When speaking with Gurdrun last night I heard all about the devlish Krampus (pronounced "gran-poos") that originated in Germany and Austria. Gudrun remembers seeing Krampus when she was young in Germany. Apparently after a little "googling" I found out all kinds of unusual information on this. Here's some of what I found:
On the night of Dec. 5 (in some places, the evening of Dec. 6), in small communities in Austria and the Catholic regions of Germany, a man dressed as der Heilige Nikolaus (St. Nicholas, who resembles a bishop and carries a staff) goes from house to house to bring small gifts to the children. Accompanying him are several ragged looking, devil-like Krampusse, who mildly scare the children. Although Krampus carries eine Rute (a switch), he only teases the children with it, while St. Nicholas hands out small gifts to the children. In some regions, there are other names for both Nikolaus and Krampus (Knecht Ruprecht in Germany). Sometimes Krampus/Knecht Ruprecht is the good guy bringing gifts, equal to or replacing St. Nicholas. As early as 1555, St. Nicholas brought gifts on Dec. 6, the only “Christmas” gift-giving time during the Middle Ages, and Knecht Ruprecht or Krampus was a more ominous figure."Ingrid" on another blog has this to say about Krampus -- I was in Salzburg years ago as a college student. I’d been warned about Krampus, but still found the whole thing rather overwhelming. I recall seeing one man with his small boy flung over his shoulder, rushing down the sidewalk, trying to stay one step ahead of the many folks out roving the streets, dressed in frightening costumes - some with eyes glowing red. And every one seemed to carry around a large bundle of sticks with which they would not just threaten, but actually beat the legs of anyone foolish enough to get within reach.
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