The Story of Belsnickle, Part I:
The Pennsylvania gift-giver Belsnickle is an American version of Pelznickel, a German name that means “Nicholas in furs,”
The Other Furry Gift-Givers: Pelzmartin and Pelzmärtle
Most American Christmas fans are probably familiar with Belsnickel, the rough-hewn gift-giver of nineteenth-century Pennsylvania, and a reasonable portion of us probably know that Belsnickle is essentially a misspelling–or, one could say, an alternative spelling–of Pelznickel,