Old German Christmas tradition

[Melody]

[Melody]

Ever hear of the Krampus? That is the horrible devil-like demon that accompanies St. Nick around town to beat the bad children while St. Nick rewards the good ones with gifts on Christmas!
Now that is an interesting thing to tell your children. Gad, imagine the poor kids not knowing if they were going to get candy or a drubbing from a scary monster!
http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.amoeba.com/dynamic-images/blog/Eric_B/krampus-on-motorcycle&imgrefurl=http://www.amoeba.com/blog/tags/krampus/page1.html&h=328&w=450&sz=153&tbnid=8lEKahgatnVXVM:&tbnh=93&tbnw=127&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dkrampus&zoom=1&q=krampus&usg=__pMcVUw31VqL4rGwOhzcrXSGhoHY=&sa=X&ei=xzf5TOK2K4i4sAO_p-ikAg&ved=0CB4Q9QEwAg

Krampus=the real nightmare before Christmas. Anyway, I must find time to make a Krampus Christmas ornament.

[Rachel]

Europeans in general embraced lots of cruel and scary things simply to make children behave. Early fairy tales, the kind that eventually evolved into Disney cartoons, were dark and terrible things that suggested lots of horrible things (like rape and murder) if children didn’t behave. Krampus is pretty tame compared to some!

[Akeyla]

The tradition partially still exists in Switzerland, only has the figure been renamed to “Schmutzli” (aka “dirty”, in his appearance he (now) is just a brown version of Niklaus) and while Niklaus (here Samichlaus) gives the gifts Schmutzli holds a “Rute” (bundle of twigs) that are used to beat the non nice kids (yes, my Grandma still told me the “non behave and will be taken” story).
Over the generations Schmutzli has become gentler, my Grandma said that their Schmutzli would still beat the kids. With my generation it was like, depends on the actor and your parents (yes, parents order Samichlaus and Schmutzli home on the 6th of December). As of recently noticed far less Schmutzlis. It feels as if parents dislike them, as if they’d be “to horrible” for the kids (but yeah, here goes my critic, the media (TV, computer) isnt bad, yes of course not).

Real Krampus masks (devil heads, often with big, wild goat horns) rock. Professional makers make masks that are impressive enough to be, IMO, aligned with Movie Industries.

[DragonCat]

Now THAT’S someone I wouldn’t mind seeing around here. 😈 That’s actually interesting. It would be a little more sinister than the usual, “I’m going to send Santa Claus a letter that says ‘This kid doesn’t deserve anything!’.” Not to mention all the artistic possibilities (santa version & evil version)!

[Jennifer]

Very iconic– MissMonster just posted up her Krampus shirts!

http://missmonster.bigcartel.com/product/gruss-vom-krampus-2010-silkscreened-mens-shirt

Volunteer mod- I'm here to help! Email me for the best response: nambroth at gmail.com
My art: featherdust.com

[machineguts]

Jennifer wrote:

Very iconic– MissMonster just posted up her Krampus shirts!

http://missmonster.bigcartel.com/product/gruss-vom-krampus-2010-silkscreened-mens-shirt

I seriously want that shirt. 😆

[Bodine]

ooohhhkaaayyyy…. 😮

Every act matters.No matter how small💞
(Wanted......Brimstone Lap)
Male Hearth....one day🤞Dream on.

[Melody]

Jennifer wrote:

Very iconic– MissMonster just posted up her Krampus shirts!

http://missmonster.bigcartel.com/product/gruss-vom-krampus-2010-silkscreened-mens-shirtI immediately thought of Ms. Monster when I saw Krampus!

[Elena]

Hmmm…. I always remember hearing about a devil/demon that followed behind Santa’s sleigh and would leave coal in our stockings if we were bad. Gramma was the one who told these tales and she was Irish 😕

Anyone remember the the song “Gramma got run over by a Reindeer” and the line “incriminating claw marks on her back?” 😀

[Tina]

I find this very interesting, my parents would ahve totally told us about some bad guy that would beat us if we didnt behave 😀 had they known the tales, I wonder if its to late to impress this on my 12 year old, lol.

[Akeyla]

yesterday was Nikolaus and I was teaching a class of 1-3rd graders, the neighboring classroom got a visit by Nikolaus and I had all my kids buzzing out of my schoolroom in a hype and exitement, then quickly running back in when they saw “Schmutzli”, aka Krampus. They were squealing so wildly I had problems to calm them and I swear I’m deafer now than before this.
In the break I talked with the other teachers and they said how they had hidden under the far, far corner of the eating corner seat when Nikolaus came. In fear of Krampus/Schmutzli.
It really is something weird to have two opposite beings coming to you, a good and a bad one.

[Kristen]

foxfeather wrote:

Hmmm…. I always remember hearing about a devil/demon that followed behind Santa’s sleigh and would leave coal in our stockings if we were bad. Gramma was the one who told these tales and she was Irish 😕

Anyone remember the the song “Gramma got run over by a Reindeer” and the line “incriminating claw marks on her back?” 😀
I thought that said “Claus” marks…..

And I never heard about Krampus. :scratch:

[siberakh1]

Those shirts sold out QUICK! I was away all weekend and just super tired, so I intended on ordering one when I got back, since I’d have no internet over the weekend. Bad idea. At least I was able to grab a print, magnet, and some postcards to send to a few friends, including my German professor. I’m sure he’ll appreciate them (his specialty was in German folklore). 😀

I knew about Krampus in studying European folklore, but then again, I was a German minor and German is my heritage (considering my last name is a German name that has been slightly butchered – it’s missing an ‘e’, so no one ever seems to pronounce it correctly *sigh*).

[Hannah]

Awesome.. I’ve never seen/heard of Miss Monster – going to have to bookmark that page for after Christmas! 😀

Commission spots are currently closed! Please message me for details.
Please visit My Webpage to see my art and PYO's that I've done in the past!

[Author]

Posts