Christmas Traditions

In Austria children are visited by Christkind, a little angel like person, while French children are brought gifts by Père Noël. Danes call the bringer of gifts Julemanden while in Catalonia the gift bringer is Tió de Nadal, a Christmas log with a face on it!
The most common name of Santa Claus is derived from the Dutch name Sinterklaas which is common to quite a few countries.

Dutch traditions
For children Christmas is often synonymous with gifts. Some countries have two days of gift giving. For most children in The Netherlands, the most important day during December is 5th December, when Sinterklaas, the local name for Saint Nicholas brings them their presents. The feast of Saint Nicholas is actually the next day but most celebrations happen the day before. Dutch tradition begins on the second Saturday of November seeing the arrival of Sinterklaas at a city or town in The Netherlands from where he lives in Madrid, Spain. Being very kind and fair to all, he carefully chooses a different harbour each year so that as many children as possible will have an opportunity to see him. The focus on Christmas Day itself in The Netherlands is more on family meals and attending a church service to honour the Christian traditions and the Christmas story. On Christmas Eve night, Dutch Children believe that Santa Claus, who they also call Chrismas man or Kerstman to avoid being confused with Sinterklaas, comes from Lapland in Finland to deliver a few more present and these are usually only a few since most of their gifts have already been received at the earlier St. Nicholas Day.

British traditions
In Britain Christmas is a time for family and many people come together at that time so they can exchange gifts and watch each other open their presents. Most families have a Christmas Tree in their house, a custom that was made popular by Prince Albert, the German husband of Queen Victoria who thought that it would be good to use one of his native country’s ways of celebrating Christmas in England. Christmas trees have also become popular in many other countries around the world since and are now almost always seen in Christmas decorations of shopping malls, public buildings and even outdoors in parks and town squares.
British children are taught to leave out stockings or pillow cases for Father Christmas or Santa Claus to leave presents in. These are usually hung up by the fire or by the children’s beds on Christmas Eve.
Children write letters listing their requests and some are even posted via snailmail to the Northpole where the Children believe the man in red hails from. However, sometimes instead of putting them in the post, the letters are tossed into the fireplace and carried up the chimney by from where Santa is able to read their lists in the smoke.

South African Traditions
Here is sunny KwaZulu Natal the warm weather draws people outdoors to celebrate and many people gather for braais or picnics outdoors at various venues, from friends and family’s houses, to parks and the beach. The beaches are always a big draw card for visitors from inland with many people electing to to spend Christmas on the beach enjoying the waves and sand while gathering with friends in groups to enjoy each other’s company.
The Christian traditions of attending church on either Christmas Eve or Christmas morning or both is also quite significant locally with many churches recording bumper attendances as visitors from out of town join family at their parish, or seek out a branch of the denomination they attend at home.
Children in villages and townships often go from house to house almost in the manner of how Western children traditionally visit homes to trick or treat at Halloween, and receive, sweets, biscuits and other small treats from their neighbours which they often carry around in a plastic shopping bag. Christmas is also a day when children and adults alike wear brand new clothing. New clothes is an essential part of the Christmas experience for many South Africans.