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Friends,
I discovered the blood-chilling tradition of Krampusnacht, when the horned demon Krampus stalks through Alpine villages on December 5th, his chains rattling in the frozen night.
This isn’t some sanitized Christmas tale—it’s an ancient, primal ritual predating Christianity, where children who misbehaved weren’t merely denied presents but were beaten with birch rods, stuffed into Krampus’s sack, and dragged screaming to his lair. The beast’s matted fur, lolling tongue, and cloven hooves still haunt the nightmares of European children.
Background
Between 1934 and 1938, when Austria was under Fascist rule, Krampus was perceived as a representation of sin, anti-Christian ideals, and Social Democrats. The newspaper of the Austrian Catholic Union called for a boycott of Krampus. The government of Lienz forbade Krampus dances and further mandated that all aspiring St. Nicholas’s must register with the city. They also promised to arrest Krampus whenever they caught sight of him.
In 1953, though it didn’t rise to the level of a ban, the head of Vienna’s kindergarten system printed a pamphlet calling Krampus’ an evil man’ and warning parents that celebrating him could scar their children for life.
Krampus comes to the U.S.
But, never fear! You can not keep a good monster down for long! Krampus now has an American website called the Krampus Army. New York City turns its Blood Manor Scare Factory haunted house into a Krampus-themed terror for one night. Bellingham, WA, puts on a Krampus Kon and Seasonal Booze pub crawl. Washington, D.C., hosts charity events for foster youth called Krampusnacht. Bloomington, Indiana, hosts the largest Krampus event in North America, the Krampus Rampage.
My favorite city, New Orleans, has the Krewe of Krampus with a parade of the Sisters of Shh, icy queens, who warn of Krampus’s arrival.
In St. Louis, Missouri, there is a nonprofit educational organization called the Krampus Research Association that advances Krampus studies.
Krampus has become a mainstream part of Christmas celebrations.
But who is Krampus, and how does he tie into Christianity, Christmas, the Norse Goddess of Hell, and Loki, the trickster god?
Two Stories- One Person
Krampus has two utterly different histories, five if you look into all the other mythology. But for the sake of argument, I will boil it down to 2: the German/Norse traditional myth and the Christian tradition. Little is known about pagan traditions; they were largely wiped out by the rise of modern Christianity. However, we can look to Norse, German, and Greek mythology, along with a few surviving records, to put together a general idea.
Old world German- Krampen meant ‘claw’, which might be where his name is derived from. Traditionally, he is perceived as a half-goat, half-demon, horrific beast who beats people into being nice and not naughty. The closest connection lies in pagan festivals celebrated in the winter months, when men would don devilish masks and animal furs and act as nuisances to the villagers.
There is little to link the Christian holiday of Christmas to Krampus beyond the celebration period, typically during the longest days of winter. Still, there is enough to believe that Krampus and the winter solstice were originally linked.
Some believe that mythology or paganism did not initially shape the Krampus tradition; rather, it was a pushback against the Christian church and its lack of understanding of the ‘old ways.’
Austria
In Austrian culture, the belief closest to Krampus’s origins is Perchta, the winter Goddess. She became better known under her other name, Frau Berchta, which the Brothers Grimm popularized. She is also associated with Berchta, the Germanic goddess of abundance, demonized by the Catholic Church and cast as a witch. You see, Frau Perchta — much like Santa Claus — will reward good children and punish the bad. The Storied Imaginarium tells us that:
She also punishes women for unkempt households and unspun flax. For those she deems good, a silver coin is left for them. If she deems you unworthy, if you forget to leave out a bowl of porridge for her, if your flax is half spun and unfinished, she slits open your abdomen, removes your organs, and replaces them with straw.
She was also associated with the Wild Hunt, flying through the night sky while accompanied by her demonic Perchten — Krampus-looking creatures — and elves and unbaptized babies. During the last three Thursdays before Christmas, you will hear the sounds of thunder and wind roaring, however it is really Frau Perchta leading her Wild Hunt.”
Scandinavia
In Norse mythology, Krampus is the son of Hel, Goddess to the underworld. The story tells us that Loki had three children with a giantess named Angrboda. The children were a snake named Jormungand, a wolf named Fenrir, and a girl named Hel. Loki completed an abysmal ritual on his daughter. He secured her between two trees and plunged half her body into icy water. Slowly, her skin withered and turned black. Removing his daughter from the water, Loki made her consume a concoction that warmed only half of her body.
