Second question, you can have him come to your home and terrorize your kids so they behave better. There’s also krampus runs that are entertaining to watch. But overall unless you want to encounter a krampus, you probably won’t. Christmas here is like Christmas in most western countries.
Not during Christmas. Krampus has its own day. The 5th of December one day before the day of st Nicholas. So he often appears combined with him. So most international people interpret Krampus as a Christmas thing because st Nicholas is the inspiration of Santa Claus. But we don’t use Santa here for Christmas. We use the child Jesus that brings the present. St Nicholas day is on the 6th of December one day after Krampus das but most od the time they appear together.
As I remember (which might be wrong and I won’t look it up) Krampus is the relative of Nikolaus. While Nikolaus goes to the good kids on the 6th Krampus goes and gets to the bad ones at the 5th. He will stuff them in his coal sack and will leave coal for the parents instead.
The 24th is when the “Christkind” comes, so the Christchild which is more of an angel like figure while the known Santa Clause is closer to Saint Nikolaus.
He is quite skillful with his stick when it comes to naughty boys and my butt is still sore.
Bad boys, bad boys
Whatcha gonna do?
Whatcha gonna do when they come for you?
**”In Austria, we tend to believe more in Krampus than in God.”**
The funny thing is that Krampus is getting less and less known, while Perchten is much more popular. My understanding is that Krampus is the christianized version of Perchten that was put opposite of Nikolo as a good cop / bad cop trope. Perchten come in packs and are more animalistic in appearance. They should scare the winter ghosts away.
Like everyone said it’s not a Christmas custom but either a St. Nicolas or a winter custom.
TLDR Krampus and Perchten are very similar and Perchten are getting more and more popular. It’s a big deal but is not linked to XMas
It depends on where you are in Austria.
The Krampus appears as St. Nicholas’ companion
Perchten are independend figures and do not belong to St. Nicholas.
But as already mentioned, he can have different names and appearances from region to region. Possible names are, for example
Krampus, Klaubauf, Bartl(mandl), Buttn(mandl), Schmutzli, Klausn, Knecht Ruprecht, ….
Yes in Austria the Krampus is the same deal as St. Nicholas
Only on one single day, not what all these YT shorts and whatnot wants you to believe.
5th of December. Not before, not after.
Btw, today all these content creators mix up Krampus and Perchten, which are totally different thing.
Where I am from, we don’t know Perchten. That’s an alpine tradition. Only in recent years they became popular, simply because there isn’t a fixed date.
He’s tied to advent (specifically Krampus day, Dec. 5th) and St. Nicholas. So somewhat tied to Christmas, but more like pre-Christmas.
Old tradition which was nice 25-30 years ago and went completely off the rails. Now its more or less not bearable anymore cause its an adults thing with horrific masks (which are amazing handcraft) but way too scary for kids – which this tradition was for in the first place.
Krampus comes on December 5th and he usually has a bundle of twigs and a sack of coal. Naughty children will receive a spanking with the twigs (figuratively in the old stories to scare them into behaving – nobody is actually beating up their children literally in the name of Krampus 😉) and a piece of coal as a “gift”.
Krampus is also often shown as the enforcer/servant of St. Nicholas (or Nikolo as he is often called colloquially) and takes care of the naughty children for him, while St. Nicholas will give gifts to the good children in the form of fruit, nuts and sweets on the following day, December 6th.
Christmas is celebrated on December 24th and the gifts are traditionally being brought by the Christkind (usually after dinner in the evening). The Christkind is usually an androgynous child with blonde curly hair, a halo, wings and in a white and golden dress/robe type of garment. They look more like teenage classic angels, not so much like the chubby baby cherubs.
Krampus and Perchten are different traditions. Krampus appears on 5th of december, Nikolaus on 6th. The Perchten tradition is said to date back to pagan times. It is about chasing away evil spirits by disguising as them (kind of like the original Halloween in celtic countries). The Perchten are in some alpin regions connected to Frau Holle or the norse god Odin/Wotan and are said to be the Einherjer (Odins Warriors). They appear in the Rauhnächte, the nights between 21th of december (winter solstice) and 6th of january (heilige drei Könige/epiphania). Unfortunately in modern days, Krampus and Perchten are mixed up, also because the Krampus and Perchtenläufe events nowadays do not only happen on 5th of December or during the Rauhnächte, but sometimes from November to mid january. They are becoming more and more popular in Austria and southern Germany. They used to be way more brutal decades ago and people (also women and children) got sometimes beaten up by Perchten, but nowadays it is usually less violent (but they still hit you with their rods, but not to hard – it believed to be an old ritual for fertility and luck).
It’s a pretty big deal. When Nicholas comes and gives gifts to kids who behaved well, Krampus eats this who didn’t
It’s the day before St. Nicholas, the Krampus comes to terrorize little children who’s parents think they are “bad”.
Just the cultural furries included in culture and folklore
Krampus is part of the Nikolaus rite – he is the one who punishes the nasty kids – and his function is not unique to Austria. A famous equivalent is the Dutch “Zwarte Piet” who joins Sinterklaas, or Knecht Ruprecht in Northern Germany.
He has lost most of his significance nowadays, as pedagogics has moved on and we no longer use the Krampus to threaten kids that don’t behave well.
He often gets mixed up with the Schirchperchten, but they have a different background and function (they do not punish ill behaving kids but they should clear the old year of evil ghosts and make place for a better new year) , and they are not unique to Austria either (some neighbouring countries have similar rites at this time of the year, even those that are not in the Alps).
If you don‘t eat your veggies, he will find you and kill you. That‘s what our moms ask us when we are 5 years old. Nobody from us know if we survive until x-mas
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No, but on 5th of December
First question, google it
Second question, you can have him come to your home and terrorize your kids so they behave better. There’s also krampus runs that are entertaining to watch. But overall unless you want to encounter a krampus, you probably won’t. Christmas here is like Christmas in most western countries.
