Alternate Santas

mojojojo

Gone Fishin'
What are some alternate versions of Santa/Father Christmas that could have evolved in Western Europe and the Western World?
 
Well some in an Anglosaxon speaking Britain:
Fæder Winter
Fæder Giúl
Winterhálga
Sé Giúlhálga
Sé Winterfæder
Sé Giúlfæder
Something along those lines.
Austrian Influence:
Giúlgæten (With finnish influence in naming.)
Sé Cristenbearn
Sé Giúlbearn
Sé Wilhálga
 
Sweden has the Tomte in folklore, this has mixed a lot with Santa in modern times but the main differences are that the Tomte is small (about half a full grown human?), every farm has their own, the Tomte does small work around the house and has more temprament then the Santa.

My grandparents also told about the Yule Goat who also gave out presents around Christmas. Unlike Santa and the chimny and Jultomte who come in the front door and give out presents while the people are awake, the Yule Goat just opened the door and threw in the stuff and ran away.
 
Well, in OTL we have:

Father Christmas (aka Pere Noel) in England and France (This character has picked up a lot of traits from Santa Claus, and vice versa, but they were originally distinct characters)
The three wise men, called Kaspar, Melchior, and Balthazar (those names have various spellings, and do not come from the Bible), in countries in which January 6 is the main gift giving day, such as most Spanish speaking countries.
Grandma Epiphany, called Baboushka in Russian or Befana in Italy
Santa Lucia in Sweden
The Yule Goat and also various elflike creatures called Tomte or Nisse in many areas of Scandinavia (including Finland)
The Christchild, called Kris Kringle in German, can be portrayed as a male or a female (sometimes Kris is said to be short for Kristine)

Saint Nicholas was an important saint to the Dutch. They still celebrate his feastday on December 6th (which I think is still the main gift-giving holiday). When Dutch settlers founded the city of New Amsterdam in the colony of New Netherland, it took a couple weeks for the cookies and things to get from the Netherlands to the children in the Dutch colonies, so in New Amsterdam they started celebrating the visit of Saint Nicholas on Christmas instead. Santa Claus is simply an adaptation of the Dutch for Saint Nicholas (You can still meet folks named Claus or Klaus).

Of course New Netherland and New Amsterdam were all conquered by the British, who renamed both the colony and its capital city "New York". A lot of British settlers then moved in, and brought British saints like St. George of England. Some time later, particularly during the revolutionary war and the War of 1812, it became unfashionable to be English in America. Fortunately, Washington Irving stept up to the plate with his book "Dietrich Knickerbocker's History of New York" which reminded the people of New York that they were not English, but in fact Dutch, and so St. Nicholas was their true patron saint. All the people of New York then embraced St. Nicholas and the custom of his visit on Christmas. And this custom then spread to the rest of the United States. And with American economic dominance of so much of the world, Santa Claus has spread to many other countries.

I think it is certainly possible to imagine things going differently in an AH!

KEVP
 
In Russia and other Soviet countries, during Soviet times, a "Dyed Moroz" ("Old Man Frost") was popularised as an alternative to a religious figure. He was just like Santa or the earlier Grandfather Christmas, but wore a light-blue robe with stars or snowflakes on it. He was usually accompanied by one (or sometimes more) young female aide, "Snegurochka" ("Snow maiden").

Grandfather Christmas is how we call Santa in Lithuania. Even though the robe is nowadays usually that of the Western Santa (red and white), it is still a somewhat distinct character.
 
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