Father Christmas (England) Father Christmas

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Santa Claus Around the World Submitted by Justin
Steigely, New Mexico State University
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Father Christmas (England)Father Christmas is
the traditional British name for a figure
associated with Christmas, a forerunner of Santa
Claus. The term is also used in many
English-speaking countries outside Britain.He
does not distribute presents to children but is
associated with adult celebrations. Giving news
of Christ's birth, Father Christmas encourages
everyone to eat and drink "Make good cheer and
be right merry." Since the mid-Victorian era
however, Father Christmas has gradually merged
with the pre-modern gift-giver St Nicholas
associated folklore. Nowadays, most people
consider Santa Claus and Father Christmas to be
different names for the same figure.
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Sinterklaas and Zwarte Piet (The
Netherlands)Sinterklaas is a traditional figure
based on Saint Nicholas who gives gifts to
children on the night before Saint Nicholas Day
(December 5th) in the Netherlands and on the
morning of 6 December, Saint Nicholas Day itself,
in Belgium, Luxembourg, and Northern France.He
traditionally rides a white horse and carries a
big book that tells whether each child has been
good or naughty in the past year.Zwarte Piet is
a companion of Sinterklaas, usually portrayed by
a man in blackface with black curly hair, dressed
up like a 17th-century page in colorful dress,
often sporting a lace collar and a feathered cap.
The tradition of Zwarte Piet appears to date back
at least as far as the early 19th
Century.Sinterklaas and Zwarte Piet usually
carry a bag which contains candy for nice
children and a roe, a chimney sweep's broom made
of willow branches, used to spank naughty
children. Some of the older Sinterklaas songs
make mention of naughty children being put in the
bag and being taken back to Spain. The Zwarte
Pieten toss candy around, a tradition supposedly
originating in the story of Saint Nicholas's
saving three young girls from prostitution by
tossing golden coins through their windows at
night to pay their dowries.
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Ded Moroz and Snegurochka (Father Frost and the
Snow Maiden) (Russia other Slavic
countries)Ded Moroz is said to bring presents
to children however, unlike the secretive Santa
Claus, the gifts are often delivered "in person"
at New Year's Eve parties and other New Year
celebrations.Although it may look like the Snow
Maiden found herself a nice sugar daddy to give
her the things she wants, Snegurochka is actually
the granddaughter of Father Frost. She is a
unique attribute of Ded Moroz no traditional
gift-givers from other cultures are portrayed
with a female companion.The earliest tales of
Ded Moroz presented him as a wicked and cruel
sorcerer, similar to the Old Slavic gods
"Pozvizd"the god of wind and good and bad
weather, "Zimnik"god of winter, and the
terrifying, "Korochun"an underworld god ruling
over frosts. According to legend, Ded Moroz liked
to freeze people and kidnap children, taking them
away in his gigantic sack. Parents were said to
have to give him presents as a ransom in return
for their children. Under the influence of
Orthodox traditions, the character of Ded Moroz
was completely transformed into a benevolent
figure.In early Soviet Union, the tradition of
Christmas was banned, together with other
Christian traditions. However in 1935 the
celebration of the New Year was allowed, which
included, in part, the fir tree and Ded Moroz.
The image of Ded Moroz took its current form
during these times, becoming the main symbol of
the New Years holiday that replaced Christmas.
During Stalinist times, Ded Moroz, Snegurochka,
and New Year Boy were featured in Communist-type
Nativity scenes with Ded Moroz as the equivalent
of Joseph, Snegurochka as the equivalent of Mary,
and the New Year Boy as the equivalent of the
Christ child.
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Joulupukki (Finland) Joulupukki is an old
Scandinavian custom and Finnish Christmas figure.
The name "Joulupukki" literally means "Christmas
goat." The figure eventually became more or less
conflated with Santa Claus. He is connected to
Woden of Norse mythology and said to wear red
leather pants and a fur trimmed red leather
coat.The Joulupukki may also be a man turned
into a goat-man on Christmas Eve. There persists
today in some parts of Finland the custom of
persons dressing in goat costume to perform in
return for leftover food after Christmas.
Historically, such a person was an older man, and
the tradition refers to him as a
nuuttipukki.Today, Joulupukki looks and behaves
mostly like his American cousin, but there are
differences. Joulupukki's house and workshop are
situated in the mountains of Korvatunturi,
whereas his American counterpart resides
somewhere near the North Pole.
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Le Père Fouettard (France)Santas Foreign
Helpers Le Père Fouettard is a sinister figure
dressed in black who accompanies Saint Nicolas in
his rounds during St. Nicholas' Day (December
6th) dispensing lumps of coal and/or spankings
(with a whip) to the naughty children while St.
Nick gives gifts to the well behaved.The most
popular story about the origin of Le Père
Fouettard was first told in the year 1150. Le
Père Fouettard, an innkeeper (or in other
versions a butcher), captures three boys who
appear to be wealthy and on their way to enroll
in a religious boarding school. Along with his
wife, he kills the children in order to rob them.
One gruesome version tells that they drug the
children, slit their throats, cut them into
pieces, and stew them in a barrel. St. Nicholas
discovers the crime and resurrects the children.
After this, Le Père Fouettard repents and becomes
St. Nick's partner. A slightly altered version of
this story claims that St. Nicholas forced Le
Père Fouettard to become his assistant as a
punishment for his crimes.
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Krampus (Germany)Santas Foreign HelpersOn
December 5th in places like in Austria,
Switzerland, Croatia and Germany, children may
face Krampus. American kids have never truly
earned a Christmas giftthey know that no matter
how bad they've been all year, there's still
probably an iPod with their name on it come
December 25th. There's a reason you don't see
that same sense of self-entitlement in German
kids, and that reason is Krampus, the Christmas
Demon.While smug American children sleep easy
knowing the old "lump of coal" threat is empty
and baseless, many naughty European children are
annually threatened with a Pagan Fertility Demon
from deepest, darkest hella goat-legged, horned
satyr who won't leave coal as much as he will
beat them savagely for their misdeeds and then
drag them to hell (it's somewhat more
effective).Krampus is St. Nick's right hand man
a good cop/bad cop team of pure emotional
torture. If it's decided you're good (AND you
pass a grueling pop-quiz on religious catechism,
in some traditions), the gifts are yours. If not,
you are swiftly whipped raw and right to the edge
of death by Krampus' unrelenting birch rods.As a
young German child you may reach an age where you
don't believe in Krampus anymore. And that's
about the time a herd of men dressed as
Krampusor Krampi, I guesswill approach your
bedroom window, in full-Satan regalia, rattling
rusty chains and large bells and screaming at
you...every December 5th. And while you're peeing
in your lederhosen, your parents then LET THEM IN
THE HOUSE, LET THEM TORMENT YOU, AND THEN HAVE
DRINKS WITH THEM.According to a series of very
popular 1800s postcards, Krampus enjoyed ripping
pigtails out, leading children off a cliff,
sadistic ear-pulling, putting pre-teens in
shackles, forcing children to beg for mercy, and
throwing youngsters on an Express Train to The
Lake of Fire (making no local stops). And then
there's my favorite drowning children to death
in ink and fishing out the corpse with a
pitchfork.
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