As Christmas vastly approaches, many of us celebrate with family traditions and regaled storytelling. However, some tales aren’t so lavish and magical. In fact, some are the makings of horrible nightmares. The story of Krampus is certainly one not to be ignored.
Krampus, a humanoid creature bearing a pair of wicked looking horns atop his head, resembling that of a sinister being set out to wreak punishment on all misbehaving youngsters during the Christmas holiday season. Unlike his jolly counterpart, good ol’ Saint Nick, Krampus doesn’t have a fantastical list of names that “he’s checking it twice and gonna find out who’s naughty or nice”. Nope, according to tradition that began centuries ago in Germany, Krampus begins appearing throughout the towns on the eve of December 6th known as Krampusnacht. His mission? To seek out the ungrateful children, snatch them up and take them back to his lair where he commits unspeakable acts of torture. This Christmas Devil is quite nefarious and isn’t exactly my cup of hot cocoa when it comes to memories of a warm holiday season, but still rather interesting. Interesting enough that a feature film has been released throughout the cinematic world titled, Krampus.
Folklore claims that this evil beast is the son of Hel. In Norse Mythology, Hel is a female who rules over the realm also known as Hel where many dead are said to go. According to Norse Mythology, Hel is the daughter of the shape shifter referred to as Loki and the phrase “Go to Hel” simply means to die. Not exactly an idyllic family tree compiled of warm holiday sentiment.
So, my question is this….. Since Krampus is a dark being of irrefutable fear that weeds out the bad children from the good, is he in cahoots with our beloved Santa Claus in order to help restore the light in humanity? Hmmm…. Question to ponder…. 🤔
SHEILA RENEE PARKER