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euronews (in English)
  • 24/12/2024
It's not just Santa Claus who delivers gifts to Europe over the Christmas season.
Transcript
00:00Who brings Europeans their Christmas presents?
00:08Christmas has finally come and, if you've been good,
00:11a load of presents has most likely arrived along with it.
00:14But who delivers those much-anticipated gifts to Europe?
00:17It might sound like an obvious question, but in true European fashion,
00:21the countries are united in their diversity,
00:24so it's not actually quite as straightforward as you might think.
00:27Let's start with the most well-known answer – Santa Claus,
00:30the bearded personification of Christmas known for his red attire,
00:33hearty laugh and flying reindeer companions.
00:36He's so synonymous with Christmas that he's likely to appear across the continent,
00:41but many countries have their own flavour of Santa,
00:44even though they're all often considered the same person.
00:46In much of Western Europe, like France, Ireland, Italy, Portugal and the UK,
00:51it's Father Christmas who delivers presents,
00:54with his name changing slightly depending on the language.
00:57In parts of Germany, Belgium, the Netherlands and Denmark,
01:00you've got Christmas Man who performs the same function,
01:03and for other countries, it's Saint Nicholas.
01:05Sometimes it's the Christ Child himself who delivers gifts.
01:09He tends to appear in Central Europe, such as Southern Germany,
01:12Switzerland, Austria, the Czech Republic and Slovakia.
01:15He traditionally gave out presents in Portugal and Italy too,
01:18but he's now mostly handed the job over there.
01:21Sticking with the nativity,
01:22the Three Kings or the Three Wise Men deliver presents to Spaniards on the 5th of January,
01:28but they're not necessarily going to hand out gold, frankincense or myrrh.
01:31Looking east to places like Russia and Serbia,
01:34you've got the old man Frost doing the gift giving.
01:36Ukraine tends to get gifts both from him and Saint Nicholas,
01:40while Saint Basil is the traditional present bringer in Greece and Cyprus.
01:44Other countries and even regions within those countries have different characters still,
01:48such as Catalonia's Christmas Log and Iceland's Christmas Lads.
01:52Whoever brings you your gifts, we wish you a Merry Christmas from Euronews.

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