We’ve been missing out. America shed the European tradition of monsters and debauchery on Christmas in the 19th century; all we have left is one saccharine fat man who brings toys. Until now. Scattered small bands of heroes are trying to resurrect the Krampus tradition.
It seems like a good idea to me. Maybe the imaginary monsters will displace the real ones that run the country.
Also, maybe it will succeed if we tell the capitalists that it’s a strategy for extending the retail holiday season from Halloween to New Year’s.
The Welsh Mari Lwyd is another good Yuletide monster.
Krampus is starting to make some headway in my hometown of Birmingham, AL. For example, a few places have started offering chances for having children pictures taken with Krampus in place of Santa, but there have been other Christmas events with Krampus taking center stage over Santa or Jesus. Certainly, they’re odd little places, like the pagan bookstore I get research material from or some of the local music venues, and not big department chains or malls but they’re popping up more and more with each passing year. Not to mention, they seem to have far more of a festive atmosphere than the Christmas gatherings I’ve had to go to.
Krampus Night is awesome! Traditionally, it’s the night before St. Nick’s day (Dec 6th-ish). There are some great Youtube videos of Krampus runs.
Being a center of both German-America culture and cosmic weirdness, we’ve got an annual Krampusnacht going on here in Milwaukee. Sadly, it’s also part of some local Paranormal WooWoo Conference.
I’m quite fond of Yule Cat myself. Speaking of which, I have to buy some new clothes…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yule_Cat
Krampus themed music video:
I assume Krampus would murder the shit out of the evildoers of politics and society in general. He’s a monster, but for a good cause.
Krampusnacht! Leave it to the Austrians to design a more efficient system. Santa Claus has to keep two lists – a naughty and nice one, and then he has to carry tons of coal for the bad kids. This adds extra paper work and adds strain for the reindeer and takes up extra room in the sleigh. Very inefficient.
The Krampus model eliminates to extra work. Krampus comes out of the mountains and eats the bad children, and St. Nicholas can then focus on the remaining good children. This really speeds up the process. Krampus disposes of the problem, and gets a meal out of it. Win-win. We should really think about adopting this in North America.
Had a few moments of amusement, especially after finding out about Aron Ra’s “Satan Claus” suit that it would be funny to create a “christmas” version of this character: https://i.pinimg.com/originals/9d/6d/18/9d6d18169fe93a7c8b9ade77d303682c.jpg
Kind of combining the Krampus and Santa. Sadly, I am too poorly skilled at “all” of the skills needed to pull it off. lol
Mexico has a monster tradition at Yuletide as well. Friends have been forwarding monsters in the street pix all week.
Please don’t. Because if they succeed it will end in another local tradition being turned into something unrecognisable but profitable.