The First Ever Krampuslauf Krampus Parade Was Held In Philadelphia, PA On December 10, 2011

The first ever and first annual Krampuslauf was held in and around Liberty Lands Park in the Northern Liberties section of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on December 10, 2011. I gave a brief explanation of who Krampus is a few days ago (Link: http://michael-the-researcher.blogspot.com/2011/12/nikolaustag-featuring-old-bishop.html). I was hoping that some kind of Krampus event would happen here in the U.S.A. for years now. I did dress up as Krampus, with a mask I purchased in Salzburg, at family parties in years past. That was the closest that I ever got to some kind of acknowledgement of Krampus in this country. That all changed yesterday.

I wondered how this was going to turn out. Of course, I was hoping that it would be a success. It, in fact, was a success - a great success. The Krampuslauf brought out a nice crowd of interested people. Furthermore, many of these people went to certain lengths to make their own costumes, masks and props. The organizers did a fine job putting this together. They brought a very unique event to Philadelphia, and it was a real treat for the local community. Truly outstanding. I am really looking forward to next year's event. I know that it will be bigger and better.

Here is a video showing the Krampuslauf:

If the video does not work or embed properly, here is the url: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TqezJxPc9PE


I did not have time to take pictures during the parade so I made five screenshots from the video above ...











These photographs show the gathering after the parade ...















By the fire was a pot of some very good cider:


Here is a board with holes cut out of it to allow kids to put their faces inside (I thought this was a fabulous addition):




I had to get in on it:


Here are two figurines that I purchased in Germany in 2003 (the people absolutely loved these):






Here are two buttons from the event: