MerryHoHo

Gifts

The present has to
be left somewhere.

A shoe by the fire. A boot on the windowsill, polished first. Under the pillow. Under the tree while nobody is looking. Out on the balcony, next to water for the camels. This is the part of the tradition that changes most between countries and the part nobody writes down.

  • In a shoe

    Sinterklaas, Nikolaus, Mikuláš

    The shoe goes by the fireplace or the radiator, often with a carrot or hay in it for the horse. It is put out the night before and emptied by morning. In the Netherlands this happens repeatedly through the weeks before 5 December, not only once.

  • In a polished boot on the windowsill

    Mikulás, Szent Miklós

    The boot has to be cleaned first, which is half the point. What arrives is small and edible — oranges, walnuts, chocolate — and a golden twig for anyone who has been difficult.

  • Under the pillow

    Святий Миколай

    The present is slipped under the pillow while the child sleeps, which makes it the most private of these and the one with the least ceremony attached.

  • Under the tree, on Christmas Eve

    Ježíšek, Christkind, Jézuska

    Nobody sees the figure. A bell rings, the children are called in, and the presents are already there. The Christ Child is not depicted arriving because the whole convention is that he is not seen — which is why the Czech and Slovak imagery on this site shows a lit window and no one standing in it.

  • Left out for the camels

    los Reyes Magos

    Shoes are put out on the night of 5 January, and water and something to eat are left for the camels — the animals matter as much as the Kings. The presents are there on the morning of the 6th.

  • In a stocking

    Santa Claus, Father Christmas

    Hung at the end of the bed or on the mantelpiece, filled overnight, and traditionally finished with an orange in the toe — a survival from when the orange was the luxury item in it.

Two gift days, two sizes of gift

Where a country has both a Saint Nicholas day and a Christmas, the two are not interchangeable. The December 5th or 6th visit brings something small and largely edible — fruit, nuts, chocolate, a coin — and carries the moral weight: this is the one where behaviour is discussed. The Christmas gift is the real present and comes with no interrogation attached.

Getting this backwards is the most common mistake families make when they inherit a tradition from one side of the household. An expensive present on 6 December in Hungary or Slovenia is not generous; it is the wrong day.

All eight gift days