Who brings New Year's gifts around the world? Interesting facts about Santa Claus What Santa gives to bad children

On New Year's and Christmas gifts are given all over the world, however, not in every case, it is Santa Claus or his analogue who does this. Sometimes it can be gnomes, trolls, a scary goat or a baby. A whole galaxy of New Year's creatures is in our today's selection.

1. Yolasweinar

Country: Iceland
Yolasveinars are 13 mischievous creatures that replace Santa Claus in Iceland. The first significant mention of them came in the early 1930s, when an Icelandic writer wrote a short poem about their role in Christmas. Since then, they have gone through many different incarnations, from cute generous givers to harmful pests. At one time they were even called bloodthirsty monsters who kidnap and eat children at night.
But above all, the Yolasweinar are famous for their mischievous nature. And everyone has a special trait that is unique to him and sometimes quite strange. For example, Ketcrokur steals meat with a long hook, and Gluggagegir peeps people out the window to steal something at night. Stekkjastur walks on stilts and chases sheep.
How do they give gifts?
But the yolasweinar not only do strange things, they also give gifts to children. For children who have been well-behaved all 13 nights before Christmas Eve, they put good gifts in their shoes. And bad children are given potatoes. Accompanying the yolasweinar is the Yule Cat, a hungry beast that eats bad children.

2. Nisse

Countries: different areas of Scandinavia
Niss legends are told in the Scandinavian countries: Norway, Finland and Sweden. At first, the nisse was the name given to the little gnomes who watched over the family farms. They were kind and looked after people, but they liked to be mischievous and could often break something or play a cruel joke on those who misused their lands. As Christianity gained strength, the nisse gradually joined the traditional Christmas holidays for the whole world, but they themselves changed: they acquired more human features and became more like Santa Claus.
How do they give gifts?
Modern nisse, also known as youlupukki, are still very different from Santa Claus and our Father Frost. In particular, they are not fat and do not ride flying sleds. And they don't live at the North Pole, just like in Veliky Ustyug. In some regions, children believe that nisse live very close to their homes. And, although the nisse bring gifts to children, they do not climb into the chimney at night. In this respect, nisse are just like the Russian Grandfather Frost: a father or relative dresses in a nisse costume and personally gives gifts to children.

3. Baby Jesus

Countries: some provinces of Germany, Austria, Italy and Brazil
In those countries where Christianity has become the main religion, the Infant Jesus gives gifts to children. It was invented in the 16th century by Martin Luther. He hoped that the more religious the holiday, the greater the chance of eradicating what he considered the harmful influence of St. Nicholas. Since the Child Jesus is supposed to be a baby in the literal sense, he is usually depicted as a small holy child with blond hair and angel wings. The influence of the Child Jesus as the only symbol of Christmas is waning with the rise of Santa Claus, but he is still honored in the Catholic countries of South and Central America.
How does he give gifts?
The hallmark of the Child Jesus as a giver is that no one has ever seen him. Children often say that he disappeared moments before they arrived.

4. Belsnickel

Countries: Germany, Austria, Argentina, USA (Dutch Pennsylvania)
Belsnickel is a legendary figure. He accompanies Santa Claus in some regions of Europe, as well as in some small Dutch communities in the US state of Pennsylvania. Like Krampus in Germany and Austria or Per Fottar in France, Belsnickel is the main enforcer of discipline in the Santa Claus circle. Belsnickel usually appears as a figure resembling a mountain man - his body is wrapped in furs, and his face is sometimes covered with a mask with a long tongue. Unlike Santa Claus, who was designed to be loved by children, Belsnickel is designed to be feared. In most regions, it serves as a kind of horror story with which children can be made to behave.
How does he give gifts?
By all indications, Belsnickel can be attributed to negative characters, but in some regions he also gives gifts to children. For example, in Germany, good obedient children receive sweets and small gifts from him on December 6th, St. Nicholas Day. And naughty children are waiting for coals or a whip. In some countries, they even say that Belsnickel can come to the children in person and warn them that they need to behave better.

