In German-speaking Alpine folklore, Krampus is a horned, anthropomorphic figure. According to traditional narratives around the figure, Krampus punishes children during the Christmas season who had misbehaved, in contrast with Saint Nicholas, who rewards well-behaved ones with gifts. Regions in the Austrian diaspora feature similar figures and, more widely, Krampus is one of a number of Companions of Saint Nicholas in regions of Europe. The origin of the figure is unclear; some folklorists and anthropologists have postulated a pre-Christian origin for the figure .
Traditional parades in which young men dress as Krampus, such as the Krampuslauf, occur annually in some Alpine towns. Krampus is featured on holiday greeting cards called ''''.
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Origins The history of the Krampus figure has been theorized as stretching back to pre-Christian traditions. In a brief article discussing the figure, published in 1958, Maurice Bruce wrote: There seems to be little doubt as to his true identity for, in no other form is the full regalia of the Horned God of the Witches so well preserved. The birch—apart from its phallic significance—may have a connection with the initiation rites of certain witch-covens; rites which entailed binding and scourging as a form of mock-death. The chains could have been introduced in a Christian attempt to 'bind the Devil' but again they could be a remnant of pagan initiation rites. Discussing his observations while in Irdning, a small town in Styria in 1975, anthropologist John J. Honigmann wrote that: The Saint Nicholas festival we are describing incorporates cultural elements widely distributed in Europe, in some cases going back to pre-Christian times. Nicholas himself became popular in Germany around the eleventh century. The feast dedicated to this patron of children is only one winter occasion in which children are the objects of special attention, others being Martinmas, the feast of the Holy Innocents, and New Year's Day. Masked devils acting boisterously and making nuisances of themselves are known in Germany since at least the sixteenth century while animal masked devils combining dreadful-comic antics appeared in Medieval church plays. A large literature, much of it by European folklorists, bears on these subjects. ... Austrians in the community we studied are quite aware of "heathen" elements being blended with Christian elements in the Saint Nicholas customs and in other traditional winter ceremonies. They believe Krampus derives from a pagan supernatural who was assimilated to the Christian devil. The Krampus figures persisted, and by the 17th century Krampus had been incorporated into Christian winter celebrations by pairing Krampus with St Nicholas. Countries of the former Habsburg Empire have largely borrowed the tradition of Krampus accompanying St Nicholas on 5 December from Austria. Modern history In the 20th century, Austrian governments discouraged the practice.
In the aftermath of the 1934 Austrian Civil War, the Krampus tradition was prohibited by the Dollfuss regime under the Fatherland's Front and the Christian Social Party. In the 1950s, the government distributed pamphlets titled "Krampus is an Evil Man". Towards the end of the century, a popular resurgence of Krampus celebrations occurred and continues today. The Krampus tradition is being revived in Bavaria as well, along with a local artistic tradition of hand-carved wooden masks. There has been public debate in Austria in modern times about whether Krampus is appropriate for …show more content…
children. Krampus is steadily becoming a popular creature in North American pop culture. This has been met with some controversy, as many see it as part of a "growing movement of anti-Christmas celebrations" there. Appearance Although Krampus appears in many variations, most share some common physical characteristics. He is hairy, usually brown or black, and has the cloven hooves and horns of a goat. His long-pointed tongue lolls out. Krampus carries chains, thought to symbolize the binding of the Devil by the Christian Church. He thrashes the chains for dramatic effect. The chains are sometimes accompanied with bells of various sizes. Of more pagan origins are the '', bundles of birch branches that Krampus carries and occasionally swats children with. Krampusnacht The Feast of St.
Nicholas is celebrated in parts of Europe on 6 December. In Alpine countries, Saint Nicholas has a devilish companion named Krampus On the preceding evening of 5 December, Krampus Night or ', the wicked hairy devil appears on the streets. Sometimes accompanying St Nicholas and sometimes on his own, Krampus visits homes and businesses.
Krampuslauf
A Krampuslauf is a run of celebrants dressed as the beast, often fueled by alcohol. It is customary to offer a Krampus schnapps, a strong distilled fruit brandy. 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. Krampus has also adorned postcards and candy containers.
Regional variations
In Styria, the ' bundles are 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 ' or ''''.
