What is the Weihnachtsmann? A German Christmas Gift- Giver

This is the time of year when things can get confusing for some people; in Germany, there is St Nicholas, the Christkind, AND the Weihnachtsmann... but Who is bringing the presents? What is the Weihachtsmann? To make the ‘gift-giver’ issue even more confusing, there are mixed families here in the US where one parent grew up with Santa Claus! How do they all fit together? (To be fair, mainly the adults are confused; children seem to have no problem reconciling three or four different gift-givers.) Fortunately, there is an explanation and you can trace all of them back through a few hundred years of history.

What is the Weihnachtsmann

Although many people think that the Weihnachtsmann, the secular gift giver (secular means non-religious), is a result of American influences, the term Weihnachtsmann in Germany came about around the same time Santa Claus did in the US.  In 1835,  Heinrich Hoffmann, best known as the author of der Struwwelpeter, wrote a Christmas Carol called “Morgen Kommt der Weihnachtsmann” (sung to the tune of Twinkle Twinkle Little Star). And painter Moritz von Schwind created a woodcut in 1847 for the Münchener Bilderbogen called “der Weihnachtsmann,” of a bearded man carrying a Christmas Tree. This image of a cloaked and bearded man carrying a Christmas Tree would stick for a long time. Although the cloak’s color sometimes changed from brown to green and even lavender.

(Quick aside- A Bilderbogen is a sheet of printed images. Not quite a newspaper or magazine, but there were images with descriptions beneath them. People collected the images, even used them for collages. The closest equivalent in English would be a Broadside… a single sheet of paper printed with notices or information posted in public. Basically, the German Weihnachtsmann image came from a poster that was sold and distributed in Munich)

Der Weihnachtsmann, by Moritz von Schwind 1847 for Munchener Bilderbogen Public Domaine

By the 1840s, the “trendsetting Bourgeoisie” of Germany, who were stepping away from the church,  adopted the Weihnactsmann. The bearded man was their official Christmas Gift Giver, and he handed out punishment. Although he still carried a tree in many images, he was also depicted with a sack of gifts and a rod for punishment.

Today, children in Germany will write letters to the Weihnachtsmann, who is a Father Christmas/Santa Claus figure. In some houses, he is the one who brings the gifts on the 24th.

Who are the Other Gift Givers?

This is a good time to back up a little bit, to give background to St Nicholas and the Christkind, and to the celebration of Christmas itself so that we can see how it all ties together.

Before the Protestant Revolution in the 16th century, Christmas wasn’t a gift-giving occasion. Advent (the four weeks leading up to Christmas) was a time of fasting and preparing for the birth of Jesus. Yes, there were Christmas Markets, but these were occasions where people could stock up for the long winter ahead. The 12 days of Christmas, from December 24th until January 6th (the Epiphany), were a time of celebration and feasting. No Christmas tree, no presents. Children got treats for the Feast Day of St Nicholas.

St Nicholas day

St Nicholas was the Bishop of Myra (in Turkey) and the patron saint of children. Usually, he’s depicted wearing a white robe and bishop’s miter (pointy hat), carrying a book filled with lists of children’s names and notes on their behavior. He even visits some children, along with one of his companions, to check if the list is accurate and maybe quiz the child on a few Bible verses. (The companions are different, depending on which part of Germany you are in. It could be Knecht Ruprecht, Krampus, or another. Learn all about them here) On the night of December 5th, children in Germany put their shoes out, maybe filled with a bit of straw or a carrot, to feed St Nicholas’s donkey and go to sleep, hoping for a visit. If they’ve been good, when they wake up on December 6th, St Nicholas’s feast day, they find that their shoes have been filled overnight with sweets and maybe small toys.

The Christkind

After the Protestant Reformation, Martin Luther wanted to steer away from the veneration of Saints, even gift-giving ones like St Nicholas. But, as a father, he must have realized that taking away a celebration with presents would be horrible for morale. (I have this vision of his wife pulling him aside and reminding him how difficult an unhappy child could be). Instead of St. Nicholas bringing treats on the 6th, Luther presented the idea that the Christkind, the Christchild himself, would bring gifts on the evening of his birthday, December 24th.

Over time, the Christkind caught on in Catholic areas as well. (And here I see little kids coming home to their Catholic parents and saying, “Why does the Christkind go to Steffen, but not to our house?”). Instead of an infant, the Christkind was depicted as a blond, curly-haired angel.

