If you're not in a 'Santa Claus' Country?

[Ihatesandwiches]

My form class have been talking about this all week. After hearing about the 3 kings bringing gifts in France on the 6th Jan and not Santa. So, please, if you live somewhere where santa doesn't visit, please let me know. And do the children feel short changed after watching Christmas movies where Santa leaves gifts?

Bump?

In Spain it's traditional to do the three kings on 6th Jan. Many parents I knew simply added Father Christmas in on 25th and split the presents over the two days so they don't miss out on either.

We have St. Nikolaus - patron saint of children - bringing sweets on the 6th of december, which used to be the main day for presents. And the christchild i. e. Jesus being the reason for presents on the 24th (after reformation).
But usually it is the parents who take care of gifts - for a traditional stroy of the South that gets read "Wie ich die Christtagsfreude holen ging" (How I went to fetch the joy of christmas).
Different ways to celebrate christmas are topics from Kindergarten onwards, so they learn about Father Christmas and Befana etc. FC is just how kids in England and the US do it. Not the be all and end all of Christmas , retailers try to get FC going, though.

I grew up on the US/ Mexico border in the US.

My relatives (father was a Mexican Citizen and all my grandparents were as well) lived directly on the opposite side of the Rio Grande.
They could hear US radio and watch US television so they were quite aware and slightly bemused of our custom of Santa Claus bringing gifts on December 25th. Christmas trees were odd to them too. They always had a nativity scene set up in their homes.

Because of this, my parents used to purchase one small gift for my cousins to be opened on Christmas Day (when we would visit them) and they would open their gifts in January. My sister and I would get a small gift to open in January when we visited them again.

That was a long time ago though as I am now 50.

I do know that now many on the Mexican side of the border (including my family) have really taken on the custom of having Christmas trees and they now celebrate Christmas with opening presents on December 25th but right after midnight mass. I suppose it is because many people do work in the US and many of their children attend schools in the US.

I'll admit that it does seem strange that so many over there no longer do the traditions that were held in their country for so long. I long for my childhood of having Mexican traditions in my family because of our close proximity.

Here the local kids get presents on 1st January rather than Christmas Day - Christmas Day is about church and food! There’s a saint who brings presents on New Year’s Day but I forget his name....

When I was little in Italy the baby Jesus and/or Father Christmas bought presents on Christmas day and the Befana bought stockings on January 6th.
I had a lovely book about the baby Jesus and little angels watching children do good deeds before Christmas.

If anyone lives in Italy now, is Babbo Natale the more popular gift giver now?