Christmas is all about family, fun, and gift giving, right? As children we’re always told that Santa’s always watching to make sure you were good this year. But have you ever heard of the person who’s there to see if you’ve been bad? Meet Krampus, a half-goat half-demon monster that punishes misbehaving children around Christmas time.
When Christians were attempting to convert pagans to Christianity they took pagan traditions and folklore and repurposed it. Krampus was one of those things. Christians, despite their attempts to get rid of Krampus entirely, tacked him onto St. Nicholas.
To understand this connection you need to know something about St. Nicholas first. To start off he was in fact a real person, he lived from about 270 to 343 and was known as St. Nicolas the Wondermaker, patron saint of sailors, merchants, archers, repentant thieves, prostitutes, children, brewers, pawnbrokers, unmarried people, and students in various cities and countries around Europe. He got this title from a story told about him, wherein he rescued three girls from being forced into prostitution by dropping a sack of gold coins through the window of their house each night for three nights so their father could pay a dowry for each of them. This is also where many people believe Santa came from.
Krampus is a little bit older than St. Nicholas and he comes from European folk tales, many believing he originates from Germany with the German word krampen meaning claw. Different tales say that on the night St. Nicholas comes to visit, so does Krampus. However, instead of gifts being put into a boot left outside, Krampus punishes the misbehaving children. Some legends say he will beat you with a switch of sticks or branches, and if you were particularly bad he would stuff you into a basket he carries on his back. Other, more terrifying stories say that if you’re particularly bad he brings you to the underworld to punish you and the world would never see you again.
To this day people revere Krampus and in parts of Germany they celebrate Krampusnacht, or “Krampus Night”. Celebrated around the 5th of December, adult men get drunk and dress as Krampus to run through the streets scaring children. Recently, in the 20th century people wanted to preserve their cultural heritage and started a “Krampus Run” where people would dress as Krampus and parade through town scaring passersbys and getting very drunk.
