KATIE MARIE

Tis the Season to be freaked out.

Today I am writing to you about one of the most well-known festive spookies.

Though I say well known, it feels more globally well known in recent years, though I grew up not having a clue it even existed as it’s not one of my local folklore.

I am, of course, talking about Krampus.

Krampus, (which apparently translates to root/claw, creepy) dates far, far back, long before Christianity. He was the dark companion of St Nicholas, who would visit gifts upon children every December 6^th.

However, not all children are good and St Nicholas would not reward bad children. Instead, he left their punishment to his buddy Krampus.

Visually Krampus has variations but usually, he looks somewhat like a traditional devil with goat features, large horns and cloven feet (though in some of the traditional drawings he looks like Mr Tumnus). However, he has appeared as a gentleman dressed in all black and a large fuzzy beastie.

As said above, Krampus will turn up when kids are bad, he punishes and he does it pretty specifically. He will beat children before putting them in bags or barrels and then drag them off to Hell. Pretty serious punishment.

Krampus seems to be having something of a resurgence in modern culture, with parades, movies, websites etc all being dedicated to him. I highly recommend giving Krampus (2015) a watch this holiday season.