Mikulás: St Nicholas Day in Hungary (6 December)
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6 December in Hungary belongs to Mikulás, St Nicholas, and he is not Santa Claus. He comes in the night, fills the boots children have put in the window, and leaves. The Christmas presents come later, on the 24th, from someone else entirely.
If you are in Budapest in early December, you will see him everywhere: chocolate figures in the shops, runners in red suits by the Danube, a decorated Mikulás bus in traffic. This guide explains how the custom works, why Hungarians keep Mikulás and Christmas apart, and how to join in.
For the rest of the Hungarian year, from carnival to Christmas, see our calendar of Hungarian holidays and traditions.
📋 At a Glance
| Mikulás, St Nicholas Day | |
|---|---|
| When | The night of 5 to 6 December; in 2026, Saturday night into Sunday |
| What children do | Clean their boots and put them in the window |
| What they find | Sweets, a chocolate Mikulás and sometimes a virgács |
| The companion | The krampusz, a little devil |
| Christmas presents | Not from Mikulás: from Jézuska on 24 December |
| Public holiday | No, an ordinary day |
| In Budapest, 2026 | Penny Mikulásfutás, Sunday 6 December, start on Sóház utca |
The Night of 5 to 6 December: Boots in the Window
On the evening of 5 December, Hungarian children clean their boots, shine them, and put them in the window. By the morning of the 6th, Mikulás has filled them with small gifts and treats.
The custom is older than the boots. The saint behind it, Nicholas, was a 4th-century bishop of Myra in Asia Minor, and his cult spread across western Europe after his relics were taken to Bari in 1087. In Hungary, from the late Middle Ages, a figure dressed as the bishop visited homes on the eve of his feast, asked the children their prayers, rewarded the good ones and threatened the rest.
The Mikulás of the boots is younger. The word itself, borrowed from Czech, first appears in Hungarian print in 1856, and the ethnographer Bálint Sándor put the belief in Mikulás as a gift-bringer at little more than 150 years old when he wrote about it. Factory-made sugar and chocolate figures helped spread it. The Budapest chocolate maker Stühmer was already selling Mikulás bags in 1937, and the same year the Párisi Nagyáruház department store on Andrássy út sold a boxed “Mikulás csomag”, a Mikulás package of sweets. Both are now in the collection of the Hungarian Museum of Trade and Catering.
The legend behind the window is the dowry story: Nicholas heard of a poor man who could not marry off his three daughters, and he left gold at their window at night. Gifts left at the window come from there.
Sources, read on 29 October 2026: Bálint Sándor, Ünnepi kalendárium, December 6. (Hungarian Electronic Library, OSZK); the Stühmer bag and the Párisi Nagyáruház box in the Hungarian Museum of Trade and Catering (object 34542, object 343721); the window legend from ethnographer Tátrai Zsuzsanna, InfoRádió, 6 December 2018; Katona Lajos, Folklór-kalendárium, “Mikulás, Krampusz és Cie” (shoes and plates filled overnight with treats).
The Virgács and the Krampusz
Not every child is supposed to get only sweets. The warning is the virgács, a small bundle of birch twigs. In the old house visits, Mikulás punished bad children with it, and it still turns up in the boots or next to them on the 6th. Today it is a joke rather than a threat: a few twigs, often coated gold or tied with a ribbon, sometimes with a piece of szaloncukor hung on it. The 1937 Stühmer bag mentioned above already shows a virgács hung with sweets.
The virgács usually belongs to the krampusz, the little devil who comes with Mikulás. A devil companion went along on the old house visits too. In western Hungary he was called Láncos Miklós, Chain Nicholas, after the chain he rattled, and young men with blackened faces went from house to house on the eve of the feast. The town council of Csepreg banned masked house visits on St Nicholas eve in 1785, and young people kept doing it until about 1900. The krampusz name and the paired Mikulás and krampusz figures came into Hungary through Austrian influence.
Today the krampusz is a mild devil: the point is the reminder, not the fright.
