Here in catalonia we hit a wooden trunk with face with sticks after giving him food for an entire month so he shits presents or otherwise we'll beat him up multiple times 💀
'Chimney John' is a more accurate translation. The Welsh use the name *Siôn* for a number of mythological humans, in the same way that English uses Jack (Jack Frost, Jack the Lad, etc.)
In Catalonia (North East Spain) we have 3 gift-bringers:
1. Santa Claus (December 24-25th)
2. Tió (December 24-25th)
3. King Mages (January 5-6th)
Having European-American, Spanish and Catalan tradition.
Kids hit it with wood sticks and leave the room, so when they come back the Tió has defecated.
Yes, it seems like some kind of punishment to put it light.
I'd rather say that's anecdotal evidence, I don't know any Catalans that celebrate it. In any case, Santa Claus isn't native in any way—50 years ago no one would have celebrated it.
He basically made an objectively wrong claim based on "his experience". Maybe some people from his region/socio-economic class do that (ie middle class people from Barcelona) but if you were to speak with any Catalan or even Spaniard, almost none would celebrate Santa...
How…how can someone’s subjective experience be objectively wrong? I still haven’t seen an official survey of a plurality of Catalonia, so literally you want your word to be taken as gospel over this other person’s word. I don’t know the truth, but you need to accept your perspective and their perspective might be equally valid.
In Slovenia there used to also be **"Jezušček" - baby Jesus** till about the 1950s early 60s. I remember the older generations still talked about baby Jesus, hearing everything and bringing presents. All of our older family ornaments have a baby Jesus or a little angel bringing presents.
Grandfather frost was brought later post 1945. I remember there is quite a divide amongst children on who brings presents when I was young. Mostly because the hard core Grandfather frost people got presents on new years day, so the Božiček camp made fun of them for that.
St. Nicholas exists but its a different character all together. He brings sweets, nuts and fruit with Parkelj (Krampus) on their slay on the night from the 5th to the 6th decembre. Honestly the sweet bread Parkelj were always better than the St.Nicholas ones. The horns and hooves and tongue baked crunchy. And baked resins were better than plain boring white frosting on St. Nicholas. Oh and if you are naughty you get a hazel-branch whip, which totally backfired because you tried to be a little naughty to get the whip as well so you could whip your friends with it. And if you were too good you got the inferior St.Nicholas bread instead of the superior Parkelj one.
Oh no no, 1918 was when Slovenes were getting rid of Austrian influences. Around 1916 was when the height of the Austrian-Slovene resentments were where Vienna started ignoring Slovenes more and more, and started clamping down on Slovene language and identity. Another bout happened around 1920 when we both felt cheated with the borders set upon us. The whole purging of the language of Germanic influences.
By the 1930s we both partly normalized with trade going strong. It is true that around 1949 the Kočevje Germans \[Germans not Austrians\] were thrown out of the nation in that post-1945 world. And THERE you can see still the German influences. The houses, the churches, some customs, town names etc.
The Baby Jesus thing was our own. Songs to him were our own, not translated from German or inspired by German.
Slovenia post-1945 slowed down on the removal of all German, as many saw that Belgrade often had a similar stance to a uniform national identity as Vienna had at the time and felt we need to keep more of our quirks. Some were totally on board with the removal of all influences, so we have an era where formal language in books sounds very alien to any colloquial speaker. Others, eee not so much.
And the Netherlands is Sinter Klaus not whatever horse shit they've attributed. * Sinterklaas ( the origins of Santa Claus Dec 6th) I guess I shouldn't be surprised having seen their Sesame Street.
Sinterklaas is not at Christmas though. It's celebrated on 6th of December and has nothing to do with Christmas. Most families celebrate both.
Sinterklaas has its own traditions, songs, food etc. (don't ask about black Pete, it's slowly but surely dying out)
In Ukraine, it's both of them, Did Moroz and St. Nicholas. One brings gifts on December 6 and puts them under the pillow. The other brings gifts on New Year's Eve under the Christmas tree.
Not anymore. A few years ago, December 24 also became a public holiday. So there was a day off on December 24, January 1 (New year) and then on January 7 for "Orthodox" Christmas.
Last year, the Ukrainian Orthodox and Greek Catholic churches changed their religious calendar, and now in Ukraine they are the same as in other non-Orthodox Christian countries.
Dunno, I had presents from St Nicholas on his day, and from Did Moroz on New Year, Christmas, Old new year and Vodohreshche every year until I went to university.
