Krampus Fever appears to be taking off this year and I'm not sure why. I thought everybody knew about Krampus, playing Hyde to Santa Claus' Jekyll. It's fairly simple: if you're a good kid, Santa brings a sack and takes toys out of it to give to you. If you're a bad kid, Krampus takes you and puts you in his sack and takes you home, where he will take you home and eat you. Or turn you into paste. Or bury you in Rox's crawlspace. Whatever he's going to do, you're not going to like it.
And we worry we're traumatizing kids if we threaten to call Santa Claus to snitch on them. Bah.
However, the notion of the Krampus appears to be slowly making its way to the U.S. I especially like the Krampuslauf, where a bunch of people prowl/parade through the streets dressed as the Krampus. To give demonstrations, I've provided two excellent videos from this year and last year. The costumes these guys wear are pretty badass. In fact, these vids remind me a bit of the Procession of the Ghouls in NYC. I think the Krampuslauf should be right up there with the Zombie Walk as an annual event in pretty much every major city. What say you?
P.S. One last question--is the plural of Krampus "Krampi"?
Widgett Walls is Need Coffee's Chief Cook and Bottle Washer. He is the author of the novel Mystics on the Road to Vanishing Point, and two collections of short stories, Magnificent Desolation and Something Else: The Complete First Season. He is also co-author of the children's book There's a Zombie in My Treehouse! All of those books are available in paperback or for the Kindle from Amazon. He is also the narrator and publisher of the first unabridged recording of Seneca's letters, available here. He is active on both Twitter and Facebook. (If you befriend him on Facebook, do say you came via Need Coffee.) He lives and works in Atlanta, Georgia. He hardly ever sleeps.
I actually dressed up as Krampus for my 8th grade German class. We bombed around the school interrupting classes, and I broke twigs over people's heads.
The plural of Krampus is "Kramps". And I use an Elf-on-the-Shelf to ward away Krampus. Because I've heard "My Doll" is good for Kramps! (A long way to go for a not very clever or funny pun. "T'is the Season to be Jolly!")
Comment by Russ Rogers — December 19, 2011 @ 10:47 am
I actually dressed up as Krampus for my 8th grade German class. We bombed around the school interrupting classes, and I broke twigs over people's heads.
Comment by Isaac — December 18, 2011 @ 9:50 am
2.Let me clarify by saying it was a prop twig. I did not assault my classmates. Much.
Comment by Isaac — December 18, 2011 @ 12:06 pm
3.Did you actually mean to use the verb "bomb" there, chief?
Comment by Widge — December 18, 2011 @ 4:23 pm
4.Yes. It's my Colorado showing through.
Comment by Isaac — December 18, 2011 @ 7:52 pm
5.The plural of Krampus is "Kramps". And I use an Elf-on-the-Shelf to ward away Krampus. Because I've heard "My Doll" is good for Kramps! (A long way to go for a not very clever or funny pun. "T'is the Season to be Jolly!")
Comment by Russ Rogers — December 19, 2011 @ 10:47 am