Christmas Customs

Posted by Stephen Bullon on 

December 05, 2011 

From Mcmillan

In the UK, our bringer of Christmas presents spends the night of December 24th coming down chimneys and leaving presents for children to find on the morning of Christmas Day. We call him Father Christmas, though he’s also known as Santa Claus. On what we like to call the Continent many people give presents and celebrate on December 6th, which is the saint’s day of Saint Nicholas (or święty Mikołaj or Saint Nicolas or Heilige Nikolaus or… well, it depends on where in Europe you are).

In Holland, he’s known as Sinterklaas – and Sinterklaas is the origin of the name Santa Claus. They must be very impatient in Holland, because the Dutch can’t even wait until December 6th, and do their present-giving on the eve of Sinterklaas, the evening of December 5th.

To help you through the excitement of Christmas, there’s an Advent Calendar you can check between now and Christmas Eve. Every day, there’s a new little nugget of festive information. You could open all the windows at once, but it’s much more fun to do it day by day.

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