Krampus: Christmas Devil's Night (audio)

Pat Macpherson, Wisdom Quarterly wiki edit; Al Ridenour (KrampusLA), Connie Willis (C2C)

Evil Krampus Xmas card

Krampuses are horned, anthropomorphic folkloric figure, "half-goat, half-demon," who during the Catholic Christmas season punish children who have misbehaved, in contrast to Saint Nick, who rewards the well-behaved with little gifts.

Krampuses are companions of Saint Nicholas in regions including Austria, Bavaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Hungary, Slovenia, and Northern Italy along with Black Pete.

Black Pete, Santa's Euro elf

The origin of the figure is unclear; some folklorists and anthropologists have postulated a pre-Christian origin for the figure.

 

In traditional parades and in such events as the Krampuslauf ("Krampus run"), young men dressed as the ogres participate. Such events occur annually in most Alpine towns.

Krampuses are also featured on holiday greeting cards called Krampuskarten. More

Rise of Krampus, Creepy Christmas

The Moorpass [Krampus] troupe from Maishofen, Austria (© Moorpass Maishofen/C2C).

Krampus (creepychristmascoloringbook/com)

Krampus, the European horned Christmas Devil character, has increasingly been featured in movies, TV, greeting cards, and ads, as well as parades in North America and Europe. 

Krampus expert Al Ridenour (facebook) the stuttering historian, researcher, and author of The Krampus and the Old, Dark Christmas joins co-host Connie Willis to discuss how this darkly folkloric figure is once again becoming iconic and why its true history and meaning is still a guarded secret.
 

CREEPY XMAS: Is the happiest time of year also the creepiest (Creepy Christmas)?

Winter has an even darker and richer lore than Halloween according to artist, researcher, and author Sam Shearon.

His creepy Christmas coloring book has a variety of traditional and legendary beliefs from around the world, including stories of characters and creatures like Grýla, Santa Claws, Rabid Rudolph, the Grimace Tree, the Yule Cat, the Abominable Snowman (Yeti, Yakshi, Rakshasa), and more. It's fearsome festive cheer. More + Audio

• IMAGES of Krampuses -- Buddhist ogres or yakshas

Isn't Krampus just a yakkha version of German Belsnickel? 

Belsnickel or Pelznickel (from pelzen or belzen, German "to wallop, to drub") and Nickel, a hypocorism of the given name Nikolaus) is a crotchety, fur-clad Christmas gift-bringer figure in the folklore of the Palatinate SW Germany along the Rhine, the Saarland, the Odenwald area of Baden-Württemberg, and Pennsylvania Dutch communities.

• Archbishop James Long discusses the tradition of Christmas and birth of the Christian god, which is a little different than what the Bible tells us. More 

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  It happened to me; I was molested.

  Molesting children as a social norm in U.S. (Monarch or Auschwitz II?) From very early childhood, Paul Bonacci was subjected to tortures as profound as any the Nazis inflicted. This is not merely a comparison but an actual continuation. From sexual degradation to witnessing and forced participation in Satanic cult murders, Bonacci suffered the cracking of his mind and "multiple personality disorder." Tens of thousands of American children have been diagnosed MPDs; virtually all of them are thought to have resulted from sexual abuse, of which perhaps 85 percent were cases of Satanic ritual abuse.