From this experience, Hel developed the gift of seeing ‘the shadows of the world beyond ours.’ Her body bearing the scars of her terrible ordeal, half alive, half dead, condemned to black and white, Hel became the mistress of the kingdom of the deceased.
Another source says that
youngest daughter of Loki, Hel is described as ‘a horrible hag, half alive and half dead, with a gloomy and grim expression. Her face and body are those of a living woman, but her thighs and legs are those of a corpse, mottled and moldering.’
A Visitor From The Shadows
It is said that once a year, Hel would allow Krampus to walk among the living, and it was then that he would enact his terrible deeds against the children. He would appear when it was dark and cold only because it closely resembled his own home in hell.
It was called Niflheim, or the World of Darkness, and appears to have been divided into several sections: Náströnd, the shore of corpses. There stood a castle facing north, filled with the venom of serpents, in which murderers, adulterers, and perjurers suffered torment while the dragon Nidhogg sucked the blood from their bodies.
Mention is made in an early poem of the nine worlds of Niflheim. The poem said that those who fell in battle did not go to Hel but to the god Odin, in Valhalla, the hall of the slain.
Around the 11th century, the idea of Saint Nicholas, aka Santa Claus, really began to take hold in winter traditions. Why this time frame? I am glad you asked; this is a small side story, but I think you might like it, and it ties in with the Christian Church’s need to make Santa Claus a significant figure in the holiday.
From Saint to Gift Giver
The original saint was a Greek, born around 280 A.D. He became bishop of Myra, a minor Roman town in contemporary Turkey.
Nicholas was neither fat nor jolly but developed a status as a fiery, rugged, and rebellious protector of church doctrine during the Great Persecution in 303 A.D., when city officials burned Bibles and priests were made to abandon Christianity or face execution.
Nicholas defied these edicts and spent years in prison before the Roman emperor Constantine ended Christian persecution in 313 A.D. with the Edict of Milan. Nicholas’s reputation endured long after his death (on December 6th in the mid-fourth century, around 343 A.D.) because he was associated with many miracles. Admiration for him continues to this day, independent of his Christmas connection. He is the guardian of many types of people, from orphans to sailors to prisoners.
The Evolution
Around the 16th century, the tradition of Krampus began to re-manifest. The church had made the celebration of Perchta and her Perchten illegal. Still, the Austrian people were unwilling to give up their traditions wholly and developed one main character- the Krampus. By using Krampus as a devil-incarnate figure to elevate Saint Nicholas to almost godlike status, the church bought into this idea.
Krampus would serve Saint Nicholas, traveling in a pack of monsters who would appear during the Yule period. On December 5th, the Krampus monsters were allowed to freely roam the streets of villages, looking for the naughty children to whip or beat. If you were truly horrible, you were placed in their baskets and taken to hell.
Then, after the fear-filled day of horror, Saint Nicholas would swoop in on December 6th and bring joy, light, laughter, and the spirit of Christianity back to the world.
Rebirth of a Legend
Before the mainstream church banned these myths, the Perchten were seen as protective spirits. He was traditionally seen as a figure who doled out punishment for those who deserved it, not as an evil being trying to gobble up all the children. But I believe Krampus was a necessary evil, because you need incentives for the good and consequences for the bad.
As religion grew, so did the need to preserve individual beliefs and customs, which were adapted to fit the new norm.
By the 1800s, polite society could find Krampus on greeting cards, postcards, and even candy wrappers. The pictures were distasteful even for modern-day standards, usually portraying Krampus as a sexual deviant. After all this research, I wonder why the church would have spent so much time cultivating the Krampus image, only for it to no longer be a ‘thing’.
Of course, adults LOVE the idea of drinking and merry-making about this time of year- but I don’t remember ever telling my kids to act right, or that Krampus was coming for them. Should we bring back the old figure?
Final Thoughts
Moral of the story: Loki is a real player in mythology, the caretaker of the underworld is a woman, Krampus is so evil that even the Nazi’s banned him for a while, the Christian church used pagan traditions to glorify their saint, and now I can be a paid researcher on the Krampus mythology through a nonprofit in Missouri.
Until next time, Keep Reading and Stay Caffeinated.
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Very interesting account of “Krumpus” I had heard about it but did not know much about it. I will be sure to find the movie and watch it! 💓
That’s fascinating–and it left me dizzy. Excuse me while I go sit down for a while.