North American Krampus celebrations, though rare, are a growing
phenomenon. Similar figures are recorded in neighboring areas. ' Austria, while ' or ', ', and ' are used in the southern part of the country. In most parts of Slovenia, whose culture was greatly affected by Austrian culture, Krampus is called ' and is one of the companions of Miklavž, the Slovenian form of St. Nicholas. In popular culture Random Spirit Lover, a 2007 album by indie band Sunset Rubdown, features a picture of Krampus on the back cover. Spencer Krug stated, in an interview with Pitchfork Media, that the Krampus image was placed there because "he represents the sort of duality that's a theme on the record, the two sides of every thing." Krampus also appeared as a character on American Dad! in the unaired Season 8 episode "Minstrel Krampus", which was scheduled to air on December 16 2012, but was not aired due to the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting.
Dr. Seuss's original fable is a simple story told with a great moral that criticizes the commercialization of Christmas. The original story features an “Ebenezer Scrooge” type creature that lives up the mountains outside "Whoville." The Grinch indulges himself in the annual ritual of spoiling everyone's festivities with a series of nasty pranks. This particular year however he plans to sabotage the holiday season by dressing as Santa Claus, clim...
It’s already Christmas time, and Christmas is due in less than a week, and everyone is excited. Hallmark started playing all of those Christmas movies that usually include a “hero”, sometimes being a range of things; A fireman, cop, and etc. But not everyone enjoys this time of year, although a lot of people do. There are two popular individual who come to mind, both of which are from famous stories. The main protagonists in Charles Dicken’s A Christmas Carol and Dr. Seuss’s How the Grinch Stole Christmas, Ebenezer Scrooge and The Grinch are those two people. These characters hate Christmas with a passion, and are both horrible people, but there is a catch, which one of this Christmas Meanies are the worst of their bunch? Everyone has taken their sides by now, but The Grinch is one of the meanest of them all.
During 1925, Mein Kampf was published by the Nazi Leader Adolf Hitler. In this autobiography, where Nazi racist ideas originated, he depicted his struggle with the Jews in Germany. These ideas sparked World War 2 and the Genocide of the Jews. The tragedy of the Holocaust inspired authors, such as Art Spiegelman who produced a Graphic novel, where both the text and images helped him convey his own ideas and messages. In fact, Art Spiegelman’s graphic novel Maus is an effective medium for telling a Holocaust narrative and specifically his father’s story of survival. Through this medium, he is able to captivate the readers while providing interesting insight into the tragedy of the Holocaust by using the symbols of animals, the contrast between realism and cartoon imagery and the various basic elements of a graphic novel.
Evidently, myths have become the culprit of traditions. That being said, the contemporary and ancient myths of Santa Claus and Krampus can only be understood by determining the elements that devise their entireties. Both narratives involve elements of opposition, trickery, mythemes, repetition, symbols, and ritualistic processes all of which support the structure of each holiday myth and tradition. Overall, the individual elements facilitate a valid, detailed compare and contrast analysis when examining the myths of Santa Claus and Krampus in a North American culture.
Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer is a story we are all familiar with, it captures a moment in time of blatant prejudices and inequality that spanned years from when it was written in 1939 to when it was released as a movie in 1964. However endearing the story may be, it is a testament to what conditions were socially accepted as normal during that time period. Originally written by Montgomery Ward to sell appliances, this story has an explicit lens of bigotry, inequality, and the importance of conforming to society.
Another food is stuffed turkey and roasted stuffed pig. During Miranda(a event where a pig gets fried) a Christmas party in thrown with family, friends and neighbors. Also, families decorate Christmas trees. On Candle day, which is December 7th, candles are lit in window sills and and in streets to celebrate December. Most of these candles are red and blue. On the 16th of December families, neighbors and friends pray for 9 days. Santa does not exist in Colombia, instead Jesus gives them presents. A way that children hope to get presents is on the day before Christmas Eve, children write notes to baby Jesus and put these notes in the pesebre (nativity). These notes also can be called Carta Niño Dios. On Christmas, which is the 25th, they eat leftovers from Christmas Eve. On Christmas people in the U.S. eat ham, mashed potatoes, green bean casserole, ham, stuffing and bread. In the U.S. people decorate Christmas trees with ornaments and lights. Families also hang stockings above fireplaces, bed posts, stair cases, window sills, door knobs and other places. Also, some children leave out cookies for Santa, they also write letters to him. It is believed that Santa Claus eats cookies that are left out for him, and he leaves presents under the Christmas trees for all the good boys and girls, and if you don’t be nice you get coal in your stocking instead of candy. Also, a tradition that started in 2005 is Elves
The Maus series of books tell a very powerful story about one man’s experience in the Holocaust. They do not tell the story in the conventional novel fashion. Instead, the books take on an approach that uses comic windows as a method of conveying the story. One of the most controversial aspects of this method was the use of animals to portray different races of people. The use of animals as human races shows the reader the ideas of the Holocaust a lot more forcefully than simply using humans as the characters.
