Krampus is a mythological character in Christmas folklore, the companion of Santa Claus. On the eve of the Christmas holiday, Krampus accompanies Santa Claus, punishing naughty children and scaring them, and also tempts women and engages in all sorts of indecency with them. When Krampus finds a cranky child, he stuffs it into his sack and takes the frightened child into a cave to eat for Christmas dinner. In older versions of the legends, Krampus kidnaps children and takes them to his creepy castle before throwing them into the sea.

Krampus is depicted as a furry demon with long horns and claws. Legends about krampus go back to pagan times and were associated with the arrival of winter and decreasing daylight hours. They were distributed in the territory of modern Austria, Germany, Hungary and northern Italy. However, over time, attitudes towards the Krampus have changed greatly. Currently, although Krampus appears in a scary and evil form, it is still a character of the pre-Christmas holidays.

According to other versions, the name Krampus comes from old German dialects common in Austria. There, the word krampus was found in the names of figurines made from dried plums, and meant - withered, dried, lifeless. The action itself occurs at the beginning of winter and precedes the onset of the darkest time of the year. Krampus personified the evil spirits of winter and with their terrible appearance reminded people of their inevitable arrival, of the onset of a long, cold and dark season.

During the spread of Christianity, krampus became the personification of devils and other evil spirits. The appearance of the Krampus changed in accordance with changing ideas about the terrible and repulsive appearance of humanoid creatures. During Christianity, he acquired the “devil-like” appearance of a shaggy creature with burning eyes, terrible teeth and horns. This is how it has remained to this day. According to old beliefs, Krampus is the ancient horned god of fertility, which is why he can attack a woman with very clear intentions.

The holiday, “Krampusiana”, has been preserved; it takes place on December 4-6. Unlike previous times, this action has become cheerful, putting people in a good mood. With the onset of darkness, many people appear dressed in animal skins and scary masks with horns and fangs. Very often they are hung with chains, cow bells and other “noisy” pieces of iron; the mummers pester passers-by, scare children and create maximum noise and confusion on the streets.

Christmas, despite the obvious religious connotation of this holiday, is celebrated not only by believers: gathering around a common family table and delighting each other with gifts has long become a good tradition for many people.

Christmas traditions and legends are so closely intertwined with the pagan folklore of various peoples that when traveling to different countries at the end of the year, you can meet anyone - from the Dutch Negro Pete, climbing into the house through the chimney, to 13 Icelandic Santa Clauses and their cannibal mothers who steal babies. We invite you to plunge into the atmosphere of Christmas legends and at the same time remember whether you behaved too badly this year?

1. Krampus

In some European countries, since ancient times there have been legends about Krampus, Santa’s evil twin brother or his negative alter ego - instead of wishing a Merry Christmas and distributing gifts, “Anti-Santa” searches for careless children around the world and punishes them. Krampus Night is celebrated on the eve of St. Nicholas Day (December 6 according to the Catholic calendar), the preacher who is believed to be the prototype of Santa Claus.

During the celebration of “Anti-Santa,” crowds of aggressive young people dressed as Krampus walk through the streets of European cities, looking for a reason to fight, and the festivities are accompanied by copious amounts of alcoholic libations and loud songs. Participants in these events quite often receive injuries of varying severity, so in recent years, the governments of some countries have required celebrants to wear armbands with numbers to make it easier to identify offenders among them.

It is believed that in appearance Krampus is something like a devil with a shaggy skin, cloven hooves and goat horns, but the pretentiousness of the costumes walking on Krampus Night is limited only by their imagination and the availability of materials - among them you can see a wide variety of “monsters” and "monsters".

The tradition is gradually spreading beyond Europe: for example, this year Krampusfest, held in Los Angeles, became a real sensation.

2. Yule cat

In our country, naughty children are taken away by the Gray Wolf or Baba Yaga, and Icelanders are frightened from childhood by the Yule Cat, who visits homes at Christmas and can kidnap and eat boys and girls who have not done anything good during the year and, in addition, have been seen in hooliganism. The furry “guardian of morals” leaves gifts for diligent children.

According to legend, in order to avoid the attack of the Yule Cat, it is necessary to acquire warm woolen clothes for the Christmas holidays, which will let the four-legged prankster understand that the person managed to purchase a new thing, which means he did not waste the year.

Apparently, the fear of the cruel but fair Christmas Cat serves as an excellent motivator for these northern people: according to statistics, Icelanders work overtime more often than the vast majority of residents of other European countries.

3. Frau Perchta

A witch known as Frau Perchta is quite common in German and Austrian folk tales. For 12 days after Christmas, she roams houses, giving gifts to the righteous, and making sinners suffer, for example, tearing and pulling out internal organs and replacing them with garbage and dirt.

