Comments on: Santa and Christkind in Germany

By: Pension Sprachschule Maria Shipley » Blog Archive » Christmas Shopping Hours in Frankfurt

Thu, 17 Dec 2009 10:13:32 +0000

[...] « Santa and Christkind in Germany [...]

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Wed, 16 Dec 2009 06:21:24 +0000

[...] Pension Sprachschule Maria Shipley » Blog Archive » Santa and Christkind in Germany http://www.pension-sprachschule.de/index.php/anything-german/santa-and-christkind-in-germany – view page – cached There seems to be a common misconception about Germany’s gift-giver on Christmas eve among my newly arrived foreign friends, acquaintances, and [...]

By: Graham

Graham — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 06:19:26 +0000

There is also some confusion over the difference between “Santa” and the “Weihnachtsmann”, presumably caused by the way some films from the U.S. are dubbed.

Since the name “Santa Claus” came from “Sint Niklaas” one could argue that he is the equivalent of Nikolaus, whereas the British English name is “Father Christmas”, which I find to be closer to the term “Weihnachtsmann”.

I find it particularly fascinating that Christkind dominates in areas like Bavaria which are predominantly Catholic, even though the figure was made popular by Martin Luther!