Krampus

Cameron Olivier

## Summary

Krampus is a creature originating from the Central and Eastern Alpine regions of Europe. It is a sort of parallel creature to that of St. Nicholas. During the Christmas times, it is said to travel with St. Nick, but instead of leaving goodies for nice children, it looks for the bad ones to beat or even drag to hell. The creature is often depicted as a black half goat-half man with an incredibly long tongue, horns protruding from its head, long sharp claws, long tail, chain bound, and carrying either a bundle of birch sticks or a single birch rod. The creature dates back to around the 6th or 7th century. There have not been any declared sightings of the beast, but that just means everyone was good enough to not see him, right? In modern times, Krampus has been adapted into many movies like the 2015 movie *Krampus* and the 2015 movie *A Christmas Horror Story*

## History

The history of Krampus is argued about among many folklorists. Some seem to believe the beast to have some pre-Christian bases in paganism, while others believe it sprout up as a folk lore tale to scare children to behave, because getting beaten or eaten by a hairy goat-man is much scarier than receiving coal from a big bearded white guy. The tales of Krampus date back to around the 6th or 7th century with many celebrations surrounding it. One of these celebrations was *Perchtenlauf* which was a sort of procession where people paraded around dressed as the pagan devil Percht. Eventually, Percht was changed to Krampus and the event became known as *Krampuslauf* where Krampus was now impersonated and celebrated. When Christianity was taking over in Europe, the Catholic church tried to ban Krampus and get rid of it, which ultimately did not work. Krampus then became tied to St. Nicholas with the idea that St. Nick would go around on December 6th giving out goodies to children who had been good during the year, while Krampus would go out on December 5th visiting all children who had been bad and, using his birch sticks, would beat them. December 5th became a holiday in certain parts of Europe known as Krampusnacht (or Krampus Night).

## Adaptations

Krampus is an easy creature or entity to create adaptations of. It is can simply be boiled down to the bad version of St. Nick in the form of a devilish beast that beats or eats bad kids once every year. Creators of the horror genre, whether they be movie directors or game creators, could easily make many forms of media surrounding the creature. Some of my favorite adaptations of the beast so far come from two films from 2015, *Krampus* and *A Christmas Horror Story,* and Activision's battle royal game *Call of Duty: Warzone* from 2020. The film *Krampus* revolves around the Engel family who is preparing for Christmas day. The whole family is gathering at Tom and Sarah Engel's house. Their youngest child Max still is a firm believer in Santa and carries the Christmas spirit. He is made fun of by his cousins, causing him to tear up his letter to Santa and throw it into the wind. From there, an enormous blizzard overtakes the town, and an evil entity begins to wreak havoc on the family. The evil entity eventually is clarified to be Krampus by Tom's mother, Omi who is German. She says that the creature punishes, a light way of saying murders, people who lose the Christmas spirit. However, in the film, Krampus does not really use birch sticks to "punish" the characters, but a sack of demonic toys that he uses to kill most of the characters when he isn't using his sharp claws to just beat them. This is a deviation from the common tales of Krampus because he does not carry around of a bag of demonic toys. It is depicted with birch sticks it uses to whip children. Also different from the story, is the idea that it goes after people who lose the "Christmas spirit". Krampus is goes after children who have been bad throughout the year. The film *A Christmas Horror Story* is an anthology movie that follows a couple different stories that all eventually tie in together at the end. The town of Bailey Downs becomes attacked by evil spirits, zombie elves, and Krampus. In this film Krampus appears in two of the stories, the first where Krampus begins to hunt down a family who destroyed a Krampus statue and disregarded him. It hunts them and kills most of the family except the daughter who is able to kill it. It turns back into a human who she recognizes to be her aunt's attendant. This angers her and causes her to change into Krampus and she goes to kill her aunt. In the second appearance, "Santa" is forced to kill his elves who had become zombies. After killing them, he has to fight Krampus. However, it becomes known at the end of this part that "Santa" is just a deranged, overworked mall Santa that goes crazy and started killing people, with Krampus actual being his manager. One thing the first story changes is how Krampus seems to not be one actual being, but something one can become when enraged.

## Analysis

The changes made to Krampus in the film *Krampus* were not bad ones in my opinion. Having him carry around a bag of living, evil toys that he can use to kill others is fascinating. It allows for more interesting and enjoyable cinematic deaths or fights. It gives the movie more character, having iconic Christmas toys come to life and attack the characters. I think the creator wanted Krampus to be seen directly as an evil form of Santa rather than an entity that exists on its own doing its own thing. It dresses like Santa and carries a sack of toys just like him too. Krampus also seems to only come around when people lose their Christmas spirit, further pushing the idea that Krampus is just like Santa, but evil. Normally Krampus is one that goes around beating children who have been bad with sticks. It's not really a tale of "you shouldn't be naughty" but rather, "you should keep your Christmas spirit up".

## Works Cited

Edwards, Shanee. “The Real Story behind Krampus & 3 Other Things You Need to Know about the Film.” *SheKnows*, 3 Dec. 2015, https://www.sheknows.com/entertainment/articles/1104847/the-real-story-behind-krampus-things-to-know-about-the-film/.

Little, Becky. “Meet Krampus, the Christmas Devil Who Punishes Naughty Children .” *History.com*, 5 Dec. 2018, https://www.history.com/news/krampus-christmas-legend-origin.

McDaniel, Spencer. “Is Krampus Really Pagan?” *Tales of Times Forgotten*, 8 Jan. 2022, https://talesoftimesforgotten.com/2019/12/13/is-krampus-really-pagan/.

Muckerman, Anna. “The Man Behind the Krampus Mask.” *BBC Travel*, BBC, 25 Feb. 2022, https://www.bbc.com/travel/article/20181206-the-man-behind-the-krampus-mask.

Ridenour, Al. *The Krampus and the Old, Dark Christmas Roots and Rebirth of the Folkloric Devil*. Feral House, 2016.

Tikkanen, Amy. "Krampus". *Encyclopedia Britannica*, 8 Sep. 2020, https://www.britannica.com/topic/Krampus. Accessed 22 March 2023.