Krampus is known as a half-goat and half-demon. He is a terrifying beast that used to beat children only to obey their parents. The legendary Krampus has horns, dark hair, fangs, and a long tongue. Anti Nicholas, as the inhabitants of alpine towns often call him, reportedly visits naughty children with a chain and bells in their hands, with which he beats them. He also carries a bunch of birch sticks that help Krampus "fix" naughty children. What if such flogging does not help? Then Krampus drags them to his cavern in the basement. Check out the story of Krampus - the terrifying holiday beast the Nazis feared!
In Catholicism, the patron saint of children is St. Santa Claus. His holiday falls at the beginning of December, which has a direct impact on the combination of the image of Santa Claus with Christmas. To this day, Mikołaj is considered a good figure who fulfills the dreams of all good children. In many European cultures, however, there is not just a good version of Santa Claus. Some of them have created legends about characters that are much darker than Santa. Well, they are its terrifying opposite! For example, in Italy, La Befana is known - a malicious witch who distributes gifts to good children. Some regions of southern Germany, Austria, and Switzerland, in turn, fear the bestial Krampus.
The name Krampus derives from the German word krampen, which means "claw" when translated into English. The legendary beast shares its appearance features with other demonic characters, for example, with Faun, the ancient god of fertility, who, according to legend, has goat horns and hooves. Krampus, however, was born in Alpine folklore, and more precisely on the border of Bavaria and Austria. From the beginning, he was considered the equivalent of the benevolent Santa Claus, who took the form of a half-goat and half-demon. According to old beliefs, Krampus, unlike St. Nicholas, was not supposed to reward children with sweets. He was supposed to beat them for bad behavior and stuff the most naughty children into a sack. Krampus then took them to the underworld, where he had his lair. In accordance with alpine folklore, Krampus appears to this day in Austria, Germany, and incl. Slovenia, Croatia, and northern Italy on December 5 - the day before St. Nicholas' Day. On December 5, it also celebrates its own festival, called Krampus Night.
Krampus's presence as Anti-Nicholas was suppressed for many years. The noisy celebration of Krampus was forbidden by the Catholic Church, and fascists in Europe during World War II found Krampus contemptible because they considered it to be a product of the Social Democrats. It is worth mentioning at this point, however, that the version of Anti-Nicholas was not the only one at all. You can hear more about the world's ideas about Krampus in the video below:
What is certain about Krampus? Well, he is not interested in polite children, but only in the most daring ones. It is for them that Anty Mikołaj makes unpleasant surprises. Legends say that Krampus can stand behind the good Santa's back and before anyone reacts, he kidnaps naughty children and tosses them into his huge sack on his back. Some insist that Krampus takes them later to the underworld, where he has his cave. Others, however, claim that Anty Mikołaj kidnaps children into the forest, where he later abuses them for the next few days. If the child has been extremely naughty, he or she is to never come back from the forest.
There are many contradictions here. In the 15th century, Krampus appeared as the figure behind Santa, who hunted for unkind children - at the same time, polite children were rewarded by Santa. In Styria, in Austria, Krampus, in turn, was to hand out twigs painted gold to the families. Such twigs were to decorate the apartment all year round. Why? Well, in this form they were to remind children to always be polite. In smaller and more isolated villages, the character of Krampus is described more terrifyingly. The inhabitants of superstitious villages believed that Krampus was a wild man with horns who could decide about a person's life or death. Interestingly, for many of them, the figure of Santa Claus simply… does not exist to this day.
Some people associate Krampus with the devil. It is not difficult to notice similar features of both characters. Both the Devil and Krampus have distinctive, curved horns. They also have a long tongue, hooves, dark hair, and fangs. The character of Krampus, mainly due to his scary appearance, was often used to arouse hearing in children, but also to intimidate adults. Many villagers really believed in its existence. There was a rumor that Krampus was able to punish not only a child but also an adult, for even the smallest sin. Krampus reportedly chose young women who were poorly behaved most often among adults.
Krampus has pagan roots, which many people do not remember. This is not the first scarecrow to admonish and discipline the youngest. In the times of Alpine shamanism, there were already similar figures such as Perchta. According to German folk custom, there used to be a dark witch named Frau Perchta. It was she who accompanied people during the period of the "Twelve" (Rauhnächte), that is, during the twelve days between Christmas and the Epiphany. It was, according to folk beliefs, a magical time of both good omens and evil spirits. Frau Perchta allegedly checked whether people obeyed the dos and don'ts. During the Rauhnächte, the spirits of the dead appeared, so you could not make noise, cook beans and peas, or hang linen, for example. Breaking the rules threatened to bring terrible diseases or… death to the family. Perchta rewarded people who respect the rules with silver coins, and she ripped their bellies open for those who did not respect the rules and then filled them with stones and hay.
Perchta first appeared as the mistress of the lost souls of the dead. Over the years, however, her image, which previously resembled a witch, has changed. People began to organize noisy Perchta processions, dressed in animal skins and wooden masks with curved horns ominously. They also put on large shepherd's bells that rang frighteningly in the ears. Going from house to house, people in disguise chased away the evil spirits of winter. At first, the church was not favorable to these pagan practices, but with time - seeing people's favor towards these celebrations - it adopted many pagan customs, incorporating them into the church as "its own". The pagan Perchta, however, began to merge too much with the Christian Saint Nicholas in her diabolical form - to the extent that pagans even dressed up as Santa Claus and continued to chase away evil spirits, often in controversial ways (for example by beating people or robbing them). So what was done to separate the characters once and for all? Another one was invented, which was supposed to reflect the dark nature of Perchta and at the same time allowed Santa to remain "a good symbol of Christmas". This is how Krampus was born.
Krampus resembled a combination of Perchta with a wild animal and the devil - the one from Christian imagery, i.e. with horns, a long tongue, and hooves. But he had no bells, but heavy chains, forks, and rods. On his back hung a huge sack into which he was throwing naughty children. Due to the fact that the habits and characters are strongly imbued with each other, the image of Perchta and Krampus is almost the same today. Both figures resemble the devil, similar to the one known in the Christian religion. Perhaps that is why the traditional Krampus and Percht race takes place in Salzburg, Austria, every 6th December. Once a year, people dress up as both characters and work together to chase away evil spirits, reviving ancient Alpine customs. In Austria, on the other hand, the Krampuslauf is celebrated, where people wear scary costumes and wear masks. The parade is opened by fire eaters, and then Krampuses cross the street and accost people - especially children. In addition to the demonic incarnations of Krampus, you can also see angels and Santa Claus during the parade. The kind.
In the tourist regions of the Alps, the figure of Krampus is no longer as terrifying as in the deep German or Austrian villages. Today, people regard it as one of the Christmas symbols that is more comic than scary. Krampus, or rather people dressed as Anti-Santa Clauses, can be found mainly in Salzburg, Tirol, Bavaria, and in small alpine towns. A large number of people dressed up as Krampus, even more than a hundred, walk from house to house in Bad Gastein, Bad Hofgastein, and Dorgastein every year between 5 and 6 December - together they chase away the evil spirits of winter.
Should you be afraid of Krampus today? Well, sometimes playing with them can be dangerous. The most brutal Krampuses are said to come from Tirol - that's why people dressing up as them often… don't put their horns on. But should we fear the Krampus, which the Nazis were said to have trembled at? Well, Krampus is just a legendary beast. Rather than the creature of Alpine shamanism, we should rather fear the living around us.
No comments:
Post a Comment