Santa Claus in other Countries

During the holiday season there is someone who brings gifts for all the good little boys and girls. Now, if those boys and girls are bad they may end up with a heaping helpful of coal and if you are bad you are not going to get away with anything because she is very careful to keep her eyes on who is bad. No, that was not a typo. “She” is the correct word because this was not a reference to jolly old St. Nick it was a reference to the Bottina Lady who was Italy’s version of Santa Claus many years past. 

Contrary to popular belief, not all Santa Clauses are drawn from the same mold as there are many different variations to the legend and folklore of Santa Claus as there are a multitude of different peoples and cultures in the world. Since different cultures may have different spins on celebrating Christmas it should come as no surprise that there are different variations on Santa Claus. So, let us take a look at some of them shall we? 

The American version of Santa Clause originated with the more religiously oriented Dutch version of Saint Nicholas. The modifications where really minor and one could say that there is very little difference between the Dutch and the American versions; now, the rest of Western Europe’s version of jolly old St. Nick often, well, is not Saint Nick at all ala Italy’s Bottina Lady. 

Often, the bringer of gifts comes from the Christian religion ala Saint Nicholas, but it is not actually St. Nicholas. In French tradition, for example, gifts are not brought by St. Nick at all, but by the baby Jesus himself. In areas of Austria and Switzerland gifts are brought by a child angel. England has a variant on Santa Claus who is called Father Christmas, a character that is the personification of Christmas and not Saint Nicholas himself. For example, in many Latin American traditions, it is the three wise men who provide gifts to children in the same way that they presented gifts to the Baby Jesus in the manger 2,000 years ago. In Russia, there is a unique spin on this as the bringer of the gifts is a wander named Baboushka who arrogantly gave the three wise men wrong directions to the manger and is now punished by wandering the earth required to give children presents at Christmas time.