Germanic folklore about Santa Claus

Odin, the wanderer.

Prior to the Germanic peoples' conversion to Christianity, Germanic folklore contained stories about the god Odin (Wodan), who would each year, at Yule, have a great hunting party accompanied by his fellow gods and the fallen warriors residing in his realm. Children would place their boots, filled with carrots, straw or sugar, near the chimney for Odin's flying horse, Sleipnir, to eat. Odin would then reward those children for their kindness by replacing Sleipnir's food with gifts or candy [Siefker, chap. 9, esp. 171-173]. This practice survived in Germany, Belgium and the Netherlands after the adoption of Christianity and became associated with Saint Nicholas. Children still place their straw filled shoes at the chimney every winter night, and Saint Nicholas (who, unlike Santa, is still riding a horse) rewards them with candy and gifts. Odin's appearance was often similar to that of Saint Nicholas, being depicted as an old, mysterious man with a beard. (Other features, like the absence of one eye, are not found in Saint Nicholas.) This practice in turn came to America via the Dutch colony of New Amsterdam prior to the British seizure in the 17th century, and evolved into the hanging of socks or stockings at the fireplace.

Another early folk tale, originating among the Germanic tribes, tells of a holy man (sometimes Saint Nicholas), and a demon (sometimes the Devil, Krampus, or a troll). The story states that the land was terrorized by a monster who at night would slither down the chimneys and slaughter children (disembowelling them or stuffing them up the flue, or keeping them in a sack to eat later). The holy man sought out the demon, and tricked it with blessed or magical shackles (in some versions the same shackles that imprisoned Christ prior to the crucifixion, in other versions the shackles were those used to hold St. Peter or Paul of Tarsus); the demon was trapped and forced to obey the saint's orders. The saint ordered him to go to each house and make amends, by delivering gifts to the children. Depending on the version, the saint either made the demon fulfil this task every year, or the demon was so disgusted by the act of good will that it chose to be sent back to Hell.

Yet other versions have the demon reform under the saint's orders, and go on to recruit other elves and imps into helping him, thus becoming Santa Claus. In an alternate Dutch version, the saint is aided by slaves, commonly typified as Zwarte Piet ("Black Peter"). Some tales depict Zwarte Piet beating bad children with a rod or even taking them to Spain (formerly ruled by the Moors) in a sack. Though some people find the tradition of zwarte piet discriminating, because this would refer to the fact that Saint Nicolas would have negro slaves to do the work for him in the busy days before pakjesavond (boxing day); according to those people this would promote and teach hate and racism to young children. This story is only partially true, zwarte piet started his "career" as a slave indeed, but not in service of Saint Nicolas. In fact Saint Nicolas was the one who bought zwarte piet from a slavetrader, only to set him free. Grateful as zwarte piet was however, he didn't have anywhere to go as he was separated from his relatives and had no job to support himself. Saint Nicolas offered him a job (in some (fictional) stories this job was listing all the kids their wishes for boxing day, other stories say that zwarte piet was keeping track of all the bad children, in order to capture them in a sack and take them to Spain... as Spain would be the home country of Sinterklaas). In recent decenia this story has been changed to normal servants who have black faces because they climb through chimney's and get blackened by the sooth from the fires. Black Peters are to Saint Nicolas, what the elves are to santa clause... in tradtion the Saint has a Peter for every function.. for example: Navigation Peters to navigate the steamboat from Spain to Holland, acrobatic Peters for climbing up the roofs to stuff presents through the chimney, or to climb through themselves etc. etc. And through the years a lot of stories were added, mostly made up by parents to keep their childrens faith in Saint Nicolas (often called "De goede Sint" (the good/friendly Saint),and to prevent their children from misbehaviour, as they are told that good behaviour would be rewarded on boxing-day.

Another form of the above tale in Germany is of the Pelznickel or Belsnickle ("Furry Nicholas") who visited naughty children in their sleep. The name originated from the fact that the person appeared to be a huge beast since he was covered from head to toe in furs.

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