The Christkind is a figure in Germany that brings presents to the children on Christmas Eve, especially in southern parts of the country.

Until the reformation in the 16th century people in Germany did not give each other presents at Christmas, instead the children received their presents from St.Nicholas (Nikolaus) on 6th December.  Martin Luther, however, opposed the catholic saints and apparently introduced the idea of giving presents on 24th December.  These were brought by the Christkind, who is often depicted in white and similar to an angel.

It is said that it comes in through the window and leaves presents around the Christmas tree while the children are out of the room.

Even though the Weihnachtsmann is ever more present, especially in the media, people still ask children “what did the Christkind bring you?”

To hear a simple explanation and a short discussion in German, listen to the podcast:

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Tags: Christkind, Heiligabend

Some other posts on this topic that you might like to read:

• Der Weihnachtsmann

This entry was posted on Wednesday, December 24th, 2008 at 1:00 pm and is filed under Christmas, Church, German Words Explained, Podcasts. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.