Sources, read on 29 October 2026: Bálint Sándor, Ünnepi kalendárium, December 6. (Láncos Miklós, the Csepreg decree, the Austrian influence); Katona Lajos, Folklór-kalendárium, “Mikulás, Krampusz és Cie” (the krampusz and his gold-coated birch rod); the Stühmer bag at the Hungarian Museum of Trade and Catering.
Mikulás, Jézuska, Santa and Télapó
This is the part visitors mix up, and the part Hungarians care about.
Mikulás comes on 6 December, and only then. He brings small treats, not the big presents. The Christmas presents come on the evening of 24 December from Jézuska, the Christ Child. In some Transylvanian Hungarian families it is the angels who bring them. Santa Claus, the American figure who brings everything on Christmas Day, is not part of the Hungarian tradition, even if the red suit is.
The split has a history. In the 16th century St Nicholas was the gift-bringer in the German lands. From the 17th century, German Protestant custom moved the gift-giving to Christmas and handed it to the Christ Child, and that is the tradition Hungary kept. Large-scale family gift-giving in the Hungarian countryside only became general after 1945.
Then there is Télapó, Father Winter. In the 1950s the communist state promoted the name as a copy of the Russian Ded Moroz, Father Frost, to strip the holiday of the saint. Plenty of children’s songs use Télapó, and both names are still in use. The Hungarian Heritage House itself writes that many people know the figure as Mikulás, “and even as Télapó”. Last year the National Széchényi Library gave a talk at the National Museum titled “Szent Miklóstól a Télapóig”, From St Nicholas to Télapó, on the 20th-century visual traditions of the Christmas season.
That is why the mix-up grates. Call the 24 December gift-bringer “Mikulás” or “Santa” and you have folded two separate days into one and replaced the Christ Child with a man in a suit. Call Mikulás “Télapó” and some Hungarians will hear the 1950s. Say Mikulás for 6 December and Jézuska for the 24th and you will be right.
For how the 24th itself works, see our guide to Christmas in Hungary.
Sources, read on 29 October 2026: gift-bringers and the history of Christmas gifts from the Magyar Néprajzi Lexikon, “karácsonyi ajándék” (MEK); the 1950s promotion of Télapó from ethnographer Tátrai Zsuzsanna, InfoRádió, 6 December 2018; the Hungarian Heritage House’s December 6 page; the 2025 talk at the National Museum from the National Széchényi Library’s program page.
What You See in Budapest Around 6 December
Chocolate figures in the shops. From November, supermarkets and sweet shops stack shelves with foil-wrapped chocolate Mikulás figures, Mikulás bags and small virgács bundles. They cost little and travel well, and a chocolate Mikulás is the easiest souvenir of the day.
The Christmas markets. The Advent market at St Stephen’s Basilica is open on 6 December: it runs from 13 November 2026 to 1 January 2027. Its program page lists no Mikulás appearance for 2026 yet. Our Budapest Christmas markets guide covers each market, and Christmas in Budapest has the rest of the season.
The Mikulás run. The 11th Penny Mikulásfutás is on Sunday 6 December 2026, starting on Sóház utca, as announced by the organizer, Budapest Sportiroda. There are three distances: a family run at 12:00, 2.3 km at 12:30 and 5 km in waves from 13:30 to 14:15. The organizers hand out the Santa suit and white beard, and every finisher gets a medal. Last year, on 7 December 2025, about 4,500 runners in red filled Fővám tér and the Danube embankment, and the race sold out. Entry fees are on the organizer’s site; even if you do not run, the start is worth a look.
Mikulás at the National Museum, last year. On 6 December 2025 Mikulás visited the dome hall of the Hungarian National Museum from 11:30 to 12:30, with music and a gift for the children, as part of an Advent day with the Hungarian Heritage House and the museum’s partner institutions. The 2026 program had not been announced by late October.
