Nick's helper deals with the bad ones. He has many names: Krampus, Knecht Ruprecht, Klaubauf, Hans Muff, Hans Trapp, Ruhklas, Schmutzli, Aschenmann, Bartl, Nickel, Boozenickel, Belsnickle, Pelznickel and Pelzmärtel among others. He either looks like a horrible old man or a devil. Krampus beats the bad kids with switches (branches) and throws them into a sack or bucket and takes them away. My Mother went to a Bavarian all-girl school in Augsburg in the mid-to-late 1940s, and she remembers when Knecht Ruprecht came into the classroom and took a naughty girl away, kicking and screaming the entire time. In December of 2004, in the mountain town of Tannheimer Tal in Austria, I myself was face-to-face with Krampus. As for today, I have not seen either one stop by my house yet ... although given my track record this year, I think Krampus is going to be paying a visit!
The parade featuring the Coming Of Krampus takes place on December 5. I am combining both events in this entry.
This link here, which has an arrow at the bottom right, will give you a lot of historic information: http://www.weihnachtsmuseum.com/e/gaben.asp?spr=e&a=10
Krampus, in his different forms, is discussed here: http://www.weihnachtsmuseum.com/e/gaben06.asp?spr=e&a=10
Here are two pieces of paper, depicting Nikolaus and Krampus, that were once on top of Lebkuchen that I purchased in Salzburg in 2003 or 2004 (you will note the children and the bucket) ...
By the way, just from searching on the internet, I discovered that people have organized a Krampus Parade (Krampuslauf) in Philadelphia!!! The date is set for December 10, 2011 from 4:00 to 5:00 at Liberty Lands Park! The information can be found at these links ...
http://www.nlna.org/liberty-lands-calendar.html
http://krampuslaufphiladelphia.com
I am very excited. As far as I know, this will be the first ever parade for Krampus in this area.
No comments:
Post a Comment