Christkind (“Christ Child” or Christkindl in Germany and Austria) is a diminutive term derived from the name of Jesus Christ, whose birth is celebrated by Christians at Christmas. The celebration of Christ’s birth, coupled with Christkind, is widespread in Czechia, Austria, South Tyrol, Switzerland, Hungary, Upper Silesia in Poland, Slovakia, Slovenia, Croatia, southern Germany, northern Rhineland-Westphalia, and southern Brazil.
The tradition of Christmas gift-giving has undergone a societal evolution, from the year-end rewards of servants and maids to gifts from St. Nicholas (on December 6) and ultimately to the Protestant shift of Christmas presents to Jesus Christ’s birthday, giving rise to the figure of the gift-bringer “Christkind.” The evolution of Christmas gifting is closely linked to the bourgeois class, which, over time, transformed Christmas Eve into a family celebration, and gift-giving under the Christmas tree became an educational tool for children.
Origin of Christkind
The celebration of Christmas is historically tied to folk customs rooted in pagan rituals and solstice celebrations, when the rebirth of the Sun god occurred on December 25. The night from December 24 to 25 (and the following night) has always been considered a “holy night,” known as “Weihnachten” (Christmas) in German (since 1170). The Christian Church began observing the birth of Jesus Christ on December 25 around the mid-4th century, giving the pagan sacred night a Christian dimension.
Since the feast day of St. Nicholas (December 6) was associated not only with the legend of the three gift-bearing daughters or the three gift-bearing children but also with the reading of the parable of entrusted talents, the figure of St. Nicholas adopted the custom of asking children if they had been good and humble. Protestants rejected the Roman Catholic form of saint veneration, including St. Nicholas. The gift-giving introduced by Luther, involving the “Holy Christ” on Christmas Eve, was so abstract that the idea of the later-introduced Christ Child inevitably took on a tangible form, often depicted as a blond, curly-haired child with angelic wings.
The History of Christkind in Nativity Scenes
The oldest custom dating back to the Middle Ages is the so-called “Rocking the Christchild” (German: Kindleinwiegen), primarily prevalent in southern Germany, which is a small bed for children and a Nativity scene object. From the 15th century on, this custom was practiced by children in churches.
The Christmas celebrations looked quite different in the early Middle Ages. Ecclesiastical Christmas was celebrated with cribs and a baby cradle. A wooden cradle was placed in front of the church altar, holding the Baby Jesus. The faithful prayed to this Baby Jesus, considering rocking the cradle a devout act. The Strasbourg chronicler Jakob Twinger of Königshofen mentioned a peculiar ritual in many places, where a wooden baby or idol was rocked in churches. This night was deemed the holiest.
The earliest description of this celebration dates back to 1305, including songs sung by girls and young people in the church, responding to each other with rhythmic and solemn movements. The songs were accompanied by harp music. Some of these songs are still sung today with music captured and compiled by Bodenschaft in 1608, titled Christmas Songs of the 14th Century.
Rocking the Christchild can be considered a precursor to nativity scenes and cribs, which, in the alpine regions of Germany and Austria, became a Jesuit product of the Counter-Reformation. Although cribs inspired by Saint Francis of Assisi gained popularity in Umbria, Italy, even after his death, and church plays depicting the birth of Christ became part of the midnight mass on December 24th, it is not until the 14th century that we can truly speak of Italian Christmas cribs. Giovanni di Bartolomeo from Fabriano ordered the first crib from Vanni Mainardi in 1348.
In southern Germany and the alpine regions, cribs were artistically portrayed and iconographically expanded in the 16th century. They became domesticated in folk creativity during the 17th century. During this time, the term “crib” was coined for the nativity scene, derived from the storage space for hay in a barn, and later extended to the entire Christmas scene.
Especially in Jesuit pastoral activities, cribs played a significant emotional role. The Jesuits introduced the first crib in Bohemia in 1560 in Prague, spreading to other Czech churches. The central theme of cribs is the angel announcing the birth of the Savior to the shepherds, the Holy Family—Christkind in the crib with Mary and Joseph—and the gift-bringers.
Christkind as a Symbol of Christmas
The German humanist Sebastian Brant, in his work Ship of Fools or “Narrenschiff” from 1494, describes the tradition of exchanging gifts for the New Year, believed to bring luck and prosperity in the upcoming year. The practice of gifting on New Year’s has been common for centuries, originating in ancient Rome and persisting, particularly among Romance nations (Western Roman Empire).
Since December 25th was considered the start of the year for centuries, some folk customs on January 1st coincide with Christmas traditions. The exact separation of celebrations is unknown. It is known, however, that from the 15th century until the replacement by St. Nicholas, in the Alpine regions, southern Germany, and the Sudetenland, Christkind symbolized the bearer of the new year and was depicted as a symbol of fertility for the upcoming year.
