ITT: A Kreature Named Krampus

December 6th is St. Nicholas Day which in many European countries is a festival for kids that centers around St. Nicholas and his reputation as a bringer of gifts. I am fascinated by the whole thing but especially the idea of St. Nicholas' companion Knecht Ruprecht (Germany) or Krampus (Bavaria/Austria).

In Germany, Nikolaus is usually celebrated on a small scale. Many children put a boot called Nikolaus-Stiefel outside the front door on the night of December 5 to December 6. St. Nicholas fills the boot with gifts and sweets, and at the same time checks up on the children to see if they were good, polite and helpful the last year. If they were not, they will have a tree branch (rute) in their boots instead. Sometimes a disguised Nikolaus also visits the children at school or in their homes and asks them if they have been good (sometimes ostensibly checking his golden book for their record), handing out presents on a per-behaviour basis. This has become more lenient in recent decades.
But for many children, Nikolaus also elicited fear, as he was often accompanied by Knecht Ruprecht (Servant Ruprecht), who would threaten to beat, or sometimes actually beat the children for misbehaviour as using this myth to 'bring up cheek children' for a better, good behaviour. Any kind of punishment isn't really following and just an antic legend. Knecht Ruprecht furthermore was equipped with deerlegs. In Switzerland, where he is called Schmutzli, he would threaten to put bad children in a sack and take them back to the dark forest. In other accounts he would throw the sack into the river, drowning the naughty children. These traditions were implemented more rigidly in Catholic countries and regions such as Austria or Bavaria.
In highly Catholic regions, the local priest was informed by the parents about their children's behaviour and would then personally visit the homes in the traditional Christian garment and threaten to beat them with a rod. In parts of Austria, Krampusse, who local tradition says are Nikolaus's helpers (in reality, typically children of poor families), roamed the streets during the festival. They wore masks and dragged chains behind them. These Krampusläufe (Krampus runs) still exist.

When I was a kid my parents did the whole boot thing with me but I always got candy and was never punished. My dad recently told me a story about when he was a kid and Nicholaus and Knecht Ruprecht visited his house while a friend of his was there. They were asked to recite a prayer and the other kid got so scared he just clammed up so my dad took over and said the prayer for him. I guess the fear of being found "bad" and taken away by Ruprecht was very very real.

Postcard from 1949 with Nicholaus and Ruprecht:

http://www.stnicholascenter.org/stnic/images/knecht-ruprecht-wmaster.jpg

Ruprecht with his sack:

http://www.bilderkiste.de/phpcliparts/media/knecht_ruprecht_sack.gif

Maybe someone can help explain why Ruprecht is often depicted as black. I know that in Holland he's called Black Peter:

http://www.schulbilder.org/de-malvorlagen-ausmalbilder-foto-sankt-nikolaus-und-knecht-ruprecht-p8927.jpg

AND NOW THE MOST TERRIFYING MOTHERFUCKER OF ALL . . . KRAMPUS:

http://markmaynard.com/media/users/mark/krampus08.jpg

Krampus is a mythical creature who accompanies Saint Nicholas in various regions of the world during the Christmas season.[citation needed] The word Krampus originates from the Old High German word for claw (Krampen). In the Alpine regions, Krampus is represented by a demon-like creature accompanying Saint Nicholas. Krampus acts in conjunction with Saint Nicholas; the latter gives gifts to good children, while the Krampus gives warnings and punishments to the bad children.[citation needed] 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 women with rusty chains and bells.[citation needed] In some rural areas the tradition also includes birching by Krampus, especially of young females.

http://www.dymaxionweb.com/kulturedrome/Krampus2xx.jpg

http://www.amoeba.com/dynamic-images/blog/Eric_B/krampus-tongue

http://www.recreatingtampa.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/12/krampus2.jpg

http://www.auhirschpass.at/pass/images/stories/krampus.jpg

Video from a Krampus festival earlier this week in Schladming, Austria:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c9MpAGlz1BQ

http://zuill.us/andreablog/wp-content/uploads/2008/12/2092122378_2b28eb804e_m.jpg

http://www.metropostcard.com/picsblog/b-krampus.jpg.jpg

(xpost) cover for a potential Lordi Christmas single?

