Horror Origins: Krampus

Hello, my little Christmas Kittens!

I’m so excited that it’s finally December. I feel like my year doesn’t start until September – at least the good parts. We get Thanksgiving (Canadian here) Halloween, and then it’s Christmas! I fucking love Christmas. I love shopping and eating cookies and hanging out in my jammies. I’m SUPER pregnant so I’m hoping I don’t calve before then haha. Wish me luck! Anyhoo – this has a point. It’s Horror Origins month here at the Midnight Society, so I chose this week’s blog based on one old bad ass…Krampus.

Sorry Jolene, not that Krampus

No, I’m talking about this Krampus.

Ho, Ho, Ho, motherfuckers.

Derived from the Old High German word for “claw”, Krampus is a towering, horned creature covered in hair with bulbous eyes and a long, skinny tongue. Legends say he’s often draped in chains, which he clanks together to inspire fear. If that doesn’t scare the little kiddos, surely the bundle of birch sticks he carries around will.

While his better half – Jolly old St. Nick – showers the lucky tots on his Nice list with presents, Krampus is responsible for all the wee buggers on the Naughty list.

To find out what list they were on, German children would leave a shoe or boot outside their homes on December 6th, which was Nikolaustag (St. Nicholas Day). In the morning, their shoe either contained a present for good behavior or a rod for the opposite. Though I’m not sure if the rotten kids were even around to check their shoes…for December 5th was Krampusnacht (Krampus Night).

On that night, Krampus took to the streets. He’d round up the culprits on the Naughty list and shove them into his sack. If they weren’t drown, beaten, or eaten, they were carried into the bowels of hell. Can you imagine? The pungent smell of sulfur penetrating the coarse fibers of a burlap sack? Those same fibers melting and bonding to your skin as the lake of fire swallowed you whole…all because you didn’t eat your veggies.

I don’t know about you, but I might’ve behaved a little better if my parents spun that yarn.

If you think Krampus is as creepy as I do, make sure you join our own Kathy ( @KathleenPalm ) on Friday, December 23rd at 9pm EST as she live tweets the horror film KRAMPUS.

See you in a couple weeks.

xx.