The Christian church celebrated the beginning of the liturgical year on January 6th, in contrast to the Roman-established date of January 1st. Already in the Psalter and calendar from the 12th century, it was noted that Christmas marked the start of the new year: “anno Domini.” In 1310, the Roman Catholic Church declared December 24th (Christmas Eve) as the beginning of the new liturgical year, which was celebrated as such until the introduction of the Gregorian calendar.
Pope Innocent XII then shifted the start of the year back to January 1st, 1691. This change did not align with popular customs, and during the twelve days between Christmas Eve and the Epiphany, the term “between the years” (“Boxing Day”) gradually emerged. Christmas Eve was referred to as the “Little New Year,” and the Epiphany as the “Big New Year.”
From the 15th and 16th centuries, a variety of New Year’s wishes have been preserved (e.g., Bavarian carols, carols from the Bavarian-Czech border, from western Bohemia, or from Lower Austria in the Wachau region). These wishes often featured a blond, curly-haired child Christkind as the messenger of wishes for a happy and blessed new year, sometimes depicted holding an apple (e.g., in a tempera painting by Albrecht Dürer from 1493).
At the end of the 16th century, alongside New Year’s wishes, larger images of the Christ child appeared, destined for decorating doors and walls. As a symbol of blessings, “Christkind” was portrayed not only in liturgical images, New Year’s cards, and wishes but also in private letters and printed New Year’s rhymes and songs across the Alpine regions, southern Germany, and the Sudetenland. As a messenger of a happy new year, Christkind persisted the longest in the church’s New Year’s wishes in the Alpine regions.
Christkind as a Gift-Bringer
In medieval times, gifts were bestowed upon children either on December 6th by St. Nicholas or on December 28th during the Feast of the Innocents. The tradition of gift-giving on Christmas Eve (or December 25th, the Feast of the Nativity) emerged later, in the 16th century. German Protestants rejected the veneration of saints by the Roman Catholic Church, including St. Nicholas. Most likely, it was Martin Luther in the 16th century who replaced the figure of St. Nicholas with the Holy Christ and transferred the gift-giving to the birth of Jesus Christ, i.e., December 25th. In ‘Reformed Switzerland’, gift-giving continued until the 19th century on New Year’s Day. The Holy Christ referred to Jesus Christ, but back then, it did not take the form of a personified figure.
According to accounts from a 1571 narrative by an evangelical pastor from the town of Wolkenstein in the Saxon Ore Mountains (Germany), children received gifts from the “Holy Christ,” a bag containing fruit, nuts, Christmas cakes, cookies, or a prayer book, depending on the parents’ means. Another historical source recalls a children’s Christmas gift-giving tradition in Nuremberg in 1697: parents filled large bowls laid out on the table on Holy Night, allowing their children to delight in the gifts sent by the Holy Christ from heaven the next morning.
The concept of Christkind as an angelic apparition developed over time. The angelic representation likely originated in Christmas processions and church plays held on December 24th (Nativity Play), where Christkind, a white-clad and veiled girl, was accompanied by a procession of angels. Christkind with Christmas gifts initially spread in Protestant Germany. Later, this custom appeared in the Catholic regions of southern Germany, along with the Advent wreath (first introduced in Hamburg in 1839 by Johann Heinrich Wichern) and the Christmas tree, also in Austria-Hungary.
In the 1840s, Czech Germans began practicing Christmas Eve gift-giving with Christkind, followed by its adoption among affluent Czech families. Christkind also made its way to Switzerland. In France (e.g., Auvergne, Champagne, Lyon), Christkind appeared alongside the gift-bringer Petit Jésus (Little Jesus). “Christkindl” was documented in Alsace in 1625. In Denmark, encounters with the “Holy Christ” on Christmas Eve were noted as early as the late 16th century.
In the 17th and 18th centuries, Western Europe experienced several waves of worship and devotion to Christkind, reflected in Baroque-era Austrian processions, folk nativity scenes, shepherd songs, carols, and church plays featuring a small Christkind or Christ Child (German: Jesuskind) as a symbol of the new and happy year. German historian and ethnologist Ingeborg Weber-Kellermann highlights that Christkind, in the sense of the Protestant-established bearer of Christmas gifts, is a symbol of God’s gift to humanity through Jesus Christ.
Since the 17th century, Christmas celebrations have gradually shifted from churches to family settings. In the early 19th century, under the influence of Protestant clergy, the figure of Santa Claus emerged in northern Germany (specifically in 1820 in the Deutsches Wörterbuch or “German Dictionary,” by Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm). Markets named after Christkindlesmarkt in Nuremberg replaced St. Nicholas markets from the 16th century. Since the mid-20th century, the opening of this market has been led by “Christkind,” a girl aged 16–18 with curly blond hair wearing a crown and a white-golden gown.