Krampus = Kils Frykdahl

http://mattness.net/gallery2/d/6253-2/Sleepytime_Gorilla_Museum_008.jpg

I mean Nils

In Switzerland, where he is called Schmutzli

This sounds like something you step in.

Maybe someone can help explain why Ruprecht is often depicted as black

It's soot. He comes down the chimney innit.

In Switzerland, where he is called Schmutzli
This sounds like something you step in.

― Ned Raggett, Thursday, December 3, 2009 11:22 AM (22 minutes ago) Bookmark

Well, Schmutz means "dirt" so that makes sense.

x-post A ha! Does Black Peter come down the chimney? If so, why is only he black and not Nicholaus? I didn't have time to research that bit.

OK yeah, I didn't think that he was originally black because of soot. Was pretty sure it was something racist and surprise surprise, it is or was as may be the case:

Although it is said that the origins of Zwarte Piet are unknown, it seems most plausible that Zwarte Piet is a continuation of the much longer held tradition of depicting Sinterklaas in the company of a dark skinned man, namely thought to be the Devil. This was due to the pervasive belief amongst Europeans that the Devil would resemble a Moor. The first mention of Zwarte Piet in Dutch literature refers to him as a beggar on the street, after Sinterklaas helps him, he promises to stay with Sinterklaas, and help him. It has later been argued that Zwarte Piet was of Italian or other Southern European origin however this interpretation fails to explain the predominant images of Zwarte Piet, who often is depicted in the style of the classic darky icons, contemporaneous with the spread of darky iconography.[1]
Moreover, in recent years, in an attempt to soften the racist overtones, it is said that Zwarte Piet is black because he has to climb down the chimneys with the presents for the children. This story also falls short of explaining the Blackfaced, googly-eyed, red-lipped Zwarte Piet dolls, die cuts and displays adorning store windows at this time of year, alongside brightly packaged and displayed, holiday merchandise.[2]
Due to the increased awareness surrounding the legacy of slavery in the Netherlands there has been recurring debate around the character of Zwarte Piet.

I was going to say that the chimney explanation sounded like uneasy embarrassed-by-racist-grandpa rationalization

c'mon, what scares white german folks more than a black man

santa's got a new sidekick, rasputin the mad monk

http://www.stnicholascenter.org/stnic/images/knecht-ruprecht-wmaster.jpg

can't wait for the claymation special

Well, it's actually the Dutch who have Black Peter not the Germans. I don't think Knecht Ruprecht is black but I could be wrong. Will look into it.

So this is the town my dad grew up in:

http://www.gleisweiler.de/deutsch/ort/detail.htm

If you look at the pics you can see that there are lots of woods around there. He says that Ruprecht really would take the bad kids and put them in the sack and then take them to the forest for a while as punishment. How fucking scary must that have been?!!!!!

Imagine being an adult in that town and having one dude consistently volunteer to play Ruprecht.

http://www.noisetosignal.org/images/posts/lofglazarou.JPG

The whole thing just kind of blows my mind. I know that in Austria the whole Krampus thing is still alive and well as illustrated but the youtube upthread but I'm not sure what happens now in Germany. I doubt that Nicholaus and Ruprecht go around in the big cities but I wouldn't be surprised at all if it still happens in small towns. I should ask my cousin. He has small kids. Will email and find out.

o man this makes christmas so much better - i wanna birch some young females

So this is the town my dad grew up in:

http://www.gleisweiler.de/deutsch/ort/detail.htm

If you look at the pics you can see that there are lots of woods around there. He says that Ruprecht really would take the bad kids and put them in the sack and then take them to the forest for a while as punishment. How fucking scary must that have been?!!!!!

