areas of Central Europe, St. Nicholas (, , , , ), or Santa Claus, does not come for Christmas. He visits families earlier, on the dawn of St. Nicholas Day on December 6, and for the well-behaved children he has presents and candy-bags to put into their well polished shoes that were set in the windows the previous evening. Although he neither parks his sleigh on rooftops nor climbs chimneys, his visits are usually accompanied by a diabolic-looking servant named Krampusz (in Austria, Slovenia, and Croatia, Krampus; in Czech and Slovak regions he is simply , i.e. 'devil', without any name) who gives golden coloured birches for so called badly behaved children. Actually all children get both gifts and golden birches (Hungarian: ) in their shoes, no matter how they behaved themselves. Austria and Germany In some German-speaking communities, particularly in Catholic regions of western and southern Germany, Switzerland, Austria, South Tyrol and Liechtenstein, as well as in other Catholic regions of Central Europe, the Christkind (literally 'Christ child') brings the presents on the evening of December 24 ('Holy Evening' or ). The Christkind is invisible; thus he is never seen by anyone. However, he rings a bell just before he leaves in order to let children know that the Christmas tree and the presents are ready. It is a tradition to lavishly decorate a Christmas tree in the days directly before Christmas or on the morning of Christmas Eve. Late on Christmas Eve, after the bell rings, the tree is shown to the children and presents are exchanged. In Protestant churches, there is a service in the late afternoon intended to immediately precede the Christmas Eve meal and the exchanging of gifts. This service, called , consists most often of scriptural readings, the Christmas Gospel from Luke 2, a (nativity play), favourite Christmas carols and festive music for organ and choirs. In some regions the tradition of Quempas singing is still popular. Some Lutheran churches also celebrate a candlelight service at midnight besides the Christmas Vespers in the afternoon or early evening. Many Catholic churches also have a first Mass of Christmas, called , on about 4 p.m. for the children and parents to attend before the families return home for their meal. The crib is a very important part of the celebrations in Catholic areas, especially Bavaria. Austria In the largely Catholic Austria, Christmas markets are a long-standing