Comments on: Krampus: The Devil of Christmas greeting cards

By: Nicholas MacDonald

Nicholas MacDonald — Tue, 04 Dec 2012 12:23:00 +0000

I can’t be the only one who looked at that Krampus and thought of The Tomb of Horrors…

By: René Walter

René Walter — Tue, 04 Dec 2012 09:47:00 +0000

BTW: It’s “Gruß vom Krampus”, not “Grüß”. Old german/european Handwriting featured a line above the miniscule “u” which made it look like an “ü”, but actually that was just to make it distinguishable from the small “n”, which back then was written like… well… the “u”… ;)

By: feetleet

feetleet — Tue, 04 Dec 2012 05:25:00 +0000

Man, that’s lazy parenting.

By: Eric Hunting

Eric Hunting — Tue, 04 Dec 2012 04:52:00 +0000

I’ve found the most un-krampiest Krampus. http://local-static3.forum-files.fobby.net/forum_attachments/0021/1888/krampus.png

By: Greg Tulonen

Greg Tulonen — Tue, 04 Dec 2012 04:39:00 +0000

I know some folks who made a movie about Krampus for the 48-hour film festival (in which a movie is written, shot, and edited over a weekend) in Portland, Maine:

http://youtu.be/rqY4Y4Eib80

By: Sparg

Sparg — Tue, 04 Dec 2012 02:58:00 +0000

My Prussian-Irish family in the STL area does the same thing with the boots/shoes. We also celebrated May Day in the early 70s with the pole dance and cones of goodies.

By: kraut

kraut — Tue, 04 Dec 2012 00:19:00 +0000

Sinterklaas – St. Nikolaus – Santa Claus.

By: kraut

kraut — Tue, 04 Dec 2012 00:17:00 +0000

It’s in Suedtiriol, so it’s been german speaking for a long long time.

Bear in mind that national borders in Europe (as elsewhere) are historical accidents and often bear little resemblance to cultural identities.

Ask the people of http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baarle-Nassau . Or indeed most Belgians,

By: kraut

kraut — Tue, 04 Dec 2012 00:02:00 +0000

When I were a lad in Germany back in the 70s, we’d put our boots by our bedroom doors on the evening of the 5th, and on the 6th of December they we magically filled with nuts, clementines and chocolate. Always was the proper start to teh advent season for me.

Bit of a shame that we all seem to be moving towards the saccharine “coca-cola” Santa these days, but that’s the price of cultural globalisation.

Thanks for the reminder to get the boots out in a few days time though!

P.S. the “lump of coal” tradition was still very much talked about in those days,.

P.P.S. In Catalunia, one of the big festivals is three kings day (6th of January). All the bakeries have “lumps of coal” – black coloured meringue.

By: ffabian

ffabian — Mon, 03 Dec 2012 22:39:00 +0000

In Northern Germany he is called Knecht Ruprecht (Servant Ruprecht).

By: Mister

Mister — Mon, 03 Dec 2012 22:15:00 +0000

In Belgium and the Netherlands a guy called Sinterklaas, who is the former Bishop of Turkey, comes along on December 5 with a group of black men — all of them called Zwarte Piet (black Pete) — to leave gifts in the shoes of good children. The bad children get beaten with sticks, stuffed into sacks, and taken to Spain, where Sinterklaas lives. David Sedaris has a story about it from a trip he took to Amsterdam and he gets the story pretty much right, though he’s much funnier than I am. It’s probably on YouTube. Everything is.

By: efergus3

efergus3 — Mon, 03 Dec 2012 21:15:00 +0000

PvP even had Scratch Fury as Krampus. Excellent story line.

By: Boundegar

Boundegar — Mon, 03 Dec 2012 21:14:00 +0000

I wish I had small children so I could introduce them to the Krampus this season. They would be so good! Even a niece or a nephew would suffice.

By: danimagoo

danimagoo — Mon, 03 Dec 2012 20:36:00 +0000

I saw a Krampus stocking in a store yesterday. I almost bought it, but I had no idea what or who Krampus was. Now I know.

