Krampus Greeting Cards

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Krampus appears in the folklore of Austria, Bavaria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Romania, Northern Italy ( Autonomous Province of Trento and South Tyrol), Slovakia, and Slovenia. [32] Morality and a strict code of social conduct embodied the time period of Queen Victoria’s reign (1837-1901), but the Victorians still had their fair share of questionable practices. They thought nothing of posing with the dead or robbing graves and selling the bodies. Their holiday customs evolved with just as much curiosity. Clowns, insects and even the Devil himself had a place in early holiday fanfare. Reed, Ashley; Houghton, David (19 December 2014). "12 games where you beat the everloving cheer out of Santa Claus". GamesRadar . Retrieved 21 December 2014.

Goatman – a malevolent figure in urban folklore originating in Southern United States, like Maryland

Greetings from Krampus

Why all the sudden attention in a country where he’s never been widely recognized? Art director, graphic designer, and big man on Krampus Monte Beauchamp thinks that he deserves a lot of the credit. After a collector introduced him to Krampus postcards from the 19th and 20th centuries, Beauchamp published some in two issues of his magazine Blab!, and followed that with two books of Krampus cards in 2004 and 2010. Crimmins, Peter (15 December 2011). "Horror For The Holidays: Meet The Anti-Santa". NPR . Retrieved 25 November 2015. A toned-down version of Krampus is part of the popular Christmas markets in Austrian urban centres like Salzburg. In these, more tourist-friendly interpretations, Krampus is more humorous than fearsome. [33] Dallas Krampus Society Walk, 2016 Sveti Nikola – Mikulaš"[Saint Nicholas - Mikulas]. www.hrvatskarijec.rs (in Croatian). Archived from the original on 22 December 2015 . Retrieved 14 December 2015. a b Forcher, Michael; Peterlini, Hans Karl (2010). Südtirol in Geschichte und Gegenwart[ South Tyrol past and present] (in German). Haymon Verlag. p.399.

Oltermann, Philip (8 December 2019). "Austria struggles with marauding Krampus demons gone rogue: Police record rising violence and drunkenness in relation to traditional folkloric festivities". The Guardian . Retrieved 8 December 2019. In Austria and parts of Germany, people still dress up as Krampus to scare children on Krampusnacht (“Krampus night,” traditionally held on December 5), as they did in the 19th century; but the Krampuslauf (“Krampus run”), in which men get drunk and run through the streets in frightening costumes, is, obviously, mainly for the grownups. In the U.S., most celebrations of Krampus are also kind of like drunken dress-up days for adults—which, ironically, are more similar to an older type of American Christmas, before the holiday became more focused on kids and presents for kids. Kallikantzaros– Malevolent goblin in Southeastern European and Anatolian folklore – Creature in Balkan folklore The Krampus figures persisted, and by the 17th century Krampus had been incorporated into Christian winter celebrations by pairing Krampus with St. Nicholas. [13] Modern history [ edit ] I think it’s important to understand that ‘festive’ cards as we know them now are very much a 20th-century phenomena,” says Katie Brown, assistant curator of social history at York Castle Museum. According to Brown, although some of the history is lost, designs were made to serve as conversation pieces as much as they were made to celebrate the season. Many Victorian Christmas cards became parlor art or people added them to their scrapbook collections.

It is customary to offer a Krampus schnapps, a strong distilled fruit brandy. [20] These runs may include Perchten, similarly wild pagan spirits of Germanic folklore and sometimes female in representation, although the Perchten are properly associated with the period between winter solstice and 6 January. Krampus has also been a fixture on Austrian holiday greeting cards since the 1800s, where he’s shown pursuing women or menacing children. On the cards, Krampus traditionally has a long tongue that sometimes lolls halfway down his chest, and sports one human foot and one cloven hoof—no one is entirely sure why. 6. Some Austrian households had year-round décor meant to warn kids of Krampus.

Siefker, Phyllis (1997). Santa Claus, last of the Wild Men: the origins and evolution of Saint Nicholas. Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland and Co. pp.155–159. ISBN 978-0-7864-0246-5. In Styria, the Rute is presented by Krampus to families. The twigs are painted gold and displayed year-round in the house—a reminder to any child who has temporarily forgotten Krampus. In smaller, more isolated villages, the figure has other beastly companions, such as the antlered "wild man" figures, and St Nicholas is nowhere to be seen. These Styrian companions of Krampus are called Schabmänner or Rauhen. [20] Haid, Oliver (2006). "Christmas markets in the Tyrolean Alps: Representing regional traditions in a newly created world of Christmas". In Picard, David; Robinson, Mike (eds.). Festivals, tourism and social change: remaking worlds. Buffalo, New York: Channel View Publications. pp.216–19. ISBN 978-1-84541-048-3. Apkarian-Russell, Pamela (2001). Postmarked yesteryear: art of the holiday postcard. Portland, Oregon: Collectors Press. p.136. ISBN 978-1-888054-54-5. Europeans have been exchanging greeting cards featuring Krampus since the 19th century. [29] Sometimes introduced with Gruß vom Krampus (Greetings from Krampus), the cards usually have humorous rhymes and poems. Krampus is often featured looming menacingly over children. He is also shown as having one human foot and one cloven hoof. In some, Krampus has sexual overtones; he is pictured pursuing buxom women. [30] Over time, the representation of Krampus in the cards has changed; older versions have a more frightening Krampus, while modern versions have a cuter, more Cupid-like creature. [ citation needed] Krampus has also adorned postcards and candy containers. [31] Regional variation [ edit ]For most people, before the 1800s, Christmas was not a domestic quiet holiday,” says Stephen Nissenbaum, author of the Pulitzer Prize-nominated The Battle for Christmas. “It was a holiday that was characterized by boisterous revelry. It was sort of like a combination of Halloween and New Year’s Eve and Mardi Gras.” Soon after his first book came out, Beauchamp got a call from a gallery director in Santa Monica, California, who wanted to coordinate an exhibit of artistic interpretations of Krampus cards. If you haven’t heard of Krampus, the demon-like half-goat of Austrian folklore, then you haven’t been paying attention. The scary counterpart to St. Nicholas—Krampus punishes naughty children by beating them or dragging them to his lair, or even to hell—has already appeared on the Colbert Report, starred in a comic book, and inspired parties and parades across the U.S. He’s even the subject of a feature film (though he’s also appeared in multiple low-budget movies).