5. Per Noel and Per Fottar

Country: France
Papa Noel is one of the most popular incarnations of Saint Nicholas. In France, he is known more than anyone else. Outwardly, he looks like Santa Claus, but instead of deer, he rides a single donkey named Gui, which means "Mistletoe" in French.
In some regions of France, as in many other countries, Saint Nicholas Day is celebrated on December 5th. For this special day, the French not only have Saint Nicholas himself, but also a character named Père Fottar (Father with a Whip). Like Belsnickel, he is needed to intimidate naughty children. Why this happened is clear from his history. Its most common version says that in the 12th century, Per Fottar and his wife kidnapped and killed three young men and made soup from them. Then the good Saint Nicholas found and resurrected the victims, and Per Fottar repented of his crime and promised to become his assistant.
How does he give gifts?
Like Sinterklaas and many other variations of Santa Claus, Per Noel puts small presents and candies in his shoes to the left of the fireplace. Per Fottar is not so kind and cheerful: he carries rusty chains and whips with him, with which he “gifts” naughty children. Sometimes he is even more cruel - in some regions they believe that he cuts out the tongues of children caught in a lie.

6. Befana

Country: Italy
In general, Befana is similar to Santa Claus and Santa Claus, but looks very different from them. Befana is a witch who has become an important part of Christmas holidays in Italy. There are different stories about her, but most often they say that this kind woman gave food and shelter to the three wise men when they went to bow to the baby Jesus.
Befana looks colorful. She is depicted as an old woman who flies on a broomstick, wears a black shawl and carries around a bag of gifts. Her appearance is terrifying, and it is said that she can hit any child who follows her with her broom. Smart kids should lie in bed while their parents prepare gifts!
How does she give gifts?
Like Santa Claus, Befana goes down the chimney into the house and leaves gifts for obedient children, and a piece of coal or ashes for naughty ones. And since Befana is known as the best hostess in all of Italy, before leaving, she sweeps the floor around the fireplace before whisking back into the chimney.

7. Krampus

Countries: Austria, Germany and Hungary
In the Alpine countries, Santa Claus comes to children. But not alone: ​​he is accompanied by a terrible bloodthirsty monster named Krampus. His name comes from the German "klaue" - "claw". Krampus is part of the entourage of Santa Claus, but he is more of an evil character than a kind one - in any case, he beats naughty children or punishes them in other ways in a medieval style.
The Krampus legend appeared hundreds of years ago, but the church hushed it up until the 19th century. And today it has become part of Christmas in parts of Bavaria and Austria, where December 5th is celebrated as "Krampus Day" or "Krapusteg". People dress up as Krampus, walk the streets and scare other people. Some cities even hold entire festivals.
How does he give gifts?
It is clear that gifts are not his style. In traditional folklore, Krampus is more likely to beat delinquent children with rods or give them a severe reprimand if they are lucky. According to another version, he even kidnaps the worst children in the city, stuffs them into a bag and throws them into the river.

8. Father Frost and Snow Maiden

Countries: Russia, Serbia, Bosnia, Ukraine, Macedonia, Poland and other countries of the former USSR
Our Santa Claus is one of the most interesting New Year characters in the world. He gives gifts not only to Russian children, but also to babies of almost all Slavic countries in Eastern Europe. Santa Claus wears a red coat and white beard, but, unlike Western Santa Claus, does not ride a reindeer-drawn sleigh. Everything is cooler with him: he rides a sleigh pulled by three horses.
But the most interesting thing about Santa Claus is his story. Once he was an evil and vicious sorcerer, kidnapped children and demanded rich gifts as a ransom. But over time, he “corrected”, and now he himself gives gifts to children. And Santa Claus has a granddaughter, the Snow Maiden, who helps him. And no one else has such a Snow Girl.
How does he give gifts?
Santa Claus comes on New Year's Eve or December 31st. He puts gifts under the tree, but sometimes he himself appears at parties and gala dinners and gives gifts in person.

9. Sinterklaas and Black Peter

Countries: Netherlands, Flanders
Sinterklaas is the Dutch version of Santa Claus. He wears a traditional red suit, gray beard and is always cheerful. But unlike Santa, he appears every year in the Netherlands at the end of November. It is said that he arrives on a steamboat from Spain, and after disembarking, he walks through the streets of the city to say hello to all the Dutch children.
There are no elves in the retinue of Sinterklaas, Black Peter, a little boy, helps him to give gifts. There are many legends about how Black Peter began to travel with Sinterklaas, and some are very controversial. Some say that he was a black servant or even a slave of Sinterklaas, while other legends claim that he is a demon. But because of the racist overtones, the old stories of Black Peter have been rewritten, and now he is often described as a simple chimney sweep.
How do they give gifts?
Sinterklaas brings gifts to children on December 5th, St. Nicholas Day. The children put their shoes next to the fireplace and leave a carrot for Sinterklaas's horse. If they behaved well, then in the morning they will find sweets and gifts in their shoes. Personally, Sinterklaas does not leave gifts: for this he has Black Peter, who goes down the chimney into the house with gifts for good children and coal or bags of salt for the bad ones. In old legends, Black Peter kidnapped the worst children and took them to Spain as punishment for terrible behavior.

