Father Christmas
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Father Christmas is the traditional English name for the personification of Christmas. Although now known as a Christmas gift-bringer, and typically considered to be synonymous with Santa Claus, he wa
1848 depiction of Father Christmas crowned with a holly wreath, holding a staff and a wassail bowl and carrying the Yule log
Father Christmas, as illustrated in Josiah King's two pamphlets of 1658 (The Examination and Tryall of Old Father Christmas) during the Puritan ban on Christmas, and 1678 when it has been restored as a holy day
A Merry England vision of Old Christmas 1836
Christmas with his children 1836
Christmas gift-bringer
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A number of Midwinter or Christmas traditions in European folklore involve gift-bringers. Mostly involving the figure of a bearded old man, the traditions have mutually influenced one another, and hav
Christmas gift-bringers in Europe
An 1886 depiction of Odin by Georg von Rosen.