Poop, log!"

Still not as weird as a coal digger that turns his coal into gifts for kids one night a year.

>Christ child (baby Jesus)
The Christkind is not Jesus.
Wtf.

Is he a tricky metaphor for a coalburner cheater?

>Iceland
>Christmas Lads

>sinterklaas
>kerstmis
20 days too early, fag.

>hollander being hollandcentric again

>that Poolish influence in Ukraine

Is Jesus okay?

Not really Europe, but here in the Philippines, before the Americuckening, the traditional gift givers were the Tres Reyes (Three Kings). The three magi who visited babby Jesus and gave him gifts.

That said, in the Philippines, they still have their special holiday a few weeks after christmas, and the traditional depiction of them are 3 dudes - one black, one white, and one red & or Asian dude- riding on horses, wearing crowns. They were meant to symbolize the kings of the earth bowing down to Jesus, or something. They ride around town in a parade and hand candy to children.

It's father winter in Albanian though, not father Christmas.

denmark also use gnomes

>Poland
>St. Nicolas
St. Nicholas comes on 6th December. Christmas is domain of Little Angel/Starman/Baby Jesus

After reading this thread, we can safely conclude that that entire fucking map is wrong

sinterklaas is the original winter gift giving holiday here in holland retardo

im from overijssel

>Starman
youtube.com/watch?v=tRcPA7Fzebw

haha, waht?

We still put out the jul goat but it isn't the one giving presents anymore.

>People bet on how fast this will get torched.

Every year they put it more shit to make it less flammable.

Most people have a few of these around the house, gotta represent Tor.

It's in reference to Daidí na Nollag most likely.

In the evening of the Christmas eve. Often he actually stops to talk with the children for a while.

Based Holland.

Technically not in christmas (25th december).

This, only filthy charnegos say cagatió like it's the proper name. And not even all of them.

No because nobody fucks in basqueland.

In Poland it's far more complicated. Pic related.

>one red

What the fuck pinoys

Sinterklaas (saint Nicholas) is on the fifth of December (also my birthday but that's purely coincidental), the Netherlands essentially didn't have a tradition of a gift giver around Christmas as Sinterklaas was already doing that stuff three weeks before Christmas, but in the last decades we are also introducing Santa Claus here

Isn't that a Swedish tradition, not Finnish?

Are Star-man and Little Baby Jesus connected with the Kashubian and Silesian communities, respectively?

They are definitely parts of regional traditions.

Starman is as much linked with Greater Poland as with Pomeranian groups like Kashubians and Kociewians. Baby Jesus is from formerly-German part of Silesia, while Little Angel is from formerly Austrian part of Silesia.

lol, pagan "star-man" still alive in Greater Poland and corridor

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yule_Goat
Somehow this fused with Saint Nick

>, the Netherlands essentially didn't have a tradition of a gift giver around Christmas as Sinterklaas was already doing that stuff three weeks before Christmas

that makes sinterklaas our traditional wintertime gift giver. Most central europeans don't celebrate their gift givers on the 25. This map is not really about christmas, but about wintertime/solstice gift giving.

Christmas is traditionaly a foreign concept to holland too.

>Christmas Man

Why are Germans so literal and unimaginative?

I love the yule goat, but I don't get why they don't update the tradition to _include_ the burning of it.

It's a spectacular finish, it's symbolic, and everybody wins. They could set an official burn time of Dec. 26 or something.

Fucking Metal

Not true
t. fingol

>Christmas lads

I think it has less to do with what you call him, and more to do with the folkloric grouping.

He has his helper, Nigger Pete, too, right?

It absolutely is.

en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christkind

Yes.

I responded to someone talking about the yule goat being a swedish tradition that has died out in sweden by saying that we still have it as a tradition just not as the same role.

Well every other god damn holiday in Sweden has a flame to celebrate so why not.

In Spain the giftbringers are the three magic kings.

I demand to know what the Christmas lads are

Basically like 10 santas.

Tragically it's not a bunch of British teenagers giving cans and Nandos to the good children.

i kekd

>dutch people do not care
hollanders do not care

yule lads a best

they're homeless troll people who will steal your shit over several days if you don't perform certain tasks.

In the Netherlands, the Bishop of Turkey (who lives in Spain) shows up with 6-8 black men (used to be his slaves, now just "good friends" and "it's not a racist tradition") who beat the hell out of kids. (if the child is young, they just beat them with switches instead)

dude what

Okay basically Sinterklaas is derived from St. Nichola, a Turkish bishop from around 900-1000 who's relics were moved to a place in Southern Italy that eventually became part of the Kingdom of Aragon in Spain until the 1700s. Thus, Turkish bishop from Spain.

His helpers were originally depicted as Moors, but later this changed to Africans, representing devils that Sinterklaas had enslaved and used to beat up naughty children. Extremely bad children are stuffed into sacks and carried off to Spain. In the late 1800s to 1950s this changed (like attitudes of the time) to Sinterklaas rescuing some African children from a evil "Emperor of Babylon" and they became his charges.

Also he arrives in the Netherlands via steam ship, no sleigh or reindeer.

Finland is the gift that geeps on gibbin :DDDD

We do the same in Spain, senpai. I'm pretty sure you adopted that festival because of us.

I'm not even dutch but for some reason those assholes who want to ban Zwarte Piet piss me off endlessly. Americans used to have minstrel shows where white men in blackface made fun of niggers, and somehow, the Dutch now need to feel guilty about that and do away with this tradition even though it has nothing to do with slavery or Jim Crow. Talk about cultural imperialism.

Actually minstrelsy lasted longer in Europe than in the US.

except Santaclaus is literally the coca-cola version of Sinterklaas

...

also "Santa Claus" is the bastardization of "Sinterklaas" because anglos can't into pronunciation

Will the Swedes manage to burn gavle goat this year?

The one in Iceland got burnt last week, so the gauntlet has been cast.

Heh, yea. I'm watching the video right now. They threw a damn molotov at it, haha.

Also had Old Man Frost during communist times.

>turkish
>10th century

Saint Nicholas also called Nikolaos of Myra, was a historic 4th-century Christian saint and Greek Bishop of Myra, in Asia

Yeap. Now that you mention it, the OP Map is wrong in terms of Spain.

>a Turkish bishop from around 900-1000
triggered

5th or 6th is st. Nicolaus day. Mostly 6th in germany and 5th in austria i think.

>im from overijssel
>provinciaaltjes

This sort of exists in my country too. They go door to door and collect donations for charity.
>Tfw small children in blackface

And has a staff and rides a white horse, which is what Wodan used to do