They carried switches, fashioned of willow or birch twigs in depictions, though almost always made of horse hair during live celebrations.įor, in Alpine regions, krampusse are very much celebrated. Some have long tails, some have cloven hooves at the end of their strong legs, others one cloven hoof and one human foot. Only their faces are free of fur, but ghastly long unnatural faces they are: diabolical and almost caprine (kap-rein). They are tall, long, and looming and covered with a coarse, dark fur and crowned with vicious-looking twisted horns. The name for the creatures comes from the German word for “claw,” a name which gives the hearer precisely the spirit of the thing. Despite the treatment of Krampus in much of North American Krampus myth, for much of the world “Krampus” (plural: krampusse) refers to an entire species rather than a singular creature. There are a lot of misconceptions about our friend, the Krampus or rather, our friends. They begin to approach the houses, spreading out across the quiet, sleepy town as freshly hatched spiders spreading darkly across a pristine concrete wall. Even the shadows sense their coming, and draw back within themselves.
Shadows, already inky black from their very edges, do not get darker as the light recedes between trees and in corners of houses and under benches in the comfortable city, but denser. Their faces, pallid and gnarled and very nearly demonic, turn from moon-silver to a pale bronze as they approach the warmly-lit city streets, chains and bells clinking gently as they draw near. Some have feet and some have cloven hooves, some one of each the thick layer of snow softly crunching under feet and hooves both in a smudge of sound as they scatter across the landscape and toward the small, neat houses.
The creatures come from there, beyond the city, thickly furred and sharply clawed, from dank caves and deep, dark, ancient places. Twinkling across the surrounding fields in the night, mirroring the light of the moon in a million broken rays, the landscape is nevertheless stark beyond the forests surrounding the city. You wouldn’t want to upset The Krampus…įind the original article by EM Hilker that this podcast is based on HEREĪ fresh blanket of snow glistens in the cold light of the moon, a contrast to the warm glow of street lamps, wrapping the city streets in the cozy blanket of early winter.
The real story of Krampus is the subject of today’s holiday edition of Unpleasant Dreams! Oh, and be sure to be good.
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