In honor of Frau Perchta, the Austrians organize Christmas processions and festivities, somewhat similar to the celebration of Krampus Night, although Perchta’s “fans” are not so aggressive and, with rare exceptions, are not prone to alcohol abuse - the celebrations are more of a family nature.

Experts in European folklore are confident that the legends about Frau Perchta are most directly related to the cult of the ancient goddess Perchta, who lives in the forest for most of the year and comes out “in public” only after Christmas. Some experts note the similarity of the legends about Perkhta with the Italian legends about Befana, but others are sure that there is nothing in common between them: despite her repulsive appearance, Befana is a purely positive fairy-tale creature - she does not punish guilty children, but gives everyone toys and sweets.

4. Belsnickel

The legends of some south-eastern regions of Germany speak of Belsnickel, a shaggy tramp in shabby clothes made of animal skins, who, on the eve of Christmas, rewards good children with candy, and raises tomboys and lazy people with rods.

With his behavior, Belsnickel resembles Krampus, only he is not so bloodthirsty and cruel: most often the spirit does not use assault, only warning children that on Christmas each of them must behave exemplary.

During the years of active European exploration of the American continent, together with settlers, the tradition of “meetings” with Belsnickel came to America: for example, in one of the regions of Pennsylvania, this mythical character is almost as popular as Santa Claus.

5. Hans Trapp

Another "Anti-Santa", this time from Alsace and Lorraine (north-eastern regions of France), bears the name Hans Trapp. According to legend, Trapp was a cruel and greedy rich man who made a pact with the devil, for which he was excommunicated and sent to live in the forest to protect the French (especially children) from his corrupting influence.

The link didn’t help much: the villain, disguised as a straw scarecrow, began to hunt the lost kids and eat them. One day, the Lord heeded the prayers of a boy caught by Trapp and struck the wicked man with lightning, but this did not completely calm the villain: every year at Christmas, dressed up as a straw scarecrow, he returns to this world and scares badly behaved children.

6. Père Fouétard

The “dark side” of Père Noël, the French Father Christmas, is Père Fouétard, who accompanies the main Christmas wizard on his wanderings and tells him how this or that child behaved during the year.

In the old days, the French believed that one butcher one day around Christmas lured three little boys into his shop, killed them and cooked up all sorts of “delicacies” from children’s meat. But the cannibal did not have time to eat enough of them: Saint Nicholas came to the aid of the innocently killed, who resurrected the victims, and took the butcher himself under his wing.

Since then, every year on December 6, the couple Père Noel and Père Fouétard come to Earth and look for mischief-makers and tomboys in order to teach them a lesson, and good boys and exemplary girls receive from the “Father of Christmas” and his companion the reward they deserve for their obedience and diligence.

7. Zwarte Piet

The names of the Dutch Santa Claus' helpers correspond to the English Black Peter. Unlike most other fairy-tale creatures in this collection, Zwarte Piet do not look too much like fantastic monsters - in appearance they look like boys (in some legends, little black boys), covered from head to toe in soot.

On behalf of Sintaklaas (the Dutch version of Santa Claus), in order to leave gifts for the children, the Petes have to enter houses through the chimney and then get out the same way.

On St. Nicholas Day, the Dutch Father Frost and his black children arrive in the Netherlands from Spain by boat, and in the mid-19th century, children in the country were frightened by the fact that Zwarte Piet and Sintaklaas could take them with them. Apparently, in those days, Spain was considered an extremely inhospitable place, but, most likely, the long-term enmity of these two European powers had an effect.

8. Jolasweinar

For centuries, Icelanders have been composing legends and songs about the treacherous Jolasveinars, or, as they are also called, the Yule Boys, who play various tricks and pranks on Christmas. Some legends describe the Jolasweinars as harmless mischief-makers who steal all sorts of little things from the house, others say that the Guys are more like ferocious monsters, quite capable, for example, of eating a child. The number of Yolasweinars changed from legend to legend, but nowadays it is generally accepted that there are a damn dozen of them, and the already known Yule Cat goes everywhere with them.

Until the beginning of the 20th century, the Guys were considered not very respected characters, but after the legends about Santa Claus penetrated into Iceland, the local residents wanted to have their own positive Christmas hero, and in the absence of more suitable ones, Jolasveinars were taken for this “role.”

According to tradition, Icelandic boys and girls leave their shoes outside the door on each of the 13 nights leading up to Christmas, so that the Yule Boys can put various gifts in the shoes, of course, only for those children who have behaved well during the year. Interestingly, the Santa Clauses from Iceland are noticeably different from each other and do not like to be confused, so each of them has their own gifts.

