Christmas traditionsWho is the Christkind?

17 December 2025, by Newsroom editorial office

Photo: Adobe Stock / Hannes Mallaun

Two potential gift-bringers: Father Christmas and the Christkind.

Many children in the German-speaking countries write their wish lists during Advent addressed to the Christkind or expect it to bring their gifts. But who – or what – exactly is the Christkind? Why does it deliver presents, and what does Martin Luther have to do with it?

Advent brings Christmas markets, baking cookies, festive decorations, a Christmas tree in the living room and, for many families with Christian roots, attending church on Christmas Eve to celebrate the birth of Jesus. At the same time, Christmas is closely tied to gift-giving. In the biblical story, the Three Wise Men, or Magi, bring gifts to the newborn Jesus. “But that actually has very little to do with the presents exchanged at Christmas,” says Jan Gehm, an adjunct lecturer in Intercultural Theology and Religious Studies at the Faculty of Humanities, University of Hamburg.

The tradition linked to Christianity is particularly associated with Saint Nicholas of Myra in Asia Minor (first half of the 4th century), explains Gehm: “In the legends, Nicholas gives presents to children and the needy – for example, secretly providing dowries for the daughters of an impoverished family. From the 12th century onwards, therefore, children received small gifts on 6 December, Saint Nicholas’s Day, to introduce them to the saint.”

Some regard Luther as the Christkind’s inventor.

With the Reformation, veneration of saints declined in many Protestant areas, Gehm continues: “Martin Luther was one of those opposed to the cult of saints. As early as in Luther’s writings, alongside Saint Nicholas, we also read of the Christkind: ‘Just as one accustoms children to fast and pray and spread out their little clothes at night so that the Christkind or Saint Nicholas may bring them gifts.’ Some therefore see Luther as the inventor of the Christkind. This view, however, is disputed and not proven.” It is said that from 1531 onwards, gift-giving in Luther’s own family was already associated with the ‘Holy Christ’. As Saint Nicholas, being a saint, faded into the background, a new gift-bringer was sought: the Christkind – or ‘Holy Christ’ – took his place. At the same time, the main exchange of gifts gradually shifted from 6 December (Saint Nicholas’s Day) to Christmas Eve or Christmas Day.

 Theologically, the Christkind refers to the newborn baby Jesus – the incarnation of God, explains Gehm. “In popular custom, however, it evolved into an independent figure who brings the presents: angelic in appearance, often with blond curls, a white robe and a golden halo. In many places (for example, at major Christmas markets) or on Christmas cards, the Christkind is portrayed by a girl dressed in white, symbolising purity and innocence.”

When people speak of the ‘Christkind’ as the gift-bringer, therefore, they do not mean the infant Jesus himself but rather a symbolic, angel-like messenger figure representing Christmas. Gehm: “In Protestant regions, it emerged as an alternative to Saint Nicholas and was later adopted in Catholic areas too, including in Bavaria and the Rhineland from the early 19th century. To this day, the Christkind delivers gifts secretly – no one ever catches sight of it. The figure remains invisible and mysterious, and the excitement and joy surrounding its presents live on.”