3/22/2023 0 Comments Christmas characters![]() ![]() In Norway and Sweden, Santa Lucia is the focus of the holiday season. (He often has mischievous companions, responsible for taking care of the bad children. Tall and slim and dressed as a bishop, Saint Nicholas visits each house and fills children’s shoes with gifts and sweets. Saint Nicholas-perhaps the Christmas season’s most famous saint and the basis for most versions of Santa Claus-brings gifts to kids in Holland, Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, and parts of Germany on December 6th. The person that gets the bean has to buy the following year’s cake, and the person who gets the toy gets to wear the paper crown. In both Spain and Portugal, people eat a traditional Kings’ Cake that usually has a bean and a small toy or king figurine hidden inside it. ![]() On January 5th, kids leave a drink for the kings and food for the camels, then wake up the next morning to small presents in their shoes and bigger gifts beside them. In the days leading up to Epiphany (January 6) kids can hand deliver their letters to the king of their choice in shopping malls. In Spain it’s believed that Melchior represents Europe, Caspar represents Asia and Balthazar represents Africa. While the pooping log and Olentzero are specific to particular regions of Spain, the Three Wise Men, or Three Kings, are welcomed as gift bringers across the Iberian Peninsula, in both Spain and Portugal. This kinder (man-sized) Olentzero brings gifts to children on Christmas Eve, when his likeness is paraded through the streets. These days, however, Olentzero is portrayed as a poor man who was abandoned at birth and raised by a fairy and given eternal life after saving children from a fire. This character was originally part of pagan winter traditions, which held him to be a Jentilak, one of an ancient race of Basque giants who would punish glutinous villagers. A Giant Turned PeasantĮlsewhere in Northern Spain, Christmas is celebrated by the arrival of a more human-looking figure called Olentzero in Basque Country and Apalpador in Galicia. Children start fattening up the pooping Yule log on December 8th, feeding him sweets and covering him with a blanket to keep him warm, and finally beating him with a stick on Christmas day while singing carols ordering him to “poop good”. Also known as the Tió de Nadal, this log (which often has a face painted on it and a red hat set on its “head”) is said to poop out presents for good little kids on Christmas morning. Pooping LogsĪ scatalogical cross between a yule log and a piñata, the Caga Tió reigns as the supreme Chirstmas figure in Catalonia, in northeastern Spain. Others, like the gossamer-winged Christkindl, the horned Krampus monster, and the ogress Gryla, will give you an entirely different way to celebrate the holidays. Some, like Saint Nicholas and Father Frost, bear a strong resemblance to the man in red. But most countries also have their own beloved Christmas characters who have been part of holiday celebrations for centuries. The American version of Santa-fat and cheery and headed down the chimney with toys-is becoming popular throughout Europe. ![]()
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