List of Christmas and winter gift-bringers

This is a list of Christmas and winter gift-bringer figures from around the world.

The history of mythical or folkloric gift-bringing figures who appear in winter, often at or around the Christmas period, is complex, and in many countries the gift-bringer – and the gift-bringer's date of arrival – has changed over time as native customs have been influenced by those in other countries. While many though not all gift-bringers originated as religious figures, gift-bringing is often now a non-religious custom and secular figures exist in many countries that have little or no tradition of celebrating Christmas as a religious festival. Some figures are entirely local, and some have been deliberately and more recently invented.

The main originating strands – all of which have their roots in Europe – are

• the overlapping winter-based and religious Old Man traditions (Saint Nicholas, Santa Claus, Father Christmas, Saint Basil, Grandfather Frost),
• the Christ Child traditions promoted by Martin Luther (Christkind, Baby Jesus, Child God), and
• the Three Kings traditions.

Not all gift-bringers were or are specifically focused on Christmas Eve or Christmas Day: other common customs are 6 December (Saint Nicholas), 1 January, New Year (St Basil, or secular), and 6 January, Epiphany (Three Kings).

The international popularity of the figure of Santa Claus has transformed the older traditions of many countries.