Chrìstkìndel

The Catholic Saint Nicholas is matched by the Chrìstkìndel, originally Protestant. This young woman, dressed in white and related to the Scandinavian Saint Lucy, covers good children with gifts on the evening of 24 December.

She appeared in the 16th century as a popular avatar of the Christ Child, and in 1570 gave her name to Strasbourg's Christmas market, the Chrìstkìndelsmärik.

At the end of the 19th century, Alsatian families began to freely appropriate different traditions. The Chrìstkìndel also made its entry into Catholic families, before being supplanted a few generations later by Santa Claus.