Samichlaus procession in Zurich, 1952.
Swiss National Museum

The Reformation in the 16th century rejected the veneration of saints, including St Nicholas. The Protestant reformers replaced Nicholas with the ‘holy Christ’, and moved the giving of gifts to his birthday, 25 December. Over the years, the concept of the Christkind became increasingly dissociated from Jesus Christ himself; as a result, the Christkind evolved into a separate, angelic figure and became established as the bringer of gifts.

But the flexibility of these Christmas traditions is also reflected in the fact that in the 18th to 19th centuries, in some areas St Nicholas later reappeared in the person of the less overtly religious Santa Claus. Especially in Germany, Santa Claus has replaced the Christkind as the bringer of gifts at Christmas. In Catholic areas, on the other hand, the originally Protestant Christkind was favoured, thanks to his angelic appearance, and well into the 20th century was firmly held to be the key figure in the giving of gifts. In Switzerland today, Santa Claus and the Christ Child exist side by side, with Samichlaus distributing gifts on St Nicholas’ Day, and the Christkind doing the honours at Christmas. But the account given by Anna Spiess’ granddaughter shows that the two of them can also work together:

‘Samichlaus wore a black cape with a big hood, and had a big beard. When the children had recited their Versli (traditional Christmas poems and rhymes) and he had told them what they had done well during the year and where they had misbehaved, he emptied his sack: there were slices of dried apple and pear, dried cherries, nuts and a few Guetzli cookies – if it went well, there was even a little chocolate for each child tumbling out onto the floor. Then he went back into the forest. […] If wisps of fog were seen there sometimes, you knew: Aha! Now Samichlaus is helping the Christkind bake the Lebkuchen gingerbread.’

Jürg Burlet

Steel helmet on!