This is when things start getting mixed up.

Some images show the golden-haired Christkind traveling on a white horse from house to house, and some show the Christkind traveling with St Nicholas as one of his companions. In Catholic areas, like Nuremberg, the Christkind becomes an important symbol at the December Markets, which become known as Christkindlmarkts. But then, in many Protestant areas, the Weihnachtsmann took over the gift-giving.

Please note that none of this seems to be set in stone. It depends on the family and how they choose to treat the event. Our family was mixed up since my mother was Catholic and my father was Lutheran. We spoke of the Christkind and the Weihnachtsmann.

Santa Claus joins the Party

From the late17th through the early 19th century America, Christmas looked a lot different than it does today. It wasn’t a family centric holiday spent in prayer or with family. Rowdy celebrations included drinking, gambling, and even ribald plays. Puritans and Quakers even outlawed the celebration in New England (you would be fined 5 Schillings for so much as mentioning it!).  Fortunately, the laws were abandoned over time, although boisterous celebrations were still frowned upon. It was immigrants from Germany who introduced Christmas gift-giving and Christmas Trees in their communities, and by the mid-1800s, it had spread throughout the States. Christmas finally became a federal holiday under President Grant in 1870.

But it was the New Yorkers and Washington Irving who popularized Santa Claus.

In 1624, the Dutch settled on the Island of Manhattan, calling it New Netherlands, and established a fort called New Amsterdam. By 1664, the English had taken over, but the Dutch Settlers remembered their roots and still came together to celebrate St Nicholas Day. After the American Revolution, the New York Historical Society remembered its Dutch roots, making St Nicholas the Patron Saint of the city and their society. Then, in 1809, Washington Irving wrote a story called “Knickerbocker’s History of New York,” which featured a jolly St Nicholas figure called Sankte Claus, who dropped gifts down the church’s chimney.

The name Santa Claus swirls in controversy. Where did it come from? Some say it’s from the Dutch “Sinter Klaas,” but most likely, it’s the old-German dialect for Saint Nicholas, “Sankte Claas.” (Oddly, the German Christkind evolved into Santa’s other name, “Kris Kringle”).

Writers like Irving and later Clement Clarke Moore are credited with shaping how Americans view Christmas. Irving published his short story about Sankte Claus in 1812 and gave his character a sled drawn over the trees by horses. Then, in 1821, William Gilley introduced a Scandinavian twist to the Santa myth when he published a small book called “A New Year’s Present, to the Little Ones from Five to Twelve Number III: The Children’s Friend”. Reindeer were now pulling Sante Claus’s sled. Clement Clarke Moore cemented the story with his 1822 poem  “An Account of a Visit from Saint Nicolas“.

But we can thank German immigrant Thomas Nast for finally putting a face and red suit on the American Santa Claus. Nast was born in Landau in der Pfalz, in the Rhineland Palatinate, and arrived in the US at age 6. A talented artist, Nast began working for Harper’s Weekly at age 18. While his drawing and caricature skills made him the “Father of American Cartoon,” he is best known for drawing Santa Claus. Apparently, Nast drew on his childhood memories of Belsnickl to bring Moore’s poem to life. But it was more than just an illustration for a poem; between 1863 and 1886, thirty-three different Santa Claus illustrations were published in Harper’s by Thomas Nast. (Cute side note- Nast’s Santa was a self-portrait, that’s why he’s so fat).

[http://www.utexas.edu/features/2010/12/06/christmas_america/ ‘Santa’s Portrait’ byThomas Nast, published in Harper’s Weekly, 1881] Public Domain

And it’s this image… Santa Claus in a red fur-trimmed suit and hat, black boots, and big belly, that is now traveling back to Germany.

The Weihnachtsmann

Our friend, the Weihnachtsmann, used to be an old man in a cloak carrying a tree. Then, he carried a bag of toys and a rod for punishment. Today, thanks to movies, television, and commercial advertising, he’s often blurred with the American Santa Claus. Complaints about commercialism and excess during the Christmas Season have been an issue for hundreds of years, so we can’t lay that all at Santa’s black-booted feet. Christmas is what you make it.

As for how to resolve the Gift Giver issue in your home? I leave that to you. St Nicholas, the Christkind, the Weihnachtsmann, and even Santa Claus all have room in a child’s heart.