Another figure who brings Christmas presents: the olentzero in the Basque Country and Navarra, northern Spain.

The olentzero is a mythological coal seller who lives isolated in the mountains. His face in stained black, and he likes to eat and drink, so he always has a round belly. He comes down the mountain every winter and leaves presents to children.

His origins are most likely pre-Christian, and connected to the winter solstice traditions of Navarra. As an old man, he could have represented the end of a cycle, and the beginning of a new one, since his figure was carried and burnt after a street parade on new year’s eve.

As it happens, Christianity turned the olentzero into the herald of Jesus’ birth, and he later got mixed with Santa Claus in the French Basque Country, ergo a mythological coal seller who was a bit scary, became a domestic and endearing figure who brings presents during Christmas.