"Krampus is a beast-like creature from the folklore of Alpine countries thought to punish bad children during the Christmas season, in contrast with Saint Nicholas, who rewards nice ones with gifts. Krampus is said to capture particularly naughty children in his sack and carry them away to his lair.
Krampus is represented as a beast-like creature, generally demonic in appearance. The creature has roots in Germanic folklore. Traditionally young men dress up as the Krampus in Austria, southern Bavaria, South Tyrol, Hungary, Slovenia and Croatia during the first week of December, particularly on the evening of 5 December, and roam the streets frightening children with rusty chains and bells. Krampus is featured on holiday greeting cards called Krampuskarten. There are many names for Krampus, as well as many regional variations in portrayal and celebration."
In short - HOLY CRAP! What better way to get your kids to behave than this sort of imagery?! Just tack a few of these Holiday Cards up around your home, point to them and say, "Yeah, keep misbehaving. Just keep it up."
Happy Holidays! :)
New desktop wallpaper! Krampus is my second-favorite Christmas monster, after the Grither.
ReplyDeleteAn author here recently published a Krampus-centric book: http://www.amazon.com/Krampus-The-Yule-Lord-Brom/dp/006209565X . Haven't read it yet, but the synopsis sounds like crazyland.
That looks GRAND!
DeleteI love this creepy side of Christmas. (As if a man entering your home while you sleep ISN'T creepy....) :)
Thanks for reading!
We also featured a Krampus story last year on Pseudopod - "Saint Nicholas' Helper" by D.K. Thompson - it features an epic smackdown between jolly old Mr. Kringle and that awful assistant:
ReplyDeletehttp://pseudopod.org/2011/12/16/pseudopod-260-saint-nicholas-helper/
Fantastic! I'll give it a listen later today.
DeleteI'm a big Pseudopod fan and have been playing catchup with episodes. It's a great podcast. It really needs to be featured on this blog!
Thanks for the link.
Cheers!