# Who Brings Christmas Presents Around the World: From Sinterklaas to La Befana > Who brings Christmas presents around the world: Sinterklaas and soot Petes, St Nicholas, the Nuremberg Christkind, Joulupukki, Iceland's Yule Lads, La Befana and the Three Kings. - URL: https://langandtrip.com.ua/en/article/khto-pryinosyt-podarunky-u-riznykh-krainakh/ - Language: en - Published: 2026-11-02 - Categories: Travel, Culture, Leisure, Italy, Events, Нідерланди, Фінляндія --- On Saturday 14 November 2026, Sinterklaas's steamboat will moor in the little town of Grave on the river Maas, and from that day Dutch children will spend three weeks leaving shoes by the fireplace. He is only the first in a long queue: **who brings Christmas presents around the world** depends on the local calendar, and the visits stretch from mid-November all the way to 6 January. That means a trip can be planned around a particular gift-bringer, and children will remember it longer than any theme park ride. ## Sinterklaas: a steamboat from Spain and soot-smudged Petes According to legend, the old bishop in a red cope lives in Spain and sails to the Netherlands and Belgium every autumn with his helpers. The big national arrival is broadcast on television, and over the following weekends dozens of towns hold their own intocht, from Amsterdam down to villages where Sinterklaas rides a white horse straight into the market square. The main evening for presents, Pakjesavond, falls on 5 December. Gifts come wrapped in elaborate "surprises" with a teasing poem for each family member, and the table is covered in pepernoten and chocolate letters. The helpers are worth reading up on in advance, to avoid an awkward conversation. For decades Zwarte Piet, Black Pete, was played in black face paint with red lips, and many Dutch people, Black Dutch citizens among them, see the figure as a racist caricature. After years of argument, the national children's programme Sinterklaasjournaal has shown only soot-smudged Petes since 2020, with a few streaks of chimney soot on their cheeks, and most big cities have followed. The old make-up still turns up in places and the debate goes on. The easiest thing for a visitor is to stay out of it, especially around other people's children at a festival. ## 6 December: St Nicholas and a shoe on the windowsill In Ukraine, since the switch to the Revised Julian calendar in 2023, **St Nicholas** arrives on the night of 5 to 6 December, just as in Poland and Germany. The routine is similar: Ukrainian children look under their pillows, Polish children do the same on Mikołajki, and in Germany kids polish a boot on the evening of 5 December and leave it by the door or on the windowsill. In the morning it holds sweets, tangerines and nuts, and good children also get a chocolate St Nicholas. In Austria and Bavaria, St Nicholas has company: Krampus, a horned, shaggy devil with cowbells who scares naughty children. Krampuslauf parades, with hundreds of these devils, take place in early December in Salzburg and small Tyrolean towns. They are loud and genuinely creepy, so keep children under five on your shoulders and well away from the front row. ## Christkind: the angel child on a Nuremberg balcony In Austria, southern Germany, Alsace and the Czech Republic, presents on 24 December come from the Christkind, a golden-haired angel child, rather than from an old man. The easiest place to see one in person is Nuremberg: every two years the city chooses a young woman to play the Christkind, and on the Friday before the first Sunday of Advent she opens the market with a rhyming prologue from the balcony of the Frauenkirche. In 2026 that is 27 November at 17:30, and the programme is on the [official Nuremberg Christmas market website](https://www.christkindlesmarkt.de/). The square is packed solid that evening, so claim a spot an hour early. One more address for letters: the post office in the village of Christkindl near Steyr in Austria stamps envelopes with a special Christmas postmark every winter. Other markets where this character lives are in our guide to [Christmas markets in Europe](https://langandtrip.com.ua/en/article/rizdvyani-yarmarky-yevropy/). ## Joulupukki, or the Yule goat The Finnish name **Joulupukki** literally means "Yule goat". In old peasant tradition, mummers in sheepskins and goat masks went from house to house demanding food and drink, and the kindly bearded grandfather only pushed the goat out in the 20th century. A straw goat still hangs on almost every Finnish tree. The Finns say Joulupukki lives on Korvatunturi fell in Lapland, and he receives visitors at Santa Claus Village in Rovaniemi on the Arctic Circle. On the evening of 24 December he knocks on the door in person and