gothidays & nights: you better watch out; you better not cry! Krampus is coming to town

I actually learned about Krampus through collecting traditional Christmas ornaments.   

For the second day of The Curious Professor Z's Gothidays event (see the fancy picture to the left!), I'm going to discuss the celebration of Krampus! 

If you’ve followed my blog for at least a year, you know that I have a slight obsession with Old World Christmas ornaments. 

In years past, I’ve had my wrought iron Christmas tree, which I still have but with two households combined into one townhouse we just don’t have the room. Last year was the first time that I put my precious ornaments on a regular (okay, they’re not that regular) artificial tree. I wrote in more detail about this last year in my post, ... oh Christmas tree, oh Christmas tree... In that post, I included the quote from Old World Christmas, 

"Devils with red faces, horns and tails often played a significant role in early German Christmas celebrations. Paradise plays performed during the holiday season in medieval times depicted life and death, the Garden of Eden, and good and evil."

I learned about the tradition of placing devils and/or Krampus ornaments on my tree from the shopkeeper in my local shop Old World Accents in Carytown. She told me about the German tradition; and, she basically introduced me to Krampus. It was at that point that I started collecting the ornaments and became affectionately known as “Devil Girl” by the shopkeeper.   

Krampus Puppet by Lily Lamberta, All the Saints Theater Company/

 picture by my fella

picture by my fella

Krampusnacht or Krampus Night is traditionally celebrated on December 5th, the eve of St. Nicholas Day. Unlike our American Santa who has the naughty or nice list, this traditional St. Nicholas doesn’t trouble himself with the naughty children. He leaves that up to ol’ Krampus who supplies coal and the ruten bundles. 

On Krampusnacht, people dress as Krampus and roam the streets looking for someone to beat with a stick.

Krampus events seem to have caught on in the U.S. This year, Richmond, VA celebrated its third annual Krampusnacht. 
 

Photo: Dave Parrish ~used with permission

Not only that, but again this year RVA Krampus featured Yuletide Monsters 2: A Krampus Art Show the night before at a local gallery. There were Krampus-themed paintings, prints, drawings, sculptures, masks and puppets along with music and a market. Local artist Abigail Larson had a piece in the show as well. 

My fella and I fell in love with two of the pieces so much that he bought them! Yay! 

artist: Nicolas Bryant

artist: Kyle Katherjohn

Participants of RVA Krampus also participated in a toy drive where we collected toys for the Scares that Care organization AND the RVA Horror Book Club read Michael Dougherty’s Krampus: Shadow of Saint Nicholas for our monthly read. On Saturday morning, I even went to see the movie Krampus. Needless to say, it was an extremely full weekend.

I've already received some curious and even some problematic questions from coworkers and Facebook friends. "Isn't Krampus Satanic?"... ummm??? No. For starters, Krampus isn’t “the devil.” He is older than Jesus!

Stick with me a moment because I promise not to get too preachy. In the Bible, Satan as a character doesn’t even appear until the Book of Job where he is portrayed as a servant not a nemesis of God. During the time of Jesus, the devil had become the great scapegoat for all that goes wrong in the world. For many Christians today, Satan aka the Devil still holds that position. When they say, “The devil made me do it,” they mean it. But, that isn’t what I was taught.  

Raised in a Catholic household with a father who is old school Catholic (e.g. Mass in Latin), Dad said that there isn’t any demon that is equal to God. He also said that he loves being Catholic because we believe in miracles. That in itself is pretty darn cool.

Photo: Dave Parrish ~used with permission

Demons are pests; they are nuisances. The Devil may be their leader but we have freewill and we have responsibility. Basically, “the devil made me do it” excuse that some use…well, my dad throws down the bullshit card and I have to agree with him.

My dad is pretty darn religious. He loves Halloween. When I dress up for Krampus activities, my dad is going to shake his head and laugh. There is nothing Satanic about the festivities because well, Krampus pre-dates Satan. It's a wild and raucous night.For me, I'm participating in another culture's traditions hopefully doing so with respect.

While I'm super psyched about Krampus making such an appearance this year, I am nervous about the commercialization that has already begun. Sigh. That completely defeats the purpose. 

Photo: Dave Parrish ~used with permission

Overall, it was an amazing weekend and my fella feels like we even found another holiday to celebrate. Well, you know me, I LOVE holidays!