Germans and Austrians have united together to ban Santa Claus this year.
Campaigners in both countries claim that Father Christmas was an invention of American company Coca-Cola therefore detracting from the true spirit of Christmas .
Thousands of stickers bearing the message"Santa Free Zones" have been printed and pamphlets have been given out to remind people that the traditional bringer of presents is St Nicholas. There are even kits on sale with stickers to turn chocolate Santa’s into St Nicholas.
A spokesman for Vienna City Hall said, "There are rules governing what stallholders can do and one of them is to agree not to use the image of Santa as a condition of being able to trade there.
"Santa is an English language creation; people who want to see him should go to America where I am sure Coca-Cola will be happy to oblige.”
Bettina Schade, from the Frankfurter Nicholas Initiative in Germany said, "We object to the material things, the hectic rush to buy gifts and the ubiquity of the bearded man in the red suit that is taking away from the core meaning of Christmas.
"The Christian origins of Christmas, like the birth of Jesus, have receded into the background. It's becoming more and more a festival that is reduced to simply worldly gifts and commerce."
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