Beware of Krampus

Okay, somewhere in the back of my mind I thought I knew the whole St. Nick / Santa Claus story. Complete with the whole candy and sweets for the good kids and coal for the naughty ones.


But did you know that Santa has an enforcer?


A dear sweet demon-looking, stick swinging, fellow named Krampus that carries a bag to haul all you nasty naughty beasties away if you don't please the jolly one in red.

In some of the Ruprecht traditions the children would be summoned to the door to perform tricks, such as a dance or singing a song to impress upon Santa and Ruprecht that they were indeed good children. Those who performed badly would be beaten soundly by Servant Ruprecht, and those who performed well were given a gift or some treats. Those who performed badly enough or had committed other misdeeds throughout the year were put into Ruprecht's sack and taken away, variously to Ruprecht’s home in the Black Forest, or to be tossed into a river. In other versions the children must be asleep, and would either awake to find their shoes filled with sweets, coal, or in some cases a stick. Over time, other customs developed: parents giving kids who misbehaved a stick instead of treats and saying that it was a warning from Nikolaus that "unless you improve by Christmas day, Nikolaus' black servant Ruprecht will come and beat you with the stick and you won't get any Christmas gifts." Often there would be variations idiosyncratic to individual families.

So my inner Pirate says "Dance ye monkeys, and make ye olde St. Nick believe yer worth savin' from the shade of Krampus' sack and the wrath of his switch - for there are more than sweets on the line this holiday season. Yarr" :P


And to think they want to ban sweet enforcer Krampus for his holiday fun:

Santa's Sidekick

All I can say it that if this guy had been stalking around my youthful traditions I'd be laying traps not setting out milk and cookies, and maybe putting some salt around all the entrances just to be safe.