― bear say hi to me (ENBB), Thursday, December 3, 2009 11:55 AM (3 minutes ago)

after reading little suckathumb as a bedtime story he was probably cool with it

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y176/edwardiii/jan23suckathumb.jpg

this is only slightly related, and i think i've talked about this before, but this statue in Bern Swizterland scared the hell out of me. it's supposed to be a giant eating babies, and when we asked our host what the deal with it was, he said, "it's for adults to point to when their kids are being bad, so they can say to their kids, if you don't behave, i will feed you to the giant."

http://www.travelblog.org/Photos/1726318.html

I have a much older cousin who liked to tell the story of when she went to visit relatives somewhere in germany in the 60s, they would tie their toddlers to their cribs and go out

Yeah, terrifying. It's like the original Grimm tales that were truly truly frightening and horrible.

those pragmatic swiss

Europe=so awesome

"if we build a statue itll help the kids to get the point"

A+ child rearing concepts

why is this thread not on ILP

in the continuing saga of why the venture brothers are great, they featured the krampus in their christmas show, leading to much baffled head scratching across america

Am pretty glad my parents left out the whole punishment aspect of this whole thing and just filled my shoes with candy tbh. If he and his buddy Hubert had come around dressed as N and R I probably would have shit myself.

The word Krampus originates from the Old High German word for claw (Krampen).

^^Awesome if this came to America and Santa Claus was replaced with "Colonel Claw from Germany"

"sorry kids santa died meet dr claw"

http://nirakatak.files.wordpress.com/2008/12/hochalmpass_2003_badhofgastein-1.jpg

Not Ruprecht or Black Peter but oh man, how pretty is this little church?

http://www.ottawa.diplo.de/__Zentrale_20Komponenten/Themenpakete/Weihnachten/Bilder__weihnachten/Schnee__kirche__beleuchtet2,property=Galeriebild__gross.jpg

looks like it's made out of gingerbread

"if you're on the nice list, santa's gonna bring you lots of toys. if you're on the naughty list, mr claw will dismember you before dawn. merry christmas!"

looks like a still from harmony korine's where the wild things are

http://nirakatak.files.wordpress.com/2008/12/hochalmpass_2003_badhofgastein-1.jpg

FYI guys you can get your very own Ruprecht costume:

http://kostueme24.com/kostueme/images/1-4850_18.jpg

Do you think it would win over an 11-year-old aspiring horror fan?

better critics not very enthused

http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/krampus/reviews/

Krampus is kruddy? Krap!

xxp I wouldn't want that responsibility, I don't watch a lot of films in this genre anymore. It's kinda boring tho. There are only a couple of creepy bits, and zero laughs in the theatre throughout (this was with an audience who, I got the impression, were really ready to like it). Gremlins it isn't.

there's a horror movie in this somewhere

― contenderizer, Saturday, July 21, 2012 7:33 PM (3 years ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

http://www.thelocal.at/20151210/wild-krampus-injure-five-teenagers

Coddled millennials can't handle a whipping anymore,

that is terrible and I feel really disappointed in myself because of how hard I'm laughing at it

Saw Krampus the movie today. Not great, but the horror elements were surprisingly effective. Some genuinely freaky imagery and cool FX

I liked it more than I thought I would

May God have mercy on my soul.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ygNUU41WfNQ

i wanted to see Krampus but they were only showing it on the director's screen so we went to see lady in the van instead, which was okay.

Very much looking forward to watching Krampus the Motion Picture with an Austrian audience.

For a PG-13 horror movie that's fun but also pretty dark and not afraid to stay dark, I thought "Unleash the Krampus: The Motion Picture" was pretty solid. Sure, there was the expected script sloppiness and shortcuts, but they weren't as bad as usual, and there was an element of wit at play throughout, however subtle. I particularly liked a bit where everyone's asleep and the fire burns out just as the iPad battery goes from 1% to dead.

Also, good acting across the board, even the kids.

http://dangerousminds.net/comments/fck_the_elf_on_the_shelf_heres_krampus_in_the_corner

http://blog.oup.com/2016/10/witches-werewolves-christmas/

krampus creep!

