Mikulás, the Hungarian version of Santa Klaus, is more than a benign father figure, he has a sense of proportion. While children receive various sweets for their good deeds, they are also presented with a virgács (willow switch) for their bad deeds. The tradition of Mikulás bringing gifts (chocolate etc.) for children on the night of December 5th, dates back to the mid-19th century, connected to the more traditional Miklós (Nicholas) nameday on December 6. The word Mikulás, the Slovak and Czech equivalent of Miklós (spelt Mikuláš) is reserved only to mean Santa Klaus.
As far as virgács is concerned, surprisingly it’s of Latin origin, the Hungarianized form of the Latin ’virga’ (i.e. virgin, i.e. fresh, new birch), rhyming with korbács, takács and Lukács, and used only in the context of Mikulás.