Tag Archives | Krampus

Krampus and Kicking the Hornets’ Nest!

By on March 25, 2013 in News 0

From The Washington Post:

It sounds crazy, but there is good reason to suspect that this story, in the prominent South Korean newspaper Chosun Ilbo, could be true. According to the story, North Korea ordered its diplomats in some number of foreign embassies, including at least one in Eastern Europe, to sell illegal drugs on the streets. The diplomats, according to a defector who spoke to South Korean intelligence, were each sent abroad with 20 kilograms (about 44 pounds) of drugs and were told to raise $300,000 from the sales.

In case that is not weird enough for you, the diplomats were told that they were being asked to forgo their ambassadorial responsibilities in favor of pushing illicit drugs in order “to prove their loyalty and mark the birthday of nation founder Kim Il Sung on April 15.”

From the  BBC News Three men charged over Norwich ‘Oompa Loompas’ attack:

Police investigating an assault involving people dressed as Oompa Loompas have charged three men.

… Read the rest

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Swiss Santa Claus’s Terrifying Alter-Ego Schmutzli

By on December 24, 2012 in News 4

The harsh Germanic Santa Claus equivalent known as Krampus has seen his celebrity rise in recent years, but he’s not Northern Europe’s only the only psychologically scarring Christmas figure. Switzerland’s black-cloaked Schmutzli, also known as “the Whipping Father,” arrives each December 25th to beat and abduct children. Swissinfo says:

Known as Schmutzli in the German part of the country and Père Fouettard (from “whip”) in French, Samichlaus’s alter ego usually carries a broom of twigs for administering punishment to children.

Kurt Lussi, curator at Lucerne’s History Museum, says that the St. Nicholas custom in Switzerland became interwoven with a festival of masks dating back to pre-Christian times. Schmutzli, he says, was a symbol of the evil spirits which these ancient festivals sought to drive out with a combination of noise and light.

He gives the example of an illustration from 1486 that depicts a demon who abducts children. “This child-stealing motif returns again in Schmutzli,” he said.

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Krampus March In Austria

By on December 25, 2011 in News 2

It’s nice to remember that people around the world celebrate Christmas in different ways. Check out last year’s edition of the annual Christmas parade (“Krampuslauf”) in Graz, Austria, filled with local color as Krampuses (German Santa Clauses) go on parade:

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The Sacred Clowns Bring Krampus To Wisconson Protests

By on March 4, 2011 in News 16
The Sacred Clown Union

The Sacred Clown Union

DATELINE: Madison, Wisconsin, USA. February 25

Sacred clowns came down on Wisconsin state capitol. Protesters unwittingly revived an ancient European sacred clown tradition previously thought extinct in North America. KRAMPUS!, also known as the “henchmen of Saint Nick,” were thought to be non-existent in all but a few remote Tyrolian villages, but it seems their population is actually growing “under the radar” in the American midwest spurred on by labor unrest in the face of government corruption there.
And it isn’t even Christmas!

Seems Anonymous might have some company. More on this on the Modern Mythology website.

I also received a missive from their chief organizer, in reaction to criticism that Krampus is generally known for running around, beating children. Here’s a sample:

Some of our clowns definitely take inspiration from Krampus–“the henchmen of Saint Nick” thing you find in the Austrian, German and Swiss Alps. We live in Wisconsin, a bastion of German heritage, and we see those clowns as something we lost– something we want back!

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