Happy Krampusnacht ghosts and ghouls! 

I hope you have all been on your best behaviour, or else you have the icepacks ready to go!

I was talking about Krampus today, what with it being the 5th of December and I was a little sad that they had no clue who I was talking about, which made me all the more insistent on typing this post.  

So what is Krampusnacht? 

Every December 5th, before the feast of St. Nicholas, Krampus, the half goat, half demon, visits to punish all the naughty children. Its believed his origins are in Germany as Krampen translates from German meaning “Claw”, but he is also thought to be from pagan rituals surrounding Winter solstice, which could predate the Germany we know now.

It is said that on December 5^th Krampus and St Nicholas arrive, with the latter giving out presents to reward the good children, while the former, Krampus, beats the naughty children with switches made of reeds, and in some cases throws them in the basket he carries on his back and takes them away, presumably to be eaten. On December 6^th the good children will wake up to find their presents, and the bad ones, unless kidnapped, would be recovering from their previous nights lashings. A pretty hard core way to keep your kids in line if you ask me. Since the introduction of the catholic religion, and later Christianity as a whole, winter solstice was thought of as too pagan and Christmas was created to circumvent other beliefs, with Krampus being dropped all together and St Nicholas, becoming wider known as Santa Claus.

In many of the central European countries however, they do still celebrate Krampusnacht, and many have an annual Krampuslauf (Krampus run) where people dress up as the creature, parading through the streets, occasionally indulging in schnapps. It is a big celebration in places like Germany and Austria, to the point that its became a tourist event, though many surrounding countries have their own variations and traditions surrounding Krampusnacht.

Krampus is so popular now that there have been many appearances in film and television, one of my all time favourites being the 2015 Horror/Comedy of the same name. Every festive season I watch this movie, but I especially watch on the 5^th of December. It warms my cockles so it does!

Its not hard to see why I adore the Krampus tradition, and I hope one day to be able to go to Germany and experience Krampusnacht in person, perhaps make it a supernatural vacation and visit the Black Forest while I’m there!