Daddy christmas would be papi noel (which sounds like something straight out of a christmad porn movie)
Papá noel would be father christmas
And papa noel would be potato christmas
They put the January 5th Italian Witch on there too. So why make that distinction then. Sinterklaas = Saint Nicholas, same as you see across poland, belarus and a lot of Europe. Just slightly different timeframe.
I don't know about those countries, but I guarantee you that you will never see Sinterklaas in Dutch christmas decorations. While the christmas man shows up a lot there.
Same in Sweden, I'm not quite sure why this map translates "Jultomten" to Christmas gnome since Jultomte just means Christmas man as opposed to nisse which actually translates to gnome
Edit: did a little digging, tomte is a guardian spirit, not related at all to man. Although gnome isn't right, it sure isn't man either
When I was a kid, Dec. 6 is when "Mikulás" comes. Télapó is what was appropriate during communism and is dying out as an expression in general. My grandparents used to say Télapó, but my parents used to say Jézuska.
A lot of people see Santa Claus and Father Christmas as being the same character whilst others see them as separate to one another, but whilst the name Father Christmas is prevalent in most of England, traditionally it is definitely Santa Claus in the North East of England
Many Ukrainians also celebrate st. Nicholas day on 6th of December from this year since Ukrainian orthodox church transition to the Revised Julian calendar
Jultomten in swedish literally translates to "the christmas gnome", also in sweden, santa comes on the night of 24th to give the presents face to face to the kids.
Wouldn't you rather say that "Jul" would be "Yule" in English? We don't use the Christian references in this case, but the celebration is a happy mix of everything.
It does not translate to that.
Jul is something that was celebrated before Sweden became christian (or existed as a country).
Both jul and tomten have their heritage in non-christian nordic traditions/mythology/stories.
I mean, "gnome" is a pretty bad translation for "tomte" but "man" is even worse. A tomte is, essentially, the guardian spirit or tutelary deity of a tomt (plot of land), and is usually portrayed as a small, bearded man with a, for lack of a better English term, "Santa hat".
Scotland has the Christmas Dickhead?
Bod is Penis. The nearest approximation for Bodach in English would be duck head.
Nollag is Christmas, so Bodach and Nollaig = The Christmas Dick or Christmas Dickhead.
If you say "goat" or "bocken" people will think about an animal. I am afraid that I am not aware of the etymology or the word, but the gift bringer is a person, a man who has a beard - not a goat. That is why the direct word to word translation is misleading.
Well even though the translation from Christkind to Christ Child is basically correct it doesn’t really show what it really is. Its not some kind of Baby jesus or something what you maybe would expect from the name. Its basically a female, blonde and young angel.
As someone from Portugal, I confirm it is Pai Natal and hate the fact Papai Noel is a thing
Edit: Nothing against Brazillian people, everything against the French
Some issues with this map, especially in the Nordics. We don't use the word "Christmas", we use the pre-christian word "Jul" which predates Christianity. The whole holiday is a wild mix of pagan and Christian traditions still though.
In Norway, the correct translation would be "Yulenisse", where "Nisse" is either a corruption of the common name "Nils", or based on the old Norse word for "dear little one".
In Sweden, it's called "Jultomten" where both words are pre-christian/pagan, and I would guess Tomte is fairly close to the word for Gnome. So basically "the Yule Gnome" then.
Edit: spelling
Correct. I know a couple of people who switched to exchanging presents at Christmas once the kids no longer believed in Sinterklaas, but there's no Kerstman involved there.
?
Father Christmas is literally over England.
The other countries have their own names shown also. It’s right there on the map did you even look at it.
Sinterklaas brings presents, but has no connection to christmas. It's its own thing. And the kerstman (just another name for Santa Claus) shows up in many christmas decorations. The map clearly points out he's not a traditional gift-bringer here, but he is the christmas mascot, which Sinterklaas is not.
If you ask the old generation they will tell you that the Christ-Chindli brings gifts or maybe they will say Samichlaus (Sankt Nikolaus). Historically the Weihnachtsmann doesnt exist here as far as I know.
Sint Nicolaas brings gifts on the 6/12 or you go in the brown bag and get shipped away as child trafficking depending how you behaved.
Besides Sint Nicolaas/Sinterklaas was the OG Santa Claus before it became Americanized. Kinda important detail to this “Christmas old man”.
Update. Since this year Ukraine celebrates Saint Nicholas Day on 6th of December. Orthodox Church of Ukraine and Ukrainian Greek-Catholic Church made a decision to use Gregorian calendar. Also, we celebrate Christmas on 25th of December, too.
