HOLIDAY 2012
FEATURE 9
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Krampus’s story begins back in the 1600’s. Legend has it that Krampus worked side-by-side with St. Nick, traveling around the world during the winter holidays. He was said to be the keeper of the naughty list. Before St. Nick resided at the North Pole and flew through the air in a sleigh, he would come to the homes of children with good behavior via chariot and horse with gifts. Alongside Santa was his dark companion who would scare the living daylights out of the bad little boys and girls in order to turn them into well-behaved little angels. He packed pretty lightly for his travels carrying a basket to haul off his prey, a long chain, pitchfork and a “bag of switches.” (I always wondered why my mom would threat me with a bag of switches for Christmas.) He would spank the children and snatch them up in his basket to take back to his dark lair. Once they reached their destination ol’ Kramp would torture the children until they repented of all their wrong doings. Scary, eh?
Back in the day, ou are probably thinking, “Who in the world is Krampus?” If you had grown up in the Alpine countries of central Europe, you would know. Some may say that if Santa was the good cop, then Krampus would be the bad. He is said to be the counterpart of jolly old Saint Nicholas. We all know the modern-day version of the big happy man in the red suit. However, the history behind the man with the hat leads into a whole realm of other characters and stories many of us have never heard. In fact, history is full of eccentrics created to counteract Santa’s jolly personality. A few include the French’s black-bearded fat man, Hans Trapp, the Dutch’s awkward Zwarte Piet, the Swiss’s broom carrying Schmutzli, and the German’s wimpy Knecht Ruprecht, who is an old man who beats kids with a bag of ashes (no … please … stop). However, the people of the Alpine region didn’t find these scary enough to make their naughty children behave. So they created the most intriguing and horrific of these characters: a hairy, demonic creature named Krampus.
being naughty had much more serious repercussions.
Many families would have friends or neighbors dress up as the Krampus and interview their children about their behavior. For obvious reasons, the Catholic Church discouraged the telling of Krampus to children, but his legend stayed alive in remote villages of the Alpine valleys. By the 1800’s, St. Nicholas Day was commemorated in many European countries on December 6th with large festivals held mainly for children. These celebrations stuck to the saint’s legendary reputation of bringing gifts to the children. However, in Alpine regions, the eve of this holiday was quite terrifying for young children. The evening of December 5th, Krampusnacht (or “Krampus Night”), was a time where towns people dressed in wooden masks with huge horns and costumes with fur. They would parade down the streets with bells often accompanied by other St. Nicholas characters. They would get in the faces of the children on the street scaring them into good behavior. These parades are now called
St. Nick and Krampus: A diabolical duo. Krampuslaufs (or “Krampus Runs”) and include hundreds of costumed Krampuses terrorizing the streets, fire twirlers, torches, saints and screams. (I urge you to look up footage of these events on Youtube.) A few decades into the 19th century, the printing of postcards made Krampus a holiday pop-culture icon. Scary postcards of him stealing or whipping children were made often with the phrase, “GRUSS VOM KRAMPUS”, which means “Greetings form Krampus”. (At least he was friendly about his terrorizing.) Some of these cards were even so bold as to have images of Krampus making sexual passes at women. Many countries banned the ppostcards and any Krampus-ious bbehavior h during d World War I. However, once the war was over, Krampus made his vengeful return to Europe. This legend has molded the behaviors of children in the Apline region for centuries and continues to live in the 21st Century. In fact, Krampus is starting to move into America. Philadelphia and Portland, OR have had Krampus celebrations over the past few years. Who knows, maybe his fame will thicken in the U.S., and the legend of Krampus will haunt you on Krampusnacht. If the story of Krampus isn’t enough to send chills down your spine, maybe his appearance will. He was known to be seven feet tall and covered in black hair. He had a face like a demon and a tongue comparable to KISS’s Gene Simmons. The horns on his head grew to enormous lengths and curved to a point. His feet were a mix of a bear claw and a cloven-hoof. Many see Krampus as the earliest forms of our modern-day images of the Christian devil.
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