05.12.2003
"Have you been good this year?", Saint Nikolaus asks the
children he visits round December 6. If the answer is yes - and children know
that they cannot lie to him for he has all the lapses noted down in a large book
- Saint Nikolaus leaves a bag with presents. Traditionally it contains nuts,
tangerines, apples and gingerbread.
Naughty children, however, are visited by the Krampus, a scary devil-like
creature with a rod and a chain. Krampusse are also known to chase young ladies
and hit them. In some rural villages Saint Nikolaus is also accompanied by other
creatures in scary masks. There, the so-called "Perchten" are roaming
the streets again these days.
The tradition of the "Perchten" or "Krampus" is a difficult to explain, diverse and weird common usage in the Bavarian and Austrian Alps-region. Scientists still have difficulties to explain it but it's dated back to the 16th century and pagan origin. (for more detailed info go to http://www.rotten.com/library/occult/deviltry/krampus/ ) In another interpretation, Krampus is one of Satan's minions, who accompanies St. Nick. The hustle and bustle of those horrible creatures with wooden masks - which remind you of the worst horror-movies you've ever seen - experience a renaissance these days. In former times the "Kramperlpassen" was a challenge for the young, because behind every corner a "Krampus" could wait to emerge ghost-like with a bone-freezing shout and tough hits with his long birch-switch. There was only one possibility.... run like hell!!! ;-) Nowadays it's good business for tourism, those Krampus-runs are more planned and you can watch those frightening creatures rumbling the streets and take a closer look at them.
Holy toledo...as a child, I used to have nightmares about the abominable snowman in the Rankin-Bass television production of Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer; I think I would have stayed under the covers forever if anyone had told me about Krampus back then. (a comment I founde at http://www.electricpenguin.com/blatherings/archives/002245.html )