9. Gryla

The selection of heroes of Christmas legends is completed by the bloodthirsty cannibal giantess Grila. This image has been found in Icelandic legends since ancient times, but it was only in the 17th century that Gríla began to be called the mother of the Yule Lads and began to be associated with Christmas.

Icelandic folklore says that the giantess lives in a mountain cave with her 13 offspring, a lazy and negligent husband named Leppaludi (this was her third marriage) and a huge black Yule Cat as a pet.

Such a “saturated” family life endowed Gríla with cruelty and treachery: the villainess kidnaps little Icelanders (especially those who “distinguished themselves” with pranks during the year) and serves them to her Christmas table.

In Iceland, Grýla is considered so powerful that in 2010, the news agency The Onion even declared her to be the culprit in the Eyjafjallajökull volcano eruption.

Everyone knows that Santa Claus gives gifts to good children and coal to bad ones. However, according to tradition, St. Nicholas - the prototype of the famous Santa Claus - was accompanied by his faithful companion and at the same time antipode - a horned monster named Krampus. It was he who was responsible for punishing disobedient children. Krampus is an integral New Year's character in the Alpine regions. People dressed as this terrible monster can be found on the streets during Christmas festivities. Beware! He's got a whip and he's going to use it!

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1. How is this nocturnal creature, more like an orc, connected with Christmas?

2. As you know, if children behave well, Father Frost (or Santa Claus - depending on who you choose) will bring them gifts for the New Year.

3. The idea is the same with Krampus, only he doesn’t bring gifts. He is not at all interested in good children. He likes those who behave badly, because they are the ones he can whip with his whip on New Year's Day.

4. Today, if children behave badly, it usually means that they will not receive any gifts.

5. For some, this punishment is enough. However, some cultures had their own characters to frighten naughty children. One of them was Krampus - the threat of all naughty children.

6. Remember the movie How the Grinch Stole Christmas?

7. Well, Krampus is somewhat similar to him. Only with a much worse character.

8. Add here horns, something from goblins and orcs from “The Hobbit” and “The Lord of the Rings”, and you will imagine a real Krampus.

9. Krampus is not just a fiction, but rather a means of intimidating naughty children, which has been used in different cultures for a long time.

10. It began to gain popularity in Europe, appearing in remote, isolated alpine regions just over a hundred years ago.

11. This was partly due to the popularity of Christmas cards depicting him in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The image of Krampus has changed little in recent years; one might even say that he has become scarier.

12. So where did the legend of Krampus come from? The very name of this monster comes from the Old German word “krampen”.

13. It means "claw". Krampus is an incubus that accompanied Saint Nicholas. Only he doesn’t give gifts to good children - he punishes the bad ones.

14. According to tradition, an incubus is a demon that visits sleeping people. He lies down on them (the word “incubus” comes from the Latin word “incubo” - “to lie on top”).

15. However, Krampus is not just any rapist. Its purpose is to punish children who have behaved badly this year.

16. Postcards from the early 20th century depict Krampus with a whip.

17. It is with this whip that he “measures out” his Christmas punishment.

18. In Austria in particular, Krampus Night is still not forgotten. He is remembered on December 6, St. Nicholas Day.

19. Young people (and today girls) dress up as Krampus and walk along the city streets. Their goal is to scare children. And it seems, not only children.

20. Needless to say, this is Europe, the 21st century. The Krampus tradition, once part of the culture, has now become a great excuse for those who like to indulge in all sorts of street madness. Let's just say it's an excuse for young people who want to be bad for a little while.

21. Due to the isolation of the alpine regions, many regional varieties of Krampus emerged. In Bavaria he is “Wilde Mann”, somewhere else he is “Knecht Rupert”. But the tradition of punishment walks side by side with him.

22. However, in Hungary his image softened a little. There he is considered a harbinger of troubles, but not a demon. In addition, the Hungarian Krampus is dressed in a black suit. The modern image of the polite (but nonetheless stupid) devil comes from there. The Hungarian Krampus often carries Virgaki - several rods tied together, which children can receive if they behave badly. Of course, they still receive gifts too.

23. The largest holiday in honor of Krampus takes place in the town of Schladming in Austria. About a thousand Krampus gather there. They carry sticks and burning whips with which they can punish bad children. Often, Krampus choose young girls as their targets. Especially the cute ones.

24. It is not surprising that girls prefer to stay at home on this night (after all, the German whip is known throughout the world).

27. The Krampus Festival is becoming increasingly popular in other parts of the planet.

28. Nowadays there are fewer and fewer Christian traditions, and people sometimes switch to pagan ones.

29. And the gloomy, almost “Gothic” beauty of this image only adds to its popularity, because today demons and other evil spirits are very popular.

