Imagine: It’s the night of December 5th, and your seven-year-old self wakes up at around 3 AM. You think little of it at first. It would be a good time to steal some chocolate and cookies from the kitchen as you have every other time you’ve woken up, but you aren’t too hungry right now. You plan on going back to sleep until you hear the stomping of what sounds to be footsteps, and the jingling of what you guess is bells downstairs. Immediately, you jump up out of your bed, ready to meet Santa Claus face first!
You knew the one you met at the mall was fake because you pulled down his beard in front of a line of children to prove it. As you run downstairs, your excitement gets the best of your questions, such as why Santa came so early. After all, you were rather naughty this year, weren’t you? That didn’t matter now though, Santa was here! Maybe you weren’t as bad as your parents and teachers said you were.
As you make your way to the living room, you see a pitch black fur figure eating some of your parents’ cookies. The stomping you heard upstairs came not from Santa’s snow boots. In fact, this thing didn’t have feet at all! Its goat-like hooves suited the pair of digitigrade legs in a scarily odd manner, and as it grabbed another cookie, you could see its five-fingered claws grip the cookie and place it on its excessively long tongue. Its horns nearly hit the ceiling of your small home. The eyes of this beast look towards you, its diamond pupils meeting with your own fear stricken eyes.
Everyone, meet Krampus!
The legend of Krampus begins in Alpine, Austria. Krampus was around before Christianity became a major religion, having roots in the Pagan tradition of winter solstice. According to these Pagan traditions, Krampus is the son of Hel, who is the Norse god of the underworld. However, once Christianity began to spread, as well as the story of St.Nicholas, Krampus was brought into the mix despite the Catholic Church’s efforts to ban the Norse gods son. Krampus also has roots in parts of Germany, where they celebrate him all the same!
The tradition goes a little something like this. On the evening of December 5th, St. Nicholas and Krampus would go to the houses of children all around the world. Santa would bring presents and reward the good children, and Krampus would bring his whip of sticks and beat the naughty children. In some legends, it’s even said Krampus might eat the children, or drag them to hell!
If you really want to scare your children into obedience, bring them to Krampuslauf! Krampuslauf (translated into Krampus run) is a festival in which a ton of drunk adults in handmade Krampus costumes parade around the streets, scaring children and chasing adults. Professional wood carvers in Austria make terrifyingly detailed Krampus masks out of wood for people to wear during this run, and there have been plenty of postcards depicting the Christmas Devil whipping kids into shape (literally.)
The Krampus tradition has begun to make its rounds in the United states. Some holiday events in Colorado have a Krampus march, and Louisiana even has their own Krampuslauf!
So next time you want to do something naughty, Remember:
He sees you when you’re sleeping!
He knows when you’re awake!
He knows if you’ve been bad or good, so be good for goodness sake!