By: hymenopterid

hymenopterid — Mon, 03 Dec 2012 20:35:00 +0000

The Krampus knows who’s been bad or good. Its jaundiced eyes can see the stain on your soul. If you are concerned it’s only because you know you’ve been naughty this year.

By: E T

E T — Mon, 03 Dec 2012 20:21:00 +0000

Am I the only one concerned by “drunk young men in costume are given free reign to beat the heck out of townspeople with long sticks.”?

By: Kelly Rauch

Kelly Rauch — Mon, 03 Dec 2012 20:06:00 +0000

A new tradition of Krampus Night is getting started this Saturday in Bloomington, IN. Such a neat new festival! I can’t wait to see what it turns into in the next few years!

By: schadenfreudisch

schadenfreudisch — Mon, 03 Dec 2012 20:03:00 +0000

jesus!

By: cjporkchop

cjporkchop — Mon, 03 Dec 2012 19:50:00 +0000

It says the publication date is November 15, 2012, and yet it’s still only available for pre-order. Guess it’s delayed. Hope I get them before Festivus.

By: Finnagain

Finnagain — Mon, 03 Dec 2012 19:47:00 +0000

So, a conspiracy then!

By: GawainLavers

GawainLavers — Mon, 03 Dec 2012 19:46:00 +0000

Grishnahk’s a Tolkien orc.

By: Nathan Hornby

Nathan Hornby — Mon, 03 Dec 2012 19:40:00 +0000

Big bowl full of walnuts? Man, at current prices you’d need a loan for that kind of generosity.

By: Zarkonnen

Zarkonnen — Mon, 03 Dec 2012 19:39:00 +0000

When I was a child in late 80s early 90s Switzerland, the Krampus was still quite extant. Though we called him Schmutzli. (filthy one) He would turn up with Samichlaus (Santa Claus) on December 6, and they’d do a kind of good-cop-bad-cop thing where the good kids got sweets from Samichlaus and the bad ones were carried off by Schmutzli in his bag.

By: hymenopterid

hymenopterid — Mon, 03 Dec 2012 18:59:00 +0000

I always wondered why my mom gave us socks, chocolate, pens and an orange. Her mom was German.

My grandpa on my dad’s side told me that his Polish father would go over to the neighbor’s house on Christmas with a big bowl full of walnuts. He would knock on the door, and when they opened he would pitch the walnuts out onto the floor. The kids would run around collecting them, like an Easter egg hunt. Just Imagine some jovial Polish guy randomly throwing a bunch of nuts in your house and try not to smile.

By: Karl Heine

Karl Heine — Mon, 03 Dec 2012 18:47:00 +0000

The town in the video may be as Germanic as Italian towns get, but it is still in Italy.

By: Finnagain

Finnagain — Mon, 03 Dec 2012 18:42:00 +0000

Anyone remember the Robert Sheckley story about the anit-Santa named Grishnahk? I wish I could remember the title.

By: Christina Ward

Christina Ward — Mon, 03 Dec 2012 18:32:00 +0000

Here in MKE, due to our super-Germanic immigrant history, Krampus has always been around. I’m actually about to mail my daughter her Nikolaus stocking to her in college. Because St. Nick not filling your stocking means that Krampus is coming….

(This all happens on the evening of Dec. 5th…you should wake up to find the verdict in the form of the contents of your stocking on the morning of Dec.6. The traditional MKE St. Nick stocking should have a tangerine/orange stuck in the toe, lots of nuts, a piece or two of good chocolate, a small toy/tchotzke and something useful like socks, underwear, mittens, hat or a new scarf.)

By: Brian Blank

Brian Blank — Mon, 03 Dec 2012 18:19:00 +0000

My friend Monte Beauchamp edited a book about Krampus: Krampus: The Devil of Christmas

http://www.amazon.com/Krampus-Devil-Christmas-Monte-Beauchamp/dp/0867197471/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1354558770&sr=8-2&keywords=krampus

By: Dan

Dan — Mon, 03 Dec 2012 18:17:00 +0000

Aaaaand, here it is. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n7qLbJUPC10

By: Geoduck

Geoduck — Mon, 03 Dec 2012 18:05:00 +0000

The Krampus made an appearance in an episode of the cartoon series Venture Bros.