It's Krampus time
You know it's that time of the year. Especially here in CZ or in Europe. We have a lot of different customs. Parade of devils is one of them (originally Germany/Austria, Krampen=claw)
Hello there,
this time I’m doing this a bit differently. This is not a free post.
The reason behind it is that I’d like to release a small zine or book on this theme. So far I’ve been gathering photographs from different krampus parades.
The reason there is a pay wall on this post is that either you’ll wait for the printed version to come out and buy that one.
Or you will pay for this post, much less that for the zine I think. I’m still really not decided.
Either way this means that if I was to post the photographs online without the pay wall, nobody will even look in the printed version.
Because why bother when you can take a look online for free right?
Consider this post also as a alpha version, there will a lot missing because I still don’t feel like I have enough to go for print.
Thank you for your support I won’t delay you any longer from the essay.
Krampus
The Krampus (German: [ˈkʁampʊs]) is a horned anthropomorphic figure who, in the Central and Eastern Alpine folkloric tradition, is said to accompany Saint Nicholas on visits to children during the night of 5 December (Krampusnacht; "Krampus Night"), immediately before the Feast of St. Nicholas on 6 December. In this tradition, Saint Nicholas rewards well-behaved children with small gifts, while Krampus punishes badly behaved ones with birch rods.
source: wiki
It starts earlier than the citation from wiki tells you, but the custom is:
Every year on the night of 5 December the custom is that trios of angels, devils and st. Nicholases are going from door to door to visit children.
For the adults/tennagers it’s fun cause they can play the role of one of the trio.
For parents it’s kind of reliever because the kids will not cause any havoc for at least next 7-14 days, usually not longer…
And finally it’s a lesson for the kids. I still remember for my few first years. It’s epic, even when you’ve been good whole year around there are few occasional problems you’ve caused.
The epic experience for the kid requires great devil/krampus on site. It’s a must. Without the bad the good does not shine.