From Nikolaus to Father Christmas to Easter Bunny

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This year ~150 million choccie Nikolauses and Fathers Christmas have been produced in Germany. Nikolaus comes on 6th December, Father Christmas (aka Santa Claus) on 24th* December. For the ignoramuses there is no difference. Both are portly old men with a white beard clad in a red coat trimmed with white fur and black boots. The genuine Nikolaus figure dressed like a bishop is indeed hard to find. It's been mashed up with Father Christmas and has lost its idiosyncratic character. But there is a difference! An initiative organised by the Catholic Church in Germany wants to help move Nikolaus to the foreground again, at least until 6th December. Then Father Christmas can take over. Postcards show that already in the 19th century a Father Christmas as we know him now existed. Yet, he began to conquer the world only from 1931 onwards when cartoonist Haddon Sundblom designed the figure for an ad campaign for Coca Cola. Nikolaus is much older. Saint Nikolas, aka Nikolaos of Myra, was a Greek bishop of Myra (now Turkey) who lived in the 4th century. He was known for helping the needy clandestinely by leaving gifts in front of their houses. As he was a Christian saint, it's understandable that the Church is interested in saving his reputation from being snowed under by mere commercialism. Anyways, what happens when Christmas is over and the shelves in the shops have been cleared of everything Christmassy including choccie Fathers Christmas? What happens is what is happening already now: choccie Easter bunnies are produced. The choccie Fathers Christmas have come to the shops long before Christmas, of course. The day the last has left the choccie factory the casts for the Easter Bunnies are put up. The production has to start early because by the beginning of April 300 million must be produced and standing on the shelves in the shops. I've read that it's a myth that Easter Bunnies are made out of unsold Fathers Christmas. Yet, I don't know what happens with the latter. Maybe they're sent to countries where Orthodox Christians live. They celebrate Christmas two weeks later. The Easter Bunny was 'born' in Germany in 1682. It left the country with German emigrants. In America it transformed from its original existence as a *hare* into a bunny. I bet you all wanted to know this. ------- In Germany, Christmas is celebrated on 24th, not 25th December.