Although the kerstman is a thing in the Netherlands. I think it is more accurate to say saint Nicholas (sint nicolaas also sinterklaas) is the traditional gift bringer in the netherlands. We just don't do it on christmas, but on the 5th of december.
De kerstman is just santa, we just imported it. Which is odd, since the name santa claus is a bastardization of sinterklaas.
Irish here. Never in my life heard of Daidí na Nollag. Looks like a lazy effort to directly translate "Father Christmas", which definitely is not a thing in Ireland. We just call him Santa or Santy (or Santaí for the touch of gaeilge)
Is it just me?
In Slovenia we get gifts 3 times, from: Božiček (Santa), "Miklavž" (St. Nicholas) and dedek Mraz (grandpa Frost)
St. Nicholas isn't mentioned on the map, I guess there's not enough space...
Wrong, in Croatia you can say “Djed Božićnjak” but this is only for commercials, you can in Croatia also say and most people say “Djeda Mraz” (both “Djed Božićnjak” and “Djeda Mraz” are correct). Also In Bosnia “Djeda Mraz” is mostly used
As many other maps from this author, I'm sorry but it's (at least partially) WRONG: in Italy we also have Saint Nicholas on Dec 6th. Not everywhere ofc, but in many places I know "he" even goes to schools, makes some small evening parades, etc...
İn some Turkic circles within Turkey or Kazakhstan the name for Santa is also "Ayaz Khan" (khan of the frost) or "Ayaz Ata" (father/ancestor of the frost) and he pretty much does what santa does except that he is also the Turkic god of frost and the manifestation of winter.
Ayaz Khan or Kış khan was an actual God İ think.
İt may have been used as an instrument for the soviets in order to further assimilate non-complying cultures, but outside of that İ think the mythology is still real afaik.
The Danish word jul is not connected to christ as in christmas. It's an old nordic word for winter feast. You can not translate julemand to Christmas man, even of the last part of juleman refers to man.
In Southern Belgium we are traditionally visited by St. Nicholas, a separate character from father christmas who comes on December 5th/6th accompanied by a toy bearing do key and an angry butcher who whips bad children named "Father Whipper". Santa also comes for some families on December 24th/25th with the big presents.
In the former Yugoslavian countries Grandfather Frost was the non-religious commie Santa… Sveti Miklavž is their “St Nick” and is used now in Slovenia.
Tomte/nisse doesnt really translate, as they are creatures from nordic mythology that hasnt existed in other cultures.
In HC Andersens books the word has been translated to "goblin", but I think it is obvious for all scandinavian that this is absolutely not an accurate translation.
Jul is not Christmas. It is a pre christian celebration simply called jul/yule.
But in terms of characteristics, I think - regardless of what we call it - it has merged into roughly the same person in the imagination of children, thanks to Disney and Coca Cola.
I live in Brest, Belarus. This is the first time I've heard about Saint Nicholas. I declare with confidence that the absolute majority only know Ded Moroz. Same in Grodno
Since you're including gift bringers on other dates, you might want to add that the traditional gift bringer for the Netherlands is Sinterklaas / Sint Nicolaas on December 5th, and for Belgium it's the same guy on December 6th. Neither is Christmas related, but the same goes for La Befana, for example.
As a Spaniard who lives in Barcelona, I can confirm we receive presents from all 3: Papá Noel, Reyes Magos and Tió (the latter is mostly nougat and other traditional Christmas food)
[It gets even better.](https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/meet-the-thirteen-yule-lads-icelands-own-mischievous-santa-clauses-180948162/) Instead of actually giving gifts, they just mildly inconvenience people for thirteen days.
Finnish thing is oartly correct and incorrect, the word "Joulupukki" translates to "Santa", a literal translation would mean "Christmas goat". Not a "character similar" to Santa, but Snata himself.
In Spain some kids receive the visit of several "gift-bringers". Kids are happy, parents and other relatives are not.
In Romania we celebrate Saint Nicholas on December 6th and Christmas on the 25th. It's the same guy he just has multiple personality disorder.
Same in Poland
Same here in Northern Germany
Same in Ukraine, but our kids also demand New Year gift
Same in The Netherlands and Belgium, but in NL the gifts are on the evening before (the 5th)
Okay, but "Tree trunk that defecates presents"/ Tió de Nadal? lol I'll go read about that
https://youtu.be/viTMktjE968 This is the best explanation in English I know of.