Loman demonstrates that Spiegelman did not just randomly choose these animals to represent all the people during the Holocaust. Spiegelman used these animals to help demonstrate how these people were feeling. The Jewish people during the Holocaust suffered from dehumanization and treated like vermin. All the advertisements used by Nazi Germany during this time depict th...
A cross-dressing up to no good “rebel “of a solider know as Klinger off the TV show M*A*S*H brings to light the harsh reality of being an unwilling draft solider by trying constantly to be discharged. Klinger plays the portral of the archtype of the classic rebel. The Rebel archetype is a very American archetype and is in some ways a definitive behavior of the American individual and is inexorably linked to freedom. Klinger eximplifies this; his whole goal is freedom- more specifically to get out of the draft that he was sucked into. The show takes place in the 1950’s when America was drafting soldiers for the Korean and Vietnam Wars; Klinger wearing his insane “uniform” hoping to convince his superiors that he 's mentally unstable illustrates
Many of the Popular Parades are named after Greek Gods such as Bacchus, Orpheus, Endymion, and even the African parade, Zulu. Nowadays, the actual Parades are organized mainly of large colorful floats pulled by tractors or Mack trucks. These floats are usually two stories with large statues and decorations, telling the story of each floats theme. Parades also consist of marching bands, ROTC/Color Guards, Radio Stations vehicles, and even policemen. The Krewe of the float are dressed in masks and costumes for their float.
...ch out only for themselves, we lose sight of what Christmas is truly about. Forgetting the being of Santa Claus only makes us slight the kindness on which this holiday is based. Not believe in Santa! You may as well not believe in the very gifts laid under the tree on Christmas morn. Without your faith, Santa Claus would be nonexistent. There would be no yearning in your soul to give of yourself to others, no example to follow. Thank God, Santa Claus exists and exists forever, lightening the heavy heart as the sight of the snow blankets the soul and defines the heart of childhood.
Dutch children would put shoes by the fireplace for St. Nicholas or "Sinter Klaas" and leave food out for his horse. He'd gallop on his horse between the rooftops and drop candy down the chimneys into the children's shoes. Meanwhile, his assistant, Black Peter, was the one who popped down the chimneys to leave gifts behind. Dutch settlers brought the legend of Sinter Klaas to North America -- where we came to know him as Santa Claus. Clement Clarke Moore first described the “jolly old elf” with his sleigh drawn by reindeer, in the poem "The Night Before Christmas.
La Befana is the Italian version of America’s Santa Clause. In fact, the idea of Santa Clause stems from the legend of the La Befana. On the night that baby Jesus was born, the Three Wise Men stopped at her hut asking directions to Bethlehem, and invited her to go along with them but she refused. Later, a shepherd boy stopped to ask her for directions. He invited her to join him in his journey to Bethlehem, but again, she refused. Later that night she saw a large star in the sky and reconsidered going to look for the stable where baby Jesus lay. She wanted to bring him the toys of her child who had died. But she did not find the stable, and now each year she looks for baby Jesus. Since she can not find him, she leaves gifts for the good children of Italy, and coal for the bad ones.
Everyone has had a stuffed animal before...But what happens when you go to sleep? Who protects you from the real monsters under your bed? The ones with bloodstained fangs and ripped, gouged out eyes thirsting for blood. Who keeps you safe at night when the monsters begin their prowl?
Frosty the Snowman waves hello alongside Santa 's reindeer that are ready to take off. Candy canes line the sidewalk and the ginger bread dolls dance in a merry circle. The trees all sparkle with thousands of red, yellow, purple, blue, and orange lights. Out back, Mary and Joseph stand over baby Jesus, Choo-Choo train’s chug in spot, stars twinkle with bright yellow bulbs, and Mr. and Mrs. Santa Clause wave in the distance. Kerkhoven, MN, the location of the happiest house on the block. Every year my breath is always taken away as my eyes struggle to soak in the utter abundance of Christmas spirit. I 'm smiling and we 're not even inside yet.