On 5th December Krampus day is celebrated in most alpine regions. In this regard, Krampus is a servant to St. Nicholas, supporting him, but also punishing bad children with his birch rood. Nowadays those children are mostly teen aged (I guess that's a surefire way to find some bad ones, lol).
The images here were taken in Kindberg a beautiful small town in upper Styria. The Krampus groups are organized in clubs, and their members take immense efforts to craft their costumes. Often they are travelling and performing in many places throughout early advent time, until 5th of December.
Have a wonderful Advent time, and remember to be good. Otherwise St. Nicholas marks you in his book and sends you the Krampus ;)
Very cool, to see the Krampus still being a part of current traditions in certain places. I just wrote about it the other day, from my own perspective, where the Krampus is not more than a distant memory.
Indeed Krampus day isn't as big as it used to be. Back in the days there were runs in every little village on 5th December. But it got kind of a revival over the past few years, at least in Austria.
Nice post, i can recall those message cards, the images were also on the gift bags. I think Krampus was in Germany more a thing in the southern states like Bavaria. Have a wonderful Advent time, mate!