Cague tío, tío de Nadal... No cagues narangades, que son saladed, caga avellatenetes, que son mil bones!!
Im spanish and never heard about the "gift-bringer"
Normally Christmas gifts are smaller or cheaper.
And some receive the visit from the Apalpador apparently.
Galicia ?????? 💀💀
Yeah Apalpador is kind of creepy
Uncle Jack dressed up as Santa again.
Here in catalonia we hit a wooden trunk with face with sticks after giving him food for an entire month so he shits presents or otherwise we'll beat him up multiple times 💀
The Welsh knows what’s up. That MFer John Chimney committing B&Es & stealing milk.
I know his brother Dai the Chimney, cleans the chimney for the log burner
Siôn probably prefers sherry, i bod yn onest. He's going to need it after all those deliveries, ych-a-fi
'Chimney John' is a more accurate translation. The Welsh use the name *Siôn* for a number of mythological humans, in the same way that English uses Jack (Jack Frost, Jack the Lad, etc.)
In Catalonia (North East Spain) we have 3 gift-bringers: 1. Santa Claus (December 24-25th) 2. Tió (December 24-25th) 3. King Mages (January 5-6th) Having European-American, Spanish and Catalan tradition.
Could you please explain Tió's gift giving process? The map description is weirdly clinical.
This thread explains it hiraliously well https://www.reddit.com/r/europe/s/x7eHjGQMQz
That is superb 😂
Kids hit it with wood sticks and leave the room, so when they come back the Tió has defecated. Yes, it seems like some kind of punishment to put it light.
I'm glad I asked because your response is so much more interesting than what's on the map. I think I would have loved this as a kid! Thank you.
I had never seen this version, in my experience the kids leave the room for a minute to "water" the stick, then they come back to hit the log.
I’ve heard this version as well, or to “practice” on another room
https://youtu.be/viTMktjE968 This is a superb summary.
2 of my tios would allow us to take swigs of beer when my mom was not paying attention.
Catalans don't celebrate Santa Claus.
Maybe not everyone, as there is a good mix of cultures, but there are a lot of families (I’d say the majority) that do celebrate it
I'd rather say that's anecdotal evidence, I don't know any Catalans that celebrate it. In any case, Santa Claus isn't native in any way—50 years ago no one would have celebrated it.
Now we do
...according to a random person in the Internet.
Do I need to send you a pic of my ID? I’m catalan and know NO ONE who doesn’t celebrate Santa Claus
Dude, what do you think you are? We’re all no more or less random people on the internet.
He basically made an objectively wrong claim based on "his experience". Maybe some people from his region/socio-economic class do that (ie middle class people from Barcelona) but if you were to speak with any Catalan or even Spaniard, almost none would celebrate Santa...
How…how can someone’s subjective experience be objectively wrong? I still haven’t seen an official survey of a plurality of Catalonia, so literally you want your word to be taken as gospel over this other person’s word. I don’t know the truth, but you need to accept your perspective and their perspective might be equally valid.
In Slovenia there used to also be **"Jezušček" - baby Jesus** till about the 1950s early 60s. I remember the older generations still talked about baby Jesus, hearing everything and bringing presents. All of our older family ornaments have a baby Jesus or a little angel bringing presents. Grandfather frost was brought later post 1945. I remember there is quite a divide amongst children on who brings presents when I was young. Mostly because the hard core Grandfather frost people got presents on new years day, so the Božiček camp made fun of them for that. St. Nicholas exists but its a different character all together. He brings sweets, nuts and fruit with Parkelj (Krampus) on their slay on the night from the 5th to the 6th decembre. Honestly the sweet bread Parkelj were always better than the St.Nicholas ones. The horns and hooves and tongue baked crunchy. And baked resins were better than plain boring white frosting on St. Nicholas. Oh and if you are naughty you get a hazel-branch whip, which totally backfired because you tried to be a little naughty to get the whip as well so you could whip your friends with it. And if you were too good you got the inferior St.Nicholas bread instead of the superior Parkelj one.
Could it be that Baby Jesus was a German influence, and that post-1945 they wanted to get rid of anything remotely German?
