How Many Days Until St. Nicholas Day 2026?

St. Nicholas Day falls on Sunday, December 6, 2026, exactly 19 days before Christmas. Across much of Europe it is the original gift day of the season: children put out shoes or boots on the evening of December 5, and wake to find them filled with chocolate coins, oranges and small presents.

Who was St. Nicholas?

Nicholas was a fourth century Greek bishop of Myra, in what is now Turkey, famous for secret gift giving; the best known story has him dropping bags of gold through a poor family’s window at night. His feast day, December 6, became a children’s gift day across Europe centuries before gifts attached to Christmas itself. His Dutch name, Sinterklaas, crossed the Atlantic with settlers and slowly morphed into Santa Claus, which makes December 6 the quiet origin point of the entire modern Christmas gift tradition.

How December 6 is celebrated

• Germany and Austria: polished boots go out on Nikolausabend, December 5. Well behaved children get sweets; the naughty ones traditionally answer to Krampus, who has his own night on December 5.
• Netherlands and Belgium: Sinterklaas arrives by steamboat weeks earlier, and the main gift evening, pakjesavond, is December 5.
• Poland, Czech Republic, Hungary: Mikulas or Mikolaj brings small gifts on the 5th or 6th, a warm up act for Christmas Eve.
• France (Alsace and Lorraine): St. Nicolas parades with gingerbread and clementines.

A three-in-one date in 2026

December 6, 2026 is unusually busy: it is St. Nicholas Day, the second Sunday of Advent, and the third night of Hanukkah all at once. From there the season sprints: 15 days to the winter solstice and 19 to Christmas Day. Every December date is tracked on the holiday countdown hub.

Planning ahead? Browse every key Christmas date, use the Christmas planning guides, or watch the live Christmas countdown.