"Then let us go and be terrible."
-Brom
Whether you
celebrate Christmas or not, we all know who jolly St. Nicholas is. SANTA!!!!
He’s a happy, bearded dude that sneaks down your chimney in the middle of the
night and leaves you presents. Some of you might not know his evil alter ego
Krampus. He is the true counter-part of Santa.
One may ask who
the hell is Krampus? Well Krampus is a half goat, half demon that walks on the
earth in December and hits bad children with a bundle of sticks. While Santa
treats good children with presents, Krampus hits naughty kids with sticks and
“takes them to his lair” (Basu). Krampus is not a being you want to mess with. My
family used Krampus to scare my sister and me into being good kids until
Christmas. I mean who wants to get beat up by a bundle of sticks?
Krampus can be
seen as originating from Germanic Folklore as early as the 1600s (The Origin of
Krampus), but is known to date as far back to 2000 B.C under the name Enkidu (Who
the Hell is Krampus). The name Krampus comes from the German word for “claw”
and can be described as having huge horns, a bull-like tongue, pointed ears and
a hairy, animalistic body. Krampus will come out on Dec. 5th, known
as Krampusnacht, (the night before
St. Nicholas Day) and “take care” of all the bad children. Really meaning that
he would beat kids with a bundle of sticks and continue to torture them till they
repent. Today, families can hire people to dress up as Krampus and come scare
the kids into acting nice the rest of the year.
Today, towns celebrate Krampusnacht by having huge festivals.
Young men will dress up as The Krampi and chase children around during the day
and parade around town for the night. There are costume contests and parades
for Krampus. While there, expect to hear Black Metal; it's a popular in the
area, and the mix of thrashy songs, pagan references, demon/devil iconography
and general strutting machismo makes for a natural auditory backdrop to the
Krampus crowd (Krampusnacht Festival). When I was younger, I remember watching
video of Krampusnacht: people running away from the Krampi and when the people
got caught, they would get beat up.
jump to 2:17
Work Cited
Basu, Tanya, National Geographic PUBLISHED December
19, 2013. "Who Is Krampus?
Explaining the Horrific Christmas
Devil." National Geographic. National Geographic Society. Web. 18 Nov.
2015.
"Krampusnacht Festival." Fest300. Web. 18
Nov. 2015.
"The Origin of Krampus." KrampusFest:.
Web. 18 Nov. 2015.
"Who in Hell Is Krampus?" Krampus.com.
Web. 18 Nov. 2015
This is totally and completely terrifying. If the point was to scare the bejeezus out of someone right before Christmas, then yes, it is an effective post. Krampusnacht is not something I have ever heard of before, so it was important to not only read about what it is, but how it originated. You successfully did both of those things.
ReplyDeleteAlthough color was not mentioned, I took the post to say that there are two sides of Christmas: the red and the black. Obviously, we recognize the color red around Christmas time as our jolly ol' Saint Nicholas-- the sweet side of a holiday that brings us joy and gifts for good behavior over the year. What is not as well known is this darker (black) version of Christmas: Krampus. A horrid creature that doesn't visit you at night to bring joy, but rather the complete opposite: complete and utter fear for bad behavior over the year.
I felt that this was the part that was missing from the piece. You still compared the two sides of Christmas well by introducing what we know best about this time of year: Santa Clause, and this hidden, secret monster that lies on the other side of the holiday: Krampus. I just would have liked to read more about how the two relate to the red and the black.
Overall, successful piece. I learned a lot (that I'm not necessarily hoping I remember come December 24). Scary!!