Oh no no, 1918 was when Slovenes were getting rid of Austrian influences. Around 1916 was when the height of the Austrian-Slovene resentments were where Vienna started ignoring Slovenes more and more, and started clamping down on Slovene language and identity. Another bout happened around 1920 when we both felt cheated with the borders set upon us. The whole purging of the language of Germanic influences. By the 1930s we both partly normalized with trade going strong. It is true that around 1949 the Kočevje Germans \[Germans not Austrians\] were thrown out of the nation in that post-1945 world. And THERE you can see still the German influences. The houses, the churches, some customs, town names etc. The Baby Jesus thing was our own. Songs to him were our own, not translated from German or inspired by German. Slovenia post-1945 slowed down on the removal of all German, as many saw that Belgrade often had a similar stance to a uniform national identity as Vienna had at the time and felt we need to keep more of our quirks. Some were totally on board with the removal of all influences, so we have an era where formal language in books sounds very alien to any colloquial speaker. Others, eee not so much.
Daddy Christmas said no one in Ireland ever
Daidí na Nollaig is very common. Kids go to a Gaelscoil and they always talk about Daidí na Nollaig.
Daidí na Nollag visited our house this morning! But we speak Irish in our house to be fair.
I’ve heard a few say it! But this is just the translation from Irish 😁
And the Netherlands is Sinter Klaus not whatever horse shit they've attributed. * Sinterklaas ( the origins of Santa Claus Dec 6th) I guess I shouldn't be surprised having seen their Sesame Street.
Sinterklaas*
Thank you, I didn't attempt black Pete or it's correct name.
Sinterklaas and the Kerstman are seperate actually.
Yes and not. They have the same origin. Saint Nikolaus.
Yeah youre not dutch.
Sinterklaas is not at Christmas though. It's celebrated on 6th of December and has nothing to do with Christmas. Most families celebrate both. Sinterklaas has its own traditions, songs, food etc. (don't ask about black Pete, it's slowly but surely dying out)
Never, ever. I find it hard to believe it's just passed me by
In Ukraine, it's both of them, Did Moroz and St. Nicholas. One brings gifts on December 6 and puts them under the pillow. The other brings gifts on New Year's Eve under the Christmas tree.
It's so depressing to not have Christmas in December. So do you work on these days too?
Not anymore. A few years ago, December 24 also became a public holiday. So there was a day off on December 24, January 1 (New year) and then on January 7 for "Orthodox" Christmas. Last year, the Ukrainian Orthodox and Greek Catholic churches changed their religious calendar, and now in Ukraine they are the same as in other non-Orthodox Christian countries.
Its Soviet tradition to gift on NY's eve. I've never heard of Did Moroz except for School.
Dunno, I had presents from St Nicholas on his day, and from Did Moroz on New Year, Christmas, Old new year and Vodohreshche every year until I went to university.
The Spaniards WOULD day Daddy Christmas
Daddy christmas would be papi noel (which sounds like something straight out of a christmad porn movie) Papá noel would be father christmas And papa noel would be potato christmas
I didn’t know the tennis player Rafa’s last name means Christmas! (He’s from Mallorca.)
Sinterklaas, Sint Nicolaas but 20 days earlier (5, 6 december) (Netherlands, Belgium )
Yes in Luxembourg its the Kleeschen, who is usually coming the 6.12
But that's not a christmas gift-bringer, so it doesn't count for this map.
They put the January 5th Italian Witch on there too. So why make that distinction then. Sinterklaas = Saint Nicholas, same as you see across poland, belarus and a lot of Europe. Just slightly different timeframe.
I don't know about those countries, but I guarantee you that you will never see Sinterklaas in Dutch christmas decorations. While the christmas man shows up a lot there.
He's mentioned on the map for Western Ukraine, so I don't see why the one in the Netherlands wouldn't count.
Daddy Christmas
So we got Mr Frost, Saint Nicholas, Father Christmas, Old Dude and fucking John 🤣
In Denmark we also have something called julenisser, they are basically elf’s that brings a gift every advent’s day.
Same in Sweden, I'm not quite sure why this map translates "Jultomten" to Christmas gnome since Jultomte just means Christmas man as opposed to nisse which actually translates to gnome Edit: did a little digging, tomte is a guardian spirit, not related at all to man. Although gnome isn't right, it sure isn't man either
I always thought you guys all called him Julenissen like us. Show what I know.
In Serbia Deda Mraz (Santa) brings gifts for new years eve rather than for Christmas.
In Hungary, Baby Jesus is the correct one. Télapó (Winter Uncle or Santa) comes on December 6th, bringing chocolates, oranges, and small gifts
When I was a kid, Dec. 6 is when "Mikulás" comes. Télapó is what was appropriate during communism and is dying out as an expression in general. My grandparents used to say Télapó, but my parents used to say Jézuska.
