Krampus

After hearing about the Sinterklaas tradition, I described the Austrian tradition of Krampus to the Dutch (and to my surprise, none of them had heard about it).


The Wikipedia entry for Krampus describes it as the following:

"In the Alpine region the Krampus is represented by an incubus in company of Santa Claus. Traditionally, young men dress up as the Krampus in the first two weeks of December, particularly in the evening of December 5, and roam the streets frightening children (and adults) with rusty chains and bells. In some rural areas the tradition also includes slight birching by the Krampus, especially of young females.

The present day Krampus costume consists of red wooden masks or Larve, black sheep's skin and horns. Considerable effort goes into the manufacture of the hand-crafted masks, as many younger adults in rural communities engage competitively in the Krampus events."

The Wikipedia description glosses over the most striking feature of Krampus runs by using the following euphemism: birching. What they are really doing is assaulting young women with sticks. While Heimlich was living in Austria, her description of the Krampus runs was much closer to what is described in this Wall Street Journal article:

"For a full week during the start of the holiday season, scores of Krampuses stalk the cobbled ways of Salzburg and its surrounding villages. The Krampus is a hybrid-beast of pagan origins that has been affixed to the Christmas season... Only instead of inviting young boys for midnight monster romps, they stalk young women, fondling them, throwing them over their shoulders and whipping them with wooden switches until their shins and thighs are black and blue."

Heimlich told me that she would not go outside during the Krampus runs, and I can see why.

Picture of person in Krampus costume from annia316's Flickr photostream [flickr.com].