Sunday, December 30, 2012

Krampustag

On the 2nd of December all across Austria a festival known as Krampustag takes place.  It is an alpine tradition where beastly, ram-horned creatures run through the streets scaring little children and adults alike.  You could think of him as the reverse of Santa Claus, something for children to fear.  The picture below says "Greetings from Krampus."  Notice how he's teasing the child with threatening chains and switches!
Horrifying, right?

Before December 2nd, I had no idea any of this existed.  After leading what was a fairly normal Sunday I received a call from Iris, a friend from Holland, about coming out to watch a "parade."  It's been my philosophy thus far not to decline any opportunities so naturally I put on a few layers and scampered out into the -4 C weather.  As I neared the the center of town I noticed a gentle stream people, all headed to the same place.  Their faces and nervous chatter seemed unusual for a people who generally aren't very loud or full of emotion in public.  I slipped into the crowd, rounded the corner leading to the main square and stood awestruck.  Thousands of people crammed into a space the size of a baseball field.  For every cobblestone laid in the square, two feet stood to occupy it.  Not only were there loads of people but food stalls, a stage, blaring speakers, police, and an enormous Christmas Tree.  I found my friends (Iris from Holland, Patrick from Ireland, Karin from Tyrol, and John from Arkansas) after a 40 minute wade through the sea of loud, boisterous bodies.  We huddled together along the cleared "parade" route in the cold, waning sunlight.  Soon, the main event began.
People in elaborately horrifying costumes wandered through the street.  Their masks were a combination of ram horns, bloody flesh, raged fur, and piercing red eyes.  Many of them had rusted, noisy cowbells strapped to their backs and clanking chains swinging from their arms.  It was a noisy affair that gave the crowd quite a heightened sense of awareness.  Startling scream-prone girls, creating a lot of racket, and showing off their elaborate costumes was the order of the day.  There were hundreds and it took 2 hours for all of them to pass by.  To make the experience more interesting, my friends and I decided to force eachother into the paths of oncoming Krampuses.  It's great fun watching the terrified expression of your friends as you hold them in place while a Krampus snarls at them an inch from their nose.  That is, until it was my turn as I screamed like a little girl when a female Krampus tried to give me what I think was a kiss.  These things were hideous!
Luckily in Graz they aren't aloud to physically interact with people.  However, in most smaller towns the Krampuses run through the streets, beating and terrorizing anyone who looks like they'll scream.  The video below shows what the Krampustag means for many other Austrians.


Brutal stuff.  I've included the few pictures from our experience that turned out anything recognizable.  Maybe we should do something like this in the States?





1 comment:

  1. Gosh - how terrible - and just around Christmas. I have never heard of Krampustag either and really don't understand its meaning. Very weird and too scary for me! Well, I am glad you got to experience this and that I was not there.

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