10/11/22 - We have not come up on Halloween yet. Heck, I'm not even done decorating for Halloween! However, the City of Waupun has "A Christmas Welcome" the first weekend in November, so we have to start thinking of Christmas, Yule/Winter Solstice! It's all part of my favorite time of the year, so I'm happy to think on such things. We add items for Yule and the Winter Solstice, as well as Christmas, but it's the Yule logs that I love the best!
This year, a friend of mine showed me a few of her art pieces. She is a magnificent artist! One of her pieces is a statue of Krampus. I asked her if I could borrow her Krampus for the holiday window decor, and she said yes!
A bit of Krampus folklore - Every year in early December, children in Austria get ready for St. Nicholas to visit them. If they’ve been good, he’ll reward them with presents and treats. But if they’ve been bad, they’ll get a lump of coal from Krampus. Actually, it was more than a lump of coal. Krampus is said to bind the bad children and drag them down to Hell!
Who’s Krampus, you ask? Folklore says he’s the half-man, half-goat who comes around every year to chase naughty children. Krampus is a character who comes from folklore in Austria’s Alpine region, where he’s been frightening children and amusing adults for hundreds of years.
Krampus and St. Nick’s other bad boys have their origins in Pagan celebrations of the winter solstice. Later, they became part of Christian traditions in which St. Nicholas visited children to reward them on December 5 or 6. Around that time, his menacing partner would also visit kids to punish them. In Alpine, Austria and some parts of Germany, this day was known as Krampusnacht, or “Krampus night,” when adults might dress up as Krampus to frighten children at their homes. Austrian men would get drunk and run through the streets dressed as the fearsome creature. Like Krampusnacht, the Krampuslauf tradition continues to the present day.
Personally, I'm glad I didn't live in Austria growing up!!!