A new book on Krampus, by one of the Cacophony Society's founders (and ex Mr. Margaret Cho).

http://www.latimes.com/books/jacketcopy/la-ca-jc-krampus-book-20161118-story.html

http://www.thelocal.at/20161129/austrian-krampus-bursts-into-flames-after-procession

Tomorrow is Krampusnacht in Pittsburgh: "Get your picture taken on his lap."

I want a Kranpusnacht here!!!!

Los Angeles' Krampus Run is Dec 14. The Krampus Ball was last weekend.

https://www.facebook.com/events/1415148455250189/

Boston clearly needs to up its Krampus game.

The last couple of years they're performed a Krampus play in a church, but they're not doing that this year.

http://krampuslosangeles.com/traditional-krampus-nicholas-play-returns/

A Krampus podcast, from Al Ridenour, a major player in the LA Krampus scene.

https://www.boneandsickle.com/2018/11/28/the-krampus-saint-devil-sugar-bread-and-whip/?fbclid=IwAR0jF40wW0us4ShPDjKXwcF394dZ9E86M62DTjn83Fucirew-ctLhheW_Qg

I’m going to be in Germany on St. Nikolaus Day! Flying in that morning so will miss Krampusnacht but that’s not celebrated in the area I’m going to anyway sadly. That said, my uncle grew up in Bavaria so I’m going to ask him if he had any good Krampus memories/stories.

a major player in the LA Krampus scene.

unexpected phrase to read

Yes - I loved that and meant to comment similarly.

It's a real thing.

http://krampuslosangeles.com/

Didn’t see a single stinkin’ Krampus. HMPF.

jesus

Grýla by Þrándur Þórarinsson
In Icelandic mythology, Grýla is said to come from the mountains at Christmas in search of naughty children. pic.twitter.com/rYhSfePE3p

— Soniasuponia (@Soniasuponia) January 5, 2017

https://scontent-lax3-2.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-9/48406703_10156984299247427_8064705558222995456_n.jpg?_nc_cat=107&_nc_ht=scontent-lax3-2.xx&oh=de7df3aebd59202a5e9bb04abdc73a28&oe=5CA227AD

happy Nicholas/Krampus Day!

a wonderful seasonal radio show "co-hosted" by Krampus:

http://wfmu.org/playlists/shows/89938

Ken always has the best playlist gifs

I'll see your Krampus and raise you a Caga Tiò

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ti%C3%B3_de_Nadal

and while we're at it, have some Caganer

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caganer

How about some sexy Krampii?

https://dangerousminds.net/comments/racy_vintage_postcards_from_germany_of_krampus_cavorting_with_sexy_chicks_s

Happy St. Nicholas Day to those who celebrate such things.

A 15-minute doc on the Los Angeles Krampus activities.

https://vimeo.com/509369508

Soon . . .

yule cat ain't give a fuck ok, yule cat is here to terrorize children & feast on the shabbily dressed

https://cdna.artstation.com/p/assets/images/images/045/505/962/small/polina-kupriyanova-jollakotturin2.jpg

Huge news. I have actual pics and videos of the krampusse tonight in Bavaria courtesy of my godbrother.

Now I have to figure out how to upload pics and vids these days oof.

Please work

https://i.ibb.co/JR7Crr9/Screenshot-20241205-192104-2.png

https://i.ibb.co/6RGV8y1/Screenshot-20241205-192107-2.png

https://i.ibb.co/4dMfc9M/Screenshot-20241205-192153-2.png

https://i.ibb.co/4dMfc9M/Screenshot-20241205-192153-2.png

Oops

https://i.ibb.co/N9G8VL2/Screenshot-20241205-192916.png
wonder woman 77 cancelled

https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/81+08kO11iL._SL1500_.jpg

i am once again praising yule cat

https://131645280.cdn6.editmysite.com/uploads/1/3/1/6/131645280/s738123187464568845_p139_i1_w902.jpeg