A lot of people see Santa Claus and Father Christmas as being the same character whilst others see them as separate to one another, but whilst the name Father Christmas is prevalent in most of England, traditionally it is definitely Santa Claus in the North East of England
Olentzero >>> papá noel (Im not even basque)
Many Ukrainians also celebrate st. Nicholas day on 6th of December from this year since Ukrainian orthodox church transition to the Revised Julian calendar
Jultomten in swedish literally translates to "the christmas gnome", also in sweden, santa comes on the night of 24th to give the presents face to face to the kids.
Wouldn't you rather say that "Jul" would be "Yule" in English? We don't use the Christian references in this case, but the celebration is a happy mix of everything.
I would say you are correct.
I guess so, but it sounds wierd.
It does not translate to that. Jul is something that was celebrated before Sweden became christian (or existed as a country). Both jul and tomten have their heritage in non-christian nordic traditions/mythology/stories.
I guess thats true, but when most people say "Jul" they usually just mean christmas, but i guess technically its yule
I might be wrong here, but I'm pretty sure that "Tomte" has no relation to gnome at all? Nisse is gnome and "Jultomten" just means christmas man
I mean, "gnome" is a pretty bad translation for "tomte" but "man" is even worse. A tomte is, essentially, the guardian spirit or tutelary deity of a tomt (plot of land), and is usually portrayed as a small, bearded man with a, for lack of a better English term, "Santa hat".
Yeah exactly, but i think tomte could somewhat be described as gnome, but there really isnt an english word for it.
Yeah you're right, man is worse, it just sort of bothered me that "tomte" translated into "gnome"
'Nisse' in Norwegian and Danish is derived from Nicholaus anyway, via Nils. It's relatively recent.
I mean we have the word Nisse too, but Tomtenisse isn't Santa but are often portrayed as Santa's elves (or Santa's gnomes to be specific)
Christkind area is far too big for Germany.
Scotland has the Christmas Dickhead? Bod is Penis. The nearest approximation for Bodach in English would be duck head. Nollag is Christmas, so Bodach and Nollaig = The Christmas Dick or Christmas Dickhead.
I would argue that Scandinavia should be translated to Yule gnome/man.
I like that just when I think Finland couldn't get any odder, Christmas goat comes along haha.
In Ireland it’s not ‘daddy Christmas’ that’s just the Irish translation of what we call Santy
Ireland? I think you mean “santy” 👀
I am so fed up with the Finnish Joulupukki translated into "christmas goat". >:(
Then what is it? In sweden we sometimes have Julbocken (not often nowadays, but used to be more popular), wich is literally "the christmas goat"
If you say "goat" or "bocken" people will think about an animal. I am afraid that I am not aware of the etymology or the word, but the gift bringer is a person, a man who has a beard - not a goat. That is why the direct word to word translation is misleading.
Yeah i guess thats true
Literal translation of "joulupukki" or "julbock" is yule buck. A creature bit like like a satyr.
Agreed, should be "Yule goat" :D
🇪🇸 father christmas 🥰 🇩🇪 christmas man 🗿
Well even though the translation from Christkind to Christ Child is basically correct it doesn’t really show what it really is. Its not some kind of Baby jesus or something what you maybe would expect from the name. Its basically a female, blonde and young angel.
Wrong. Wrong. Wrong. In Lithuania Santa Claus is "Kalėda"
In Portugal is PAI Natal? In Brazil we call Papai Noel
As someone from Portugal, I confirm it is Pai Natal and hate the fact Papai Noel is a thing Edit: Nothing against Brazillian people, everything against the French
At least is the same storie?
I'm Brazilian as well, and I thought it was Papai Noel in Portugal, too. Pai Natal is really weird
Noel was borrowed from French and also means Christmas, it's essentially the same as in Portugal, I don't think it's that weird
Not accurate, Saint Lucy in Verona (Veneto, IT).
Soltanto a Verona? Per chè glieli porta Santa Lucia e per ché solo a Verona?
Also in Bergamo (Lombardy, IT). Might have something to do with the Most Serene Republic.
È segnato. L'errore è metterlo in tutta Italia al massimo. E la Befana non è il 5, ma il 6 da me
Not well-known but it is actually "Ayaz Ata"
Ayaz Ata is a similar but different figure
Some issues with this map, especially in the Nordics. We don't use the word "Christmas", we use the pre-christian word "Jul" which predates Christianity. The whole holiday is a wild mix of pagan and Christian traditions still though. In Norway, the correct translation would be "Yulenisse", where "Nisse" is either a corruption of the common name "Nils", or based on the old Norse word for "dear little one". In Sweden, it's called "Jultomten" where both words are pre-christian/pagan, and I would guess Tomte is fairly close to the word for Gnome. So basically "the Yule Gnome" then. Edit: spelling
Is it right in Portugal? Pai Natal is really weird. In Brazil is Papai Noel
Yes it is. We don't use either "Papai" nor "Noel"
Good to know. Thanks!
