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Lifting the veil on Schmutzli

In Switzerland Saint Nicholas is accompanied by Schmutzli - a man in a brown robe and a soot-covered face. He has cast off his evil reputation, no longer the child punisher he once was. (Michele Andina, swissinfo.ch)

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A documentary and animation filmmaker from Bern, Michele studied film at Zurich University of the Arts. He's been a swissinfo.ch video journalist since 2004 and has a special interest in developing new video formats for mobile viewing, mixing animation and documentary styles.

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Schmutzli: the Swiss Santa’s sinister sidekick

This content was published on This is not the Santa Claus known to English-speaking countries but the Swiss version – who is normally accompanied by a strange-looking individual with a blacked out face. The Swiss Father Christmas was based on Saint Nicholas, whose feast day was celebrated on Saturday – his Swiss German name, Samichlaus, alludes to that. But the…

Read more: Schmutzli: the Swiss Santa’s sinister sidekick

SWI swissinfo.ch - a branch of Swiss Broadcasting Corporation SRG SSR

SWI swissinfo.ch - a branch of Swiss Broadcasting Corporation SRG SSR