The 5th of December in Austria is Krampus Day. It goes hand in hand with Saint Nicholas Day, which is on the 6th. A Krampus is a devil-like creature who roams the streets punishing those for their bad doings throughout the year. They are often accompanied by St. Nicholas and often appear in parades or will show up at parties. The Krampus often wear wooden masks, are dressed in furs, and often carry bells, chains, whips, and baskets with them. The baskets are for taking naughty children away. As they walk the streets they'll beat or whip people standing around (yes, it's done fairly lightly, but it depends on the person they're "attacking"). It might seem wierd, and it is definately different, but it's a lot of fun.
The 6th of December is Saint Nicholas Day. The children will put their shoes outside their door in the hopes that St. Nicholas will come and bring them candy, money, or other goodies. This isn't done instead of Christmas, but in anticipation of it. Of course, if you're bad you recieve coal, sticks, or potatoes. Hmm, I think being good is better...especially if the consequence for being bad is being beaten by a Krampus and getting coal. We do the shoe thing with Emma, but so far haven't done the Krampus thing. We'll see if that changes in the future. =)
6 comments:
I MISS Krampus!! You forgot about the ashes and oil for those that are really, really naughty!
I new I would leave somthing out! When it's late and you're remembering something from more than 6 years ago you're bound to forget something. Na ja.
Ew, those are some good masks. Where did you spend your second mission Christmas? in Klagenfurt? We didn't really have too many Krampus in Linz, if I recall.
Cara, these pics aren't mine. I found them online. I didn't ever see a Krampus in person that looked as cool as these ones. And yes, I was in Klag.
Eek, my birthday is a pretty gruesome holiday!
Yikes!
We have done St. Nicholas day with our girls, but we actually totally forgot this year. :-/ Oops!
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