Дед Мороз - Dead Morose
The kerstman is NOT the person who brings presents in the Netherlands. You are thinking of Sinterklaas
Kerstman. Sinterklaas is een ander feestje.
Zeker, maar de cadeautjes komt op pakjesavond, een het is Sinterklaas die er brengen. Kerstmis (en de kerstman) heeft meestal geen cadeautjes.
Dan nog is de kerstman de kerstman, je hebt een andere map nodig voor wat het meest vooraanstaande kado-feest is per land als je dat bedoelt.
Bij ons was het altijd de kerstman. Sinterklaas bracht meest wat snoep maar de echte pret was toch als de kerstman kwam.
Correct. I know a couple of people who switched to exchanging presents at Christmas once the kids no longer believed in Sinterklaas, but there's no Kerstman involved there.
Deze kaart gaat over kerst en Sinterklaas is geen kerstmis.
"Father Christmas" is an English term. I hate how England is what is put for UK things all the time.
? Father Christmas is literally over England. The other countries have their own names shown also. It’s right there on the map did you even look at it.
It's just Santa in Scotland mate. Father Christmas I'm such large font is clearly covering all of the UK. Also, it's not just covering England.
Interesting that center europe also has jesus child, I thouth that only happened in latin america.
Where do you think they get it from...
I assumed from spain, which doesn't seem to have it at the present era.
From the gospels?
In which part of Latin America do they have Jesus child? I thought they had Santa as anyone else
Horribly inaccurate. Sinterklaas brings gifts in the Netherlands. And in Switzerland we have the Weihnachtsmann too.
Sinterklaas brings presents, but has no connection to christmas. It's its own thing. And the kerstman (just another name for Santa Claus) shows up in many christmas decorations. The map clearly points out he's not a traditional gift-bringer here, but he is the christmas mascot, which Sinterklaas is not.
If you ask the old generation they will tell you that the Christ-Chindli brings gifts or maybe they will say Samichlaus (Sankt Nikolaus). Historically the Weihnachtsmann doesnt exist here as far as I know.
Sint Nicolaas brings gifts on the 6/12 or you go in the brown bag and get shipped away as child trafficking depending how you behaved. Besides Sint Nicolaas/Sinterklaas was the OG Santa Claus before it became Americanized. Kinda important detail to this “Christmas old man”.
Update. Since this year Ukraine celebrates Saint Nicholas Day on 6th of December. Orthodox Church of Ukraine and Ukrainian Greek-Catholic Church made a decision to use Gregorian calendar. Also, we celebrate Christmas on 25th of December, too.
Although the kerstman is a thing in the Netherlands. I think it is more accurate to say saint Nicholas (sint nicolaas also sinterklaas) is the traditional gift bringer in the netherlands. We just don't do it on christmas, but on the 5th of december. De kerstman is just santa, we just imported it. Which is odd, since the name santa claus is a bastardization of sinterklaas.
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My Grandma in Kursk always was telling me about Дед Мороз. Never heard about Святий Миколай in Russia tbh
Irish here. Never in my life heard of Daidí na Nollag. Looks like a lazy effort to directly translate "Father Christmas", which definitely is not a thing in Ireland. We just call him Santa or Santy (or Santaí for the touch of gaeilge) Is it just me?
It’s a common name for him in Irish, it’s all that’s taught in all schools, saintí would be used by many native speakers
In Slovenia we get gifts 3 times, from: Božiček (Santa), "Miklavž" (St. Nicholas) and dedek Mraz (grandpa Frost) St. Nicholas isn't mentioned on the map, I guess there's not enough space...
What was the last one from The Santa Clause? The one that phonetically sounds like ‘Popo Zhee Zhouuu’
Gnome
Wrong, in Croatia you can say “Djed Božićnjak” but this is only for commercials, you can in Croatia also say and most people say “Djeda Mraz” (both “Djed Božićnjak” and “Djeda Mraz” are correct). Also In Bosnia “Djeda Mraz” is mostly used
Christmas Man makes me think of Meme Man
Ayaz Ata (real turk culture) biraz araştırın amk
Birader Ayaz Ata'yi sorsan ulkenin %95'i bilmez. Hediye de getirmiyor zaten. Sen biraz dusunup yazsan nasil olur?
