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Reviving a Centuries-old Christmas Tradition with Krampus

12/6/2015

Krampus, best known as St. Nicholas' sidekick shadow, is a frightening looking beast who would scare the living daylights out of anyone who may have the unfortunate experience of coming into direct contact with him. That is exactly what he aims to do - scare naughty kids into playing nice - because bad behavior has bad consequences when you get on Krampus' naughty list.

Do a search on Google for Krampus and all sorts of stuff comes up. The same thing happens on YouTube, not surprisingly. Well, after doing some research and getting the Gumbo Ya Ya 2015 Special Holiday Krampus-Santa Edition together, and after going to see the new Krampus movie, I wanted to see what kinds of videos were available. I have posted a few I found entertaining below for your viewing pleasure.

The first video below is from an actual Krampus walk (Krampuslauf) in Austria, where the tradition is apparently experiencing a resurgence in popularity. In fact there are a lot of such videos of varying quality on YouTube; this one is in HD.

Krampus (HD) by Martin Hájek

Published on Jan 6, 2013
Krampus - real Hell in the Central Europe - Austria

The Legend of Krampus

Published on Nov 24, 2015
Krampus, In Theaters December 4 - krampusthefilm.com

"Krampus" (1958) - Lost Christmas Horror Flick

Published on Dec 21, 2014
Seasons grievings! Check out the ghastly holiday-horror spectacular, "Krampus" - based on the terrifying tales of Germanic folklore!

Naughty? Nice? Either way, yule be terrified.

In Bavaria, Krampus Catches the Naughty

A centuries-old Christmas tradition called the Krampus Run returns to Bavaria where monsters roam the streets in search of bad children.

Produced by: Erik Olsen

A Krampus Carol by Anthony Bourdain

Uploaded on Dec 7, 2011
Krampus is Santa Claus' whip-toting Christmas sidekick. According to legend, Krampus joins Santa where he tends to the children on Santa's naughty list. No coal here though. Instead, Krampus whips and licks children into shape or carries them off in his sack.

Krampus, the Anti-Klaus | Op-Docs | The New York Times

Published on Dec 24, 2013
Santa has gone too soft on kids, argues this animated Op-Doc, prompting the need for more frightening Christmas-season icons - like the German Krampus or Japanese Namahage.

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