In the fulfillment industry we’re pretty familiar with Santa’s workshop – just ask the elves pulling products out of bins, or the ones assembling things, or how about the ones loading and unloading the trucks (aka sleighs). When the packages are delivered and the gifts are being enjoyed, we enjoy a feeling of success. We made it happen once again.
Since AMS Fulfillment is global, we’ve decided to look around the globe and see how the imaginary gift handler accomplishes delivery in various cultures. We know the date is not always the night of December 24th, and the name is not always Santa. It’s quite interesting what stories have been created in order to celebrate the holiday season!
In the UK, it’s Father Christmas, and he does arrive the night of the 24th, but in Holland it’s St. Nicholas or Sinterklass and he rides a white horse in on the night of December 5th. He has a companion named Black Peter who carries a black sack and a book where he recorded the behavior of children. If a child hasn’t been good… let’s just say Black Peter will handle it.
In addition to Christmas, children in Mexico have an extra delight as they could get some sweets from The Three Kings on January 6th. The children in Greece also receive gifts in January as Christmas is celebrated then. Their presents come on New Years Eve, brought by Saint Basil.
German children don’t have to wait until the 25th as St. Nicholas comes on the night of December 5th. Depending on the area of Germany, St. Nicholas might be accompanied by Krampus; a monster carrying a birch branch to deal with bad children, or an equally scary Black Peter (as in Holland), or a different scary man dressed in fur called Belsnickel in Northern Germany.
And there are even more stories! In Sweden the delivery is facilitated by Jultomten, flying through the air in a sleigh pulled by Thor’s goats. Austrian children are promised a visit from the Christ Child or from Christkindl, a beautiful girl-angel. Italian children wait for January 6th, when La Befana, the good witch, delivers Christmas presents. In Russia Grandfather Frost brings sweets on December 31st, accompanied by his granddaughter, the snow maiden.
How about down under where Christmas comes in the middle of summer? In Australia the children wait at the beach for Santa Claus, only his sleigh is pulled by a team of white kangaroos. Finally we’ll look at Iceland, where children receive gifts for 13 days in a row. Here there are 13 Yule Lads who come down from the mountains and leave a gift in the shoes of the children who have been good. The bad ones might get rotting potatoes.
Disclaimer: AMS does not warehouse, assemble or ship the rotting potatoes, the lumps of coal, the rocks or the birch branches. Those items must be handled by some other fulfillment company!!!
We hope you’re enjoying a wonderful holiday season. Whatever your celebration – Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, Boxing Day, Solstice – we wish you a happy celebration with family and friends. May it reward and refresh you for the new year.