The Age Of Krampus Is Nearly Upon Us

 

I don't usually start hating Christmas until after Remembrance Day. However, I loves me some Krampus all year round. I spent my most impressionable childhood years being terrified by the Dark Minion of Saint Nick. But as fearful as I was, the German kids that we lived in the same small community with acted like they were one sleep from death. They called his Black Peter and like Krampus, he still beat their asses with bundled of sticks then chained them up and giving them coal from a basket that he would also carried off the worst children in. We knew he couldn't get us however. We were Canadian and if we refused to believe in Black Peter then he didn't exist. My Dad told us that. But I had to make sure so I spent many nights before December 25th just wishing the evil away and REALLY believing. But I always listened for the chains, the rattling of the chains told you that the Krampus was near.

 

 

In German-speaking Alpine folklore, Krampus is a horned, anthropomorphic figure. According to traditional narratives around the figure, Krampus punishes children during the Christmas season who have misbehaved, in contrast with Saint Nicholas, who rewards well-behaved ones with gifts. Regions in the Austrian diaspora feature similar figures and, more widely, Krampus is one of a number of Companions of Saint Nicholas in regions of Europe. The origin of the figure is unclear; some folklorists and anthropologists have postulated a pre-Christian origin for the figure.