If we talk about the most interesting traditional events in Europe, it is impossible not to mention the rather ancient holiday “Krampus Day”. Krampus appears in the folklore of the Alpine region as a companion of St. Nicholas, who was his complete opposite and was needed to create balance in the world. In other words, if Saint Nicholas gave gifts to good children, then Krampus punished the naughty ones.

The holiday takes place on the night of December 5-6. It is celebrated in Austria, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Slovenia, Southern Bavaria, the northern regions of Croatia and Italy.

Every year on this night, a procession of Krampus is organized, which march through the city with demonic lights, dancing and singing. And everyone can take part in the competition for the creepiest costume and the scariest roar.

“Krampus Day” is considered one of the most exciting and most anticipated holidays. Many tourists come to see it, and local residents happily leave their homes to have fun at the parade of scary devils.

This is what the process of making a devil mask looks like.

For this woodcarver, the tradition of dressing up as Krampus is a good way to make money. A handmade suit will cost a decent amount - about 500-600 euros, but it also takes as much as 15 hours to make.

In different regions, Krampus is depicted in different ways, but most often he is a shaggy, furry monster with devil horns on his head.

On the night of the celebration, you can see many different terrifying guises of Krampus on the streets. Men dress in costumes to scare children by rattling chains and bells.

According to legend, Krampus punished naughty children as severely as possible. He would find them, throw them into his sack, and take them to a cave where he would eat them for Christmas dinner. Older tales say that the demon took children to his castle and then threw them into the sea.

It’s impossible not to notice that some of Krampus’s appearance is similar to satyrs, creatures from ancient Greek mythology.

This is how the holiday took place in Slovenia in 2015.

This photo was taken during a celebration in the Austrian city of Huben in 2014.

Wood carvers create real masterpieces of art. Just look at these amazing masks!

Krampus gets its name from the old German word for "claw". In Austria, Saint Nicholas, called Santa Claus, and his assistant, a terrible demon named Krampus, travel from house to house on Christmas Eve.

Krampus is a red-faced, goat-horned demon that is covered in shaggy, black fur. He has chains on his body and rings a large bell. He has a long red tongue hanging from his mouth, a tail, and in his hands he carries a large stick and a black bag.

On Christmas Eve, Austrian children place their boots on the windowsill or outside their bedroom. While they are sleeping, Santa Claus and Krampus come to their house. If the children have been good, Santa leaves candy and treats in their shoes. If they misbehaved, Krampus beats them with a stick. If the children behaved very badly, then Krampus puts them in a bag and throws them into the river.

Just imagine: It's Christmas, you've just watched a Christmas movie with your family and sang carols by the fireplace. Then you go to bed, when suddenly a huge shaggy, horned monster bursts into your bedroom, with chains trailing behind him and he rings a bell. He pounces on you and hits you on the head with a stick, and you call your parents for help. Then he throws you into a bag and carries you away, while your parents stand aside and do nothing. And then he brings you to the river, throws you into the water and you drown. And all because you behaved very badly during the year.

The legend of Krampus became so popular that the story of him spread throughout Europe. This character has become especially popular in the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Slovenia, Croatia and Italy.

Today, Krampus Day is celebrated on December 5th. In provincial towns, some men wear furs, heavy boots and hideous masks with horns. Then, banging sticks and ringing chains and bells, they walk around the city, visiting houses in which there are small children. When the parents open the doors for them, they begin to terrorize the children: they growl and wave their sticks in the air. Children scream and cry. After the children have been thoroughly frightened, the parents invite the guests to sit down at the table for a drink.

Here are some eyewitness accounts.

"I lived in Austria for a long time and I remember that we often had Krampus walking around the city. This is one of the scariest moments I experienced when I was a child. It is also one of the biggest adrenaline rushes, because the threat is quite real. One day, Krampus saw my friends and me and started chasing us. We jumped over the fence and ran through the backyard, but Krampus still kept chasing us. If he catches you, he usually gives you a good whipping on your legs, yeah, that hurts. . And it’s really scary. I still can’t forget this horror I experienced in childhood." - Christophe.

“I’m Austrian and I’m very familiar with Krampus because he punched me several times as a child” - Nina.

"My family lived in Germany when I was little. My brothers and sisters and I had the wonderful opportunity to meet Krampus every Christmas. And for a child it was really scary! Krampus would come to our house, we would line up and he would ask us questions , whether we behaved well during the year. He had a big bag from which children’s arms and legs were sticking out and children’s screams and moans were heard from it, so the bag was beaten with a whip. Oh, believe me, we really didn’t want to end up in this. bag!" - Gavin.

Now that you were sure that Christmas is the only time of the year when there is nothing scary, remember Krampus.