Krampus

Hey, so we went to the Christmas market in the main town square last night (Wednesday).  It was St. Nicholas day on the 6th.

Linz Tree

Maybe you all already know about St. Nick Day.  My family in Minnesota used to celebrate it.  St. Nicholas would come to the house and leave a bag of goodies at one of the doors.  We never saw him of course; he would usually just knock loudly and disappear before we got to the door.  Correct me if I’m wrong, but are St. Nick and Santa Claus considered the same person?  At least in the Midwest they are, I think.

Anyway, they also have a similar tradition in Austria.  But St. Nick and Santa Claus are not the same person.  St. Nick is a Turkish bishop who brings candy to the good children.  That’s all I know about him.  In Austria, there is also someone who comes to punish the bad children: Krampus.

Their masks are made of wood and I think their suits are some kind of goat or sheep fur.  I thought they even smelled a little bit.  As you can see in the video, they are sometimes accompanied by witches.  You can see a few more videos at Will’s Youtube channel: williamvoorhees

Some of the masks can get pretty scary:

3 Comments

  • I believe that Santa Claus was based off of Saint Nicholas. So in a way they are different people but over here are used as the same.

  • The video looks like something from The Lord of the Rings. Looks intimidating, which, judging by the shrieks in the background (including Mary Jo’s!), it was.

  • I do not recall ever hearing about St. Nicholas Day -Is that a German tradition? Those things (krampus) are pretty scary. The GOOD little nieces just stared at them.

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