Multicultural Santa

Frosty · Subject: Multicultural Santa Tue Dec 04, 2007 7:50 am

In the United States and Canada, his name is Santa Claus. 
In China, he is called Shengdan Laoren.
In England, his name is Father Christmas , where he has a longer coat and a longer beard.
In France, he's known as Pere Noel.
In Germany, children get presents from Christindl, the Christ Child.

Customs of the Christmas Season in Spanish speaking countries have many similarities, and many variations. All of Latin America and Spain are predominantly Catholic. For many of these countries Baby Jesus, el Niño Jesus, brings gifts for children.
In Costa Rica, Colombia, and parts of Mexico, the gift bearer is el Niño Jesus, "the infant Jesus." In Brazil and Peru, he's called Papa Noel. 
In Puerto Rico, children receive gifts from the Three Kings on January 6th, also called the celebration of Epiphany, the 3 Kings' Day. Each child puts grass under their bed for the camels. In the morning the grass is replaced with gifts. Also, Puerto Rico, being part of the United States, does its major gift giving on December 25, with the Christmas Tree and Santa Claus - in this sense, Puerto Rico is totally Americanized.

[b]Epiphany remains a part of the holiday season in Puerto Rico and is a day off from school. Giving gifts then is more for traditional values than the actual gift-giving celebration. Unless one wants to make a specific statement about the importance of maintaining traditional purity (anti-commercialism) and disassociation from American influence.
However, the celebration of Epiphany is not just in Puerto Rico. Some nations say it is the 3 Kings who bring the toys, while others credit Baby Jesus, since it was He who received and wants to share. 
In Italy Babbo Natale, which means Father Christmas, is Santa. Children put a pair of their shoes by the door on the day before Epiphany and the following morning they find them filled with small gifts and candy. Italy, like Spain, Portugal and most of the Latin American nations ( or countries speaking Romance languages ), is mostly Catholic. December 25 is a day of more religious observance, remembering the birth of Christ. The Epiphany, called Little Christmas, is the day for gift giving. However, Babbo Natale does come on Christmas Eve in some parts of Italy.
In Spain children leave their shoes under the Christmas tree the night of January 5th and presents from the Three Kings (Los Reyes Magos: Melchor, Gaspar and Baltasar) appear the next morning. Santa Claus is called Papa Noel and some children receive presents both days on December 24th (from Papa Noel) and on January 6th (from the Three Kings). 
In Morocco he is known as Black Peter
In Japan, Santa Clause is called Santa Clause or just "Santa". Children often call him "Santa no ojisan," which means "Uncle Santa." (This information comes to you via the courtesy of Mr. Kazuo Miyasako of Dokkyo University. Many thanks go to the readers of Lone Star Internet)
In Sweden Jultomten visits the evening before Christmas day, pulling a big bag of julklappar (Christmas presents) in the deep snow.
På Norsk ( in Norwegian ) "Julenissen" arrives on the evening of the 24th.
In the Netherlands, he is called Kerstman. 
In Finland, he is called Joulupukki.
Sinter Klaas in Dutch. He rides a white horse, leaving gifts in wooden shoes
In Russia, he is called Grandfather Frost that is "ded moroz" (the second "o" has its accent and the last "z" is pronouned as "s".)
He is also called Kris Kringle - which comes from the German term "the Christ Child"
(Christ Kind). [/b]

Angie · Number of posts: 8 Age: 38 Registration date: 2007-12-09

That is very interesting! I knew some of those things, but it's cool to learn how other countries celebrate and it's nice to see that some haven't 'commercialized' it or not as much as us Americans.

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