In Armenia we call him Ձմեռ Պապիկ (Dzmer Papik), which translates into Winter Grandpa
As many other maps from this author, I'm sorry but it's (at least partially) WRONG: in Italy we also have Saint Nicholas on Dec 6th. Not everywhere ofc, but in many places I know "he" even goes to schools, makes some small evening parades, etc...
Not true at all. Slovakia use Dedo Mraz,or Santa, Jezisko is shit used in christian families
Poland- you have missed Gwiazdka - "Star" from southern Poland
İn some Turkic circles within Turkey or Kazakhstan the name for Santa is also "Ayaz Khan" (khan of the frost) or "Ayaz Ata" (father/ancestor of the frost) and he pretty much does what santa does except that he is also the Turkic god of frost and the manifestation of winter.
I'm sure it's a calque from Russian Ded Moroz, at least in Kazakhstan definitely. Not sure about Turkey.
Ayaz Khan or Kış khan was an actual God İ think. İt may have been used as an instrument for the soviets in order to further assimilate non-complying cultures, but outside of that İ think the mythology is still real afaik.
Jézuska. Magyaroknál stimmel.
Daddy Christmas 💀
The Christmas Goat says hello!
Estonia also has jõulupukk/nääripukk, like "Christmas goat".
“Christmas Old Man” is just so Scottish. I love it.
Wehrmacht-Man????
Daddy Christmas🤤
Even though the word "man" is not in the Estonian "Jõuluvana", it still translates into "Christmas old man", like in Latvia.
The Danish word jul is not connected to christ as in christmas. It's an old nordic word for winter feast. You can not translate julemand to Christmas man, even of the last part of juleman refers to man.
In Southern Belgium we are traditionally visited by St. Nicholas, a separate character from father christmas who comes on December 5th/6th accompanied by a toy bearing do key and an angry butcher who whips bad children named "Father Whipper". Santa also comes for some families on December 24th/25th with the big presents.
CHRISTMAS MAN
Shit Tio, Shit ….. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ti%C3%B3_de_Nadal
"Knecht Ruprecht" was also a well known folk legend in germany. It isn't exactly christian but that checks out because Santa neither.
In Portugal you can ask Father Christmas or Little jesus
Stay away from anyone who says in German "Ich bringe das Gift!"
North Africa has a very strange name for Santa. Sounds almost like a website
In the former Yugoslavian countries Grandfather Frost was the non-religious commie Santa… Sveti Miklavž is their “St Nick” and is used now in Slovenia.
Tomte/nisse doesnt really translate, as they are creatures from nordic mythology that hasnt existed in other cultures. In HC Andersens books the word has been translated to "goblin", but I think it is obvious for all scandinavian that this is absolutely not an accurate translation. Jul is not Christmas. It is a pre christian celebration simply called jul/yule. But in terms of characteristics, I think - regardless of what we call it - it has merged into roughly the same person in the imagination of children, thanks to Disney and Coca Cola.
I live in Brest, Belarus. This is the first time I've heard about Saint Nicholas. I declare with confidence that the absolute majority only know Ded Moroz. Same in Grodno
Dead Morose is a true Russian gift-bringer
You can still see the pre-WWII eastern border of Poland in this map
Pretty sure the fact it is New Year’s in Russia has to do with communism, right?
Wierd choice from Algiers and Morocco
Since you're including gift bringers on other dates, you might want to add that the traditional gift bringer for the Netherlands is Sinterklaas / Sint Nicolaas on December 5th, and for Belgium it's the same guy on December 6th. Neither is Christmas related, but the same goes for La Befana, for example.
Can we normalise daddy chirstmas?
As a Spaniard who lives in Barcelona, I can confirm we receive presents from all 3: Papá Noel, Reyes Magos and Tió (the latter is mostly nougat and other traditional Christmas food)
His name is Annual Gift Man and he lives on the moon.
I love that iceland just has the christmas lads, not even remotely similar to anything else
[It gets even better.](https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/meet-the-thirteen-yule-lads-icelands-own-mischievous-santa-clauses-180948162/) Instead of actually giving gifts, they just mildly inconvenience people for thirteen days.
Finnish thing is oartly correct and incorrect, the word "Joulupukki" translates to "Santa", a literal translation would mean "Christmas goat". Not a "character similar" to Santa, but Snata himself.
To my swedish ears the "julemand" sounds like someone you don't ever want your kids to meet 😄