Not during Christmas. Krampus has its own day. The 5th of December one day before the day of st Nicholas. So he often appears combined with him. So most international people interpret Krampus as a Christmas thing because st Nicholas is the inspiration of Santa Claus. But we don’t use Santa here for Christmas. We use the child Jesus that brings the present. St Nicholas day is on the 6th of December one day after Krampus das but most od the time they appear together.
As I remember (which might be wrong and I won’t look it up) Krampus is the relative of Nikolaus. While Nikolaus goes to the good kids on the 6th Krampus goes and gets to the bad ones at the 5th. He will stuff them in his coal sack and will leave coal for the parents instead.
The 24th is when the “Christkind” comes, so the Christchild which is more of an angel like figure while the known Santa Clause is closer to Saint Nikolaus.
He is quite skillful with his stick when it comes to naughty boys and my butt is still sore.
Bad boys, bad boys
Whatcha gonna do?
Whatcha gonna do when they come for you?
**”In Austria, we tend to believe more in Krampus than in God.”**
The funny thing is that Krampus is getting less and less known, while Perchten is much more popular. My understanding is that Krampus is the christianized version of Perchten that was put opposite of Nikolo as a good cop / bad cop trope. Perchten come in packs and are more animalistic in appearance. They should scare the winter ghosts away.
Like everyone said it’s not a Christmas custom but either a St. Nicolas or a winter custom.
TLDR Krampus and Perchten are very similar and Perchten are getting more and more popular. It’s a big deal but is not linked to XMas
It depends on where you are in Austria.
The Krampus appears as St. Nicholas’ companion
Perchten are independend figures and do not belong to St. Nicholas.
But as already mentioned, he can have different names and appearances from region to region. Possible names are, for example
Krampus, Klaubauf, Bartl(mandl), Buttn(mandl), Schmutzli, Klausn, Knecht Ruprecht, ….
Yes in Austria the Krampus is the same deal as St. Nicholas
Only on one single day, not what all these YT shorts and whatnot wants you to believe.
5th of December. Not before, not after.
Btw, today all these content creators mix up Krampus and Perchten, which are totally different thing.
Where I am from, we don’t know Perchten. That’s an alpine tradition. Only in recent years they became popular, simply because there isn’t a fixed date.
He’s tied to advent (specifically Krampus day, Dec. 5th) and St. Nicholas. So somewhat tied to Christmas, but more like pre-Christmas.
Old tradition which was nice 25-30 years ago and went completely off the rails. Now its more or less not bearable anymore cause its an adults thing with horrific masks (which are amazing handcraft) but way too scary for kids – which this tradition was for in the first place.
Krampus comes on December 5th and he usually has a bundle of twigs and a sack of coal. Naughty children will receive a spanking with the twigs (figuratively in the old stories to scare them into behaving – nobody is actually beating up their children literally in the name of Krampus 😉) and a piece of coal as a “gift”.
Krampus is also often shown as the enforcer/servant of St. Nicholas (or Nikolo as he is often called colloquially) and takes care of the naughty children for him, while St. Nicholas will give gifts to the good children in the form of fruit, nuts and sweets on the following day, December 6th.
Christmas is celebrated on December 24th and the gifts are traditionally being brought by the Christkind (usually after dinner in the evening). The Christkind is usually an androgynous child with blonde curly hair, a halo, wings and in a white and golden dress/robe type of garment. They look more like teenage classic angels, not so much like the chubby baby cherubs.
https://youtu.be/jj3gxPSv4RA?si=h9YEHdJNXDs_kz9y
Krampus and Perchten are different traditions. Krampus appears on 5th of december, Nikolaus on 6th. The Perchten tradition is said to date back to pagan times. It is about chasing away evil spirits by disguising as them (kind of like the original Halloween in celtic countries). The Perchten are in some alpin regions connected to Frau Holle or the norse god Odin/Wotan and are said to be the Einherjer (Odins Warriors). They appear in the Rauhnächte, the nights between 21th of december (winter solstice) and 6th of january (heilige drei Könige/epiphania). Unfortunately in modern days, Krampus and Perchten are mixed up, also because the Krampus and Perchtenläufe events nowadays do not only happen on 5th of December or during the Rauhnächte, but sometimes from November to mid january. They are becoming more and more popular in Austria and southern Germany. They used to be way more brutal decades ago and people (also women and children) got sometimes beaten up by Perchten, but nowadays it is usually less violent (but they still hit you with their rods, but not to hard – it believed to be an old ritual for fertility and luck).
It’s a pretty big deal. When Nicholas comes and gives gifts to kids who behaved well, Krampus eats this who didn’t
It’s the day before St. Nicholas, the Krampus comes to terrorize little children who’s parents think they are “bad”.
Just the cultural furries included in culture and folklore
Krampus is part of the Nikolaus rite – he is the one who punishes the nasty kids – and his function is not unique to Austria. A famous equivalent is the Dutch “Zwarte Piet” who joins Sinterklaas, or Knecht Ruprecht in Northern Germany.
He has lost most of his significance nowadays, as pedagogics has moved on and we no longer use the Krampus to threaten kids that don’t behave well.
He often gets mixed up with the Schirchperchten, but they have a different background and function (they do not punish ill behaving kids but they should clear the old year of evil ghosts and make place for a better new year) , and they are not unique to Austria either (some neighbouring countries have similar rites at this time of the year, even those that are not in the Alps).
If you don‘t eat your veggies, he will find you and kill you. That‘s what our moms ask us when we are 5 years old. Nobody from us know if we survive until x-mas
Krampus is a sub-category of the Furries /s
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