Mikulás buses and trains. In 2025 BKV ran a decorated retro Mikulásbusz, in its tenth year, on regular routes until 23 December at normal fares: on weekdays on lines 5, 7 and 133E along Rákóczi út, and on rotating lines at weekends. MÁV ran its own Mikulásbusz, a lit-up Ikarus 280 nostalgia bus, from Népliget to Gödöllő at 16:00 on 6, 7, 13 and 14 December and 20 to 23 December, for 3,000 Ft return, stopping on the way back at Heroes’ Square for photos. The Children’s Railway in the Buda Hills usually runs Santa trains at the beginning of December, where Mikulás meets each child with a sweet gift; these are private trains with prepaid special-fee tickets. BKV and MÁV had not announced 2026 Mikulás buses by late October. Our guide to Budapest’s Mikulás buses and trains has the lines, tickets and tips.
Our Budapest in December guide has the rest of the month.
Sources, read on 29 October 2026: market dates from adventbazilika.hu and its program page; the Mikulásfutás from the organizer at mikulasfutas.hu and its entry page; the 2025 National Museum program from the National Széchényi Library; the 2025 BKV fleet from bkv.hu; the 2025 MÁV Mikulásbusz from mavcsoport.hu; the Santa trains from the Children’s Railway’s events page.
How to Join In
- Staying with children? Put their boots in the window of your apartment on the night of the 5th and fill them before morning: a chocolate Mikulás and a few sweets. Add a gold virgács for laughs.
- Buy the figures early. The chocolate Mikulás figures are in the shops from November. 6 December is not a public holiday, so shops keep their normal Sunday hours on the day in 2026.
- Run, or watch. Sign up for the Mikulásfutás and you get the suit; or just stand near the start on Sóház utca on the 6th.
- Say it right. Mikulás for 6 December, Jézuska for Christmas Eve.
- Eat the season. Szaloncukor, the foil-wrapped fondant sweets, often go in the boots too. Our Hungarian Christmas food guide has where to buy them and what they cost.
Source for the public-holiday status, read on 29 October 2026: §102(1) of the Labor Code (Act I of 2012) at njt.jog.gov.hu, which does not list 6 December.
Good to know
When is Mikulás in Hungary?
On the night of 5 to 6 December. Children put their cleaned boots in the window on the evening of the 5th, and in the morning of the 6th they find sweets and a chocolate Mikulás in them. In 2026 that is Saturday night into Sunday.
Is Mikulás the same as Santa Claus?
No. Mikulás is St Nicholas, and he comes on 6 December with small treats in the boots. He does not bring the Christmas presents. In Hungary those come on the evening of 24 December from Jézuska, the Christ Child, or in some Transylvanian Hungarian families from the angels.
What is a virgács?
A small bundle of birch twigs, the warning for children who misbehaved. In the folk custom St Nicholas or his devil companion threatened bad children with it. Today it usually comes with the sweets, often painted gold or tied with a ribbon, as a playful reminder rather than a punishment.
Who is the krampusz?
The devil who comes with Mikulás. In the old house visits a devil figure went along to frighten the children who had misbehaved; in western Hungary he was called Láncos Miklós, Chain Nicholas, after the chain he rattled. The krampusz name and figure reached Hungary through Austrian influence.
Why is Mikulás also called Télapó?
Télapó means Father Winter. In the 1950s the communist state promoted the name as a copy of the Russian Ded Moroz, Father Frost, to take the saint out of the holiday. Both names are still used, and some Hungarians avoid Télapó because of that history.
Is 6 December a public holiday in Hungary?
No. It is not on the Labor Code's list of public holidays, so offices and shops keep their normal hours. In 2026 it falls on a Sunday.
Where can I see Mikulás in Budapest?
The 11th Penny Mikulásfutás, a costumed run with Santa suits provided, starts on Sóház utca on Sunday 6 December 2026. Last year the Hungarian National Museum hosted a Mikulás visit on 6 December, the Children's Railway runs Santa trains at the beginning of December, and in 2025 both BKV and MÁV ran decorated Mikulás buses. For 2026 dates, check each organizer's site.