asks whether there are any good children inside, and in many families the role goes to a neighbour or an uncle who has very conveniently "popped out for a newspaper". ## Père Noël, Santa Claus and Father Christmas The French Père Noël comes on the night of 24 to 25 December, and shoes are left by the fireplace for him. Since 1962 the French postal service has answered every letter to Père Noël that carries a return address, so a child can post one in Paris and find the reply waiting at home. The American Santa Claus comes down the chimney on Christmas Eve and is left milk and cookies. The season in the US officially opens with the Macy's parade in New York on Thanksgiving, 26 November 2026, and on 24 December the military command NORAD "tracks Santa" on a [dedicated website](https://www.noradsanta.org/), a tradition dating back to 1955. Britain's Father Christmas is older than Santa: he began as the personification of feasting and merriment and only became a gift-bringer in Victorian times, when he more or less merged with his American colleague. He gets a mince pie and a glass of sherry, the reindeer gets a carrot, and presents go into a stocking at the end of the bed. ## Iceland: thirteen Yule Lads and a cat Iceland has thirteen gift-bringers at once. The **Yule Lads** come down from the mountains one per night from 12 December, and each has his own vice: one steals sausages, another licks the pots, a third slams doors. Children leave a shoe on the windowsill; good ones find a sweet in it, naughty ones a raw potato. After Christmas the lads head home one by one, and the last leaves on 6 January. Their mother, the ogress Grýla, is even scarier, and the Yule Cat, so the story goes, eats anyone who has not received new clothes by Christmas. In Reykjavík a huge illuminated figure of the cat goes up on Lækjartorg square, and the National Museum of Iceland "hosts" a different lad every day in December. ## La Befana and the Three Kings: presents on 6 January In Italy the season closes with **La Befana**, a good witch on a broomstick. On the night of 5 to 6 January she fills stockings with sweets and leaves naughty children "coal", a black sugar candy sold in every supermarket. In Rome the Befana market runs on Piazza Navona, and the town of Urbania in the Marche region holds the national Befana festival from 2 to 6 January, with her "house" and hundreds of costumed witches. Spanish children wait less for Santa than for the Three Kings, Melchior, Caspar and Balthazar. On the evening of 5 January every town holds a Cabalgata, a parade of floats that shower the crowd with sweets. In Madrid it runs along the Paseo de la Castellana to Plaza de Cibeles, and families hold their spot on the kerb with an upside-down umbrella, which makes catching sweets much easier. Before bed children leave out shoes and water for the camels, and on 6 January everyone eats roscón, a ring cake with a lucky figurine and a bean for whoever has to buy next year's roscón. ## Table: who brings presents and where to see it CountryWhoWhenWhere to see itNetherlands, BelgiumSinterklaas and the Petesarrival 14 November, presents 5 Decemberarrival in Grave, city parades in Amsterdam and elsewhereUkraine, Poland, GermanySt Nicholasnight of 5 to 6 Decembercity events, in Germany a boot by the doorAustria, BavariaSt Nicholas and Krampus5-6 DecemberKrampus parades in Salzburg and TyrolAustria, southern GermanyChristkind24 DecemberNuremberg market opening on 27 November, Christkindl post office near SteyrFinlandJoulupukkievening of 24 DecemberSanta Claus Village, RovaniemiIceland13 Yule Lads and the Yule Cat12 December - 6 JanuaryReykjavík, National Museum, Lækjartorg squareFrancePère Noëlnight of 24 to 25 Decemberletters via the French post office, Alsace marketsUSASanta Clausnight of 24 to 25 DecemberMacy's parade 26 November, NORAD tracker 24 DecemberUnited KingdomFather Christmasnight of 24 to 25 DecemberSanta's grottos in London department storesItalyLa Befananight of 5 to 6 JanuaryPiazza Navona in Rome, Urbania festival 2-6 JanuarySpainThree KingsCabalgata 5 January, presents 6 JanuaryCabalgata in Madrid or any townWe checked the 2026/27 dates against city and organiser websites in late October 2026, but parade and arrival programmes sometimes change at a few days' notice, so look again before you set off. For a family trip, keep an eye on 5-6 January: La Befana and the Spanish kings fall during the winter school holidays, and tips on surviving the journey with little ones are in our guide to [winter holidays with kids](https://langandtrip.com.ua/en/article/zymovi-kanikuly-z-ditmy/). The simplest rule everywhere is to put shoes by the door according to the local calendar, and the gift-bringer will not miss.