10. Father Christmas

Countries: UK, France, Spain, Portugal, Italy and many others
Father Christmas had a huge impact on the look of the "classic" Santa Claus. It is Father Christmas who is the main character in Christmas legends and the giver of gifts in many countries. In his modern incarnation, he looks like Santa Claus, but they have different origins. In the 17th century, Father Christmas was portrayed as a cheerful old man dressed in a green robe. Then he did not give gifts yet, but he was the spirit of good news and the joy of Christmas. This incarnation was taken as a basis by the famous writer Charles Dickens, who invented his Spirit of the current Christmas time from the story "A Christmas Carol in Prose". However, over time, Father Christmas became like Santa Claus and Sinterklaas and also began to give gifts to children.
How does he give gifts?
Basically, he does everything the same as Santa Claus: he rides a sleigh pulled by reindeer and goes down the chimney into the house to leave gifts for good children. Families often leave treats in the house for him and the deer, though this varies from country to country. In addition, the house and appearance of Father Christmas depend on the country. In some countries he wears a green suit instead of a red one and does not always live at the North Pole: some countries "settle" him in Greenland, Lapland or Finland.

Image copyright getty Image caption Christmas mail has hundreds of millions of items

If Santa Claus really existed, how could he deliver hundreds of millions of cards and gifts for Christmas and New Year?

The task seems almost insurmountable, because in one night Santa has to go around hundreds of millions of addresses around the world, where children and adults are eagerly waiting for him. How can science come to his aid? Black holes? Quantum mechanics? Supersonic aircraft? Is it even possible to complete this task in one day?

Theoretically, this is possible, but for this, Santa will have to think creatively, and act decisively.

Firstly, there are actually not as many recipients as it might seem at first glance. According to UNICEF, there are 2.2 billion children in the world. But here it is worth remembering that Santa brings gifts only to those children who have behaved well during the year. Therefore, this number must be immediately halved - and this is according to the most optimistic estimates!

Secondly, many children live under the same roof. If we assume that the average family has two and a half children (and that all children living in the same family behave in the same way - good or bad), then Santa will have to visit a total of 440 million addresses.

In addition, elementary physics comes to his aid. Roger Highfield, author of Physics and Christmas, calculated that if Santa sets out on his journey to meet the Earth's rotation, he can easily double his journey by adding another day to his allotted time.

However, even then it will not be easy for him to cope with such a large-scale task.

Is it real? Here are five possible solutions.

New Year and the speed of light

Image copyright BBC World Service Image caption Not even a team of nine reindeer can help Santa reach the speed of light.

According to Highfield, a former editor of the New Scientist magazine, in order to have time to deliver all the gifts, Santa will have to move at a speed close to the speed of light.

At a speed of 300,000 km per second, it can circumnavigate our planet seven times in one second.

It remains only to guess, however, what will happen to him during acceleration and deceleration, and also whether he will burn out along with his sleigh and deer when braking in dense layers of the atmosphere.

On the other hand, elves can help him

Image copyright BBC World Service Image caption American mail delivers 40% of all mail in the world

The US Postal Service claims to handle 40% of the world's mail and deliver about 158 ​​billion letters and parcels a year - that's about 434 million items a day.

This is already quite close to the 440 million addresses mentioned above. The American Post Office, which employs more than 600,000 people and is equipped with a huge fleet of vehicles, is able to cope with such a task.

Although the elves can help Santa with sorting mail and other organizational chores, Santa Claus himself will still have to deliver gifts to children.

Oddly enough, modern physics still does not exclude such a possibility.

Punctures of space and time

Image copyright BBC World Service Image caption Punctures of space and time will allow Santa to instantly move around the planet

We are talking about punctures in the fabric of space and time, which science fiction writers constantly mention. Imagine that your house is on one side of a piece of paper and your friend's house is on the other side, with some physical distance between them.

If you fold this piece of paper in half and align the two dots, and then poke a hole through them with a pencil, Santa will save a lot of time moving through such holes.

The theory of relativity comes to the rescue.

Image copyright BBC World Service Image caption Einstein's general theory of relativity may help explain how Santa manages to overcome space and time

Larry Silverberg, professor of aerodynamics at the University of North Carolina in the United States, believes that Santa Claus can manipulate space and time.

He argues that Santa can create a special field in which space, time and light are perceived in a completely different way than in the surrounding normal world.

"Within this field, time flows at its own pace. Santa may have several months to deliver all this mail, but when viewed from the outside, it takes seconds," explains the professor.

...or maybe it's all about quantum mechanics

Image copyright BBC World Service Image caption Or maybe there are an infinite number of Santa Clauses?

On the other hand, Santa can turn into a quantum and be present at the same time anywhere in the world at any moment.

At least that's what Mexican physicist Daniel Tapia, an associate at the CERN Institute in Geneva, thinks.

"Perhaps Santa Claus can take quantized states - in other words, there can be an infinite number of Santas on our planet at the same time."

According to this theory, each such quantized Santa Claus can give a gift to every child in the world on Christmas Eve, when the children are fast asleep and do not see him. But here the Schrodinger effect, or the observation effect, already comes into play.

If the child wakes up and sees Santa Claus, the quantized state of the wizard will be broken, and all the infinite number of Santas will disappear into thin air.

Therefore, children, sleep soundly on Christmas night!

There is a long tradition of giving charcoal to naughty children at Christmas. It existed even before the advent of Santa Claus, Befana, Sinterklaas and his assistant Black Pete. But with the advent of the fabulous grandfather, she did not disappear, but, on the contrary, became an incentive for children to behave decently. There is no particular explanation for this "gift", for Santa, giving coal is just an ordinary convenience. Why? Now let's figure it out.

How did this strange tradition come about?

Santa enters the house through the chimney and leaves gifts in socks hanging on the fireplace. Sinterklaas, along with assistant Black Pete, also descends into the chimney and puts gifts in shoes left near the fireplace. Befana penetrated through the window, and later through the chimney, when they began to be massively used in Europe.

So, all these characters are tied to the fireplace. While stuffing stockings or shoes, wizards sometimes come across a child who does not deserve a gift. Therefore, to commemorate his bad behavior in the past year, he needs to put a gift that would serve as a hint of it. But it was not necessary to give sweets and toys, but something unusual and indecent. It was at this moment that the fireplace came to the rescue. Grandpa only needs to reach out his hand, take a piece of coal and put it in a stocking. Previously, people stoked fireplaces with coal, it was very convenient.

What other New Year's characters gave bad children

With the exception of Santa Claus, the other characters weren't limited to charcoal as a gift. They left sticks, bags of salt, onions and garlic in the shoes of disobedient children. By this they tried to show the child that he did not deserve a good gift with his behavior.

It turns out that Santa Claus is just a lazy New Year's Eve wizard. He did not stock up symbolic gifts for naughty children in advance. And if he would be too lazy to stretch out his hand for coal? What do you think about it? What would the kids get?

The prototype of Santa Claus was the Christian Saint Nicholas, the bishop of the city of Mira, known for secretly bringing gifts to the homes of poor families. Initially, in Europe it was customary to give gifts to children just on the day of St. Nicholas - December 6, and only from about the 17th century did this begin to be done at Christmas. Although in some European countries, for example, in the Netherlands, children are still given gifts on behalf of Santa Claus twice: on December 6 and 25. Interestingly, Saint Nicholas was considered the patron saint of New Amsterdam, which later became known as New York.

The first image of Santa Claus appears during the American Civil War. It was created by the famous American artist Thomas Nast (the one who drew caricatures of Democrats and Republicans in the form of an elephant and a donkey). In the pictures of Nesta Santa brings gifts not to children, but to soldiers at the front. Those. Santa is not a Christmas grandfather at all, but a front-line postman! In the drawings of Thomas Nest, Santa Claus, as befits a real military man, is slender and fit.

Santa "recovered" in 1931, when Coca-Cola made him the face of their advertising company. Artist Haddon Sundblom creatively reimagined Nast's image and created the Santa Claus we know today: a plump, smiling old man in a red and white camisole and a fur hat of the same colors. Naturally, such a color scheme was not chosen by chance - red and white are the signature colors of Coca-Cola. It is believed that Sundblom drew Santa from his neighbor, a traveling salesman named Lou Passion.

In order to send a letter to Santa Claus, you need to know his postal code. It is easiest for Canadians to remember it, because there it is written as H0H 0H0 - “Ho-ho-ho!”

Despite the fact that Santa's homeland is usually placed either in Lapland or at the North Pole, Canadians claim that Santa Claus is Canadian. They justify this by saying that the clothes of the Christmas character are the same colors as the flag of Canada.

The name of the Finnish Santa - Joulupukki - translates as "Christmas goat." This is due to a long-standing local tradition, when people dressed in goat skins, went from house to house, amused children and gave them gifts.

The residence of the African Santa Claus is located on the top of the Kilimanjaro volcano, because. it is the only mountain in Africa where snow lies all year round.

Oddly enough, one of the most popular Christmas movies is Terry Zwingoff's comedy Bad Santa. This film is clearly not suitable for kids, because. the characters in it constantly swear. For example, the word fuck sounds in it as many as 147 times!

In the United States, the military from the Air Defense Center annually track the flight route of Santa Claus. The fact is that in 1955, one of the stores in the American city of Colorado Springs printed an advertisement in the local newspaper that you could call Santa. However, the store number was incorrectly listed, resulting in calls to the military base. The officers decided not to spoil the holiday for the children, and began to tell them the coordinates of the place where Santa Claus was flying at the time of the call. Since then, it has become a good Christmas tradition for the military under the name “NORAD Tracks Santa”. The kids love her! Now, Santa's movements around the world can be tracked using the official website of the military base, where the coordinates are transmitted in real time.

What is the difference between Santa Claus and Santa Claus? For modern children, the name is probably not so important - the main thing is that they fulfill their duties!

By the beginning of the 20th century, the image of Santa Claus, which we also know, gradually took shape. Earlier attempts to create the type of "Christmas grandfather" who distributes gifts to children did not take root in our country.

But after the revolution, Santa Claus, as a religious prejudice, was in disgrace for more than ten years. Following the rehabilitated New Year tree, only in 1937, he appeared at the celebration of the New Year in the Moscow House of the Unions. Since then, Santa Claus has become one of the main characters of the New Year holidays.

In different countries, this character has his own name: Papa Noel - in Spain, Mosh Dzharile - in Romania, Sint-Klaas - in Holland, Per Noel - in France, Santa Claus in America.

It is a pity that our Santa Claus is gradually being replaced by Santa Claus. What is the difference between our Grandfather and a foreign Santa Claus?

First of all - in the origin. Santa Claus - St. Nicholas (Nikolaus), a real historical figure - Archbishop Nicholas of Myra, who had a reputation as a protector of children and lived in the fourth century in Lycia, in Asia Minor, which is part of modern southern Turkey. He was elevated to the rank of saint after his death.

There is a legend that St. Nikolay heard about a poor city dweller who was forced to give his three daughters to "fornication", and saved the whole family from want and disgrace by secretly throwing them three bags of gold. Hence the gift bag - an indispensable attribute of Christmas Santa Claus.

Later, this legend was transformed into a parable about how the saint threw gold coins into the chimney of the house where the poor sisters lived, and the coins accidentally fell into stockings drying by the fireplace. Thus was born the custom of hanging up socks before the day of remembrance of St. Nicholas (December 6/19) to find gifts in them the next morning.

Gradually, this day shifted in time, and the gifts of St. Nikolai began to do it for Christmas already in the form of Santa. Although, here, too, not everything is so obvious. The Catholic Church prefers to regard Santa Claus (St. Nicholas) as a messenger rather than a giver. He only transmits, delivers the gifts of the Christ child. It is clear who you need to thank, and to whom to address your cherished desires.

Father Frost

Russian Santa Claus is a character of Slavic fairy tale ritual folklore, a pagan spirit. Despite the fact that in the formation of the modern image of Santa Claus, it was not without imitating Western customs, he retained almost all the characteristic Russian features.
Our Santa Claus to this day walks in felt boots and a long fur coat, with a staff. He prefers sledges drawn by a nimble and very frisky troika to all types of transport, and he does not move across the sky, like a foreign Santa Claus, but on the ground! There were never reindeer in his team.

Santa Claus and some of our grandfather's foreign cousins ​​wear shorter fur coats, with pronounced buttons, and a hat that looks like a jester's cap.

Snow Maiden

Let's not forget about the Snow Maiden, the helper and companion of the Russian Father Frost. Her name and image are unique. No country has a Christmas or New Year character with similar features.

The Snow Maiden is the embodiment of frozen waters in general and the waters of the Northern Dvina in particular. She is dressed only in white clothes. No other color in the traditional symbolism is allowed. The ornament is made only with silver threads. The headdress is an eight-pointed crown embroidered with silver and pearls.

S. V. Zharnikova Ph.D. n. art critic, ethnologist