Krampus: Santa’s Evil Helper

It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year is one of the holiday season’s most popular song, ever since it hit the charts back in 1963. But one of the lyrics is a little out of place with the rest: “There’ll be scary ghost stories.” I’m betting at least some of you have wondered why that is.

The song’s writers (Eddie Pola and George Wyle) called back to older traditions with that line. During the Victorian era, people gathered to tell spooky stories. And when you really think about it, this makes a lot of sense. Winter is the coldest and darkest part of the year, and Christmas is pretty close to the shortest day on the calendar, the winter solstice.

And yes, this is why Charles Dickens set A Christmas Carol during the holiday.

A number of other Victorian writers released ghost/supernatural stories during December as well. In that spirit, all of my tales for this month are about ghosts, have some connection to this month/the holiday, or both, for what I’m calling Creepy Christmas. And what better way to kick things off then with a look at the terrifying helper of everybody’s favorite jolly old elf?

He’s got one cloven hoof, a snake-like tongue and sports a pair of ram’s horns. Everybody give a big welcome boo for the demon of the German Alps: Krampus!

So what does he actually do? Well, Santa is responsible for rewarding all the nice children. But as a saint, it was seen as inappropriate for such a holy figure to punish the naughty kids. And that’s because the justice Krampus dishes out is a lot more intense than a lump of coal.

According to the legend, he beats the year’s misbehaving children with sticks on Krampusnacht, December 5th (Christmas is the next day in Germany). If they’ve been particularly bad, then they’ll get eaten or dragged straight to Hell itself. Interestingly enough, scholars believe that Krampus has been on the job for longer then St. Nick.

It’s currently thought that he originated with pre-Christian German rituals. In that context, Krampus would have been the son of the Norse goddess Hel, and honored on the winter solstice instead. But as Christianity took root in the region, Krampus was simply incorporated into the new Christmas holiday instead, despite the Church’s best efforts to get rid of him.

In the present day, Krampusnacht is still celebrated, as a way to preserve German and Austrian cultural heritage. People dress up as the monster, and chase spectators through the streets (with plenty of warm beer to fend off the cold, of course).

Krampus has made appearances at Christmas parades across the world. He’s also broken into pop culture, including starring this very year in the movie Red One, where he’s portrayed by Kristofer Hivju.

Sources:

https://genius.com/Andy-williams-its-the-most-wonderful-time-of-the-year-re-recorded-lyrics

https://www.deseret.com/2010/12/23/20367942/telling-ghost-stories-is-a-lost-tradition-on-christmas-eve

https://www.britannica.com/topic/Krampus

Images:

By Adolph Tidemand - Nasjonalgalleriet and Trøndelag Art Museum, Trondheim, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=764546

By John Leech - http://historical.ha.com/common/view_item.php?Sale_No=683&Lot_No=57424&type=&ic=, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=4581698

By Unknown author - Historie čertů KrampusUploaded by Kohelet, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=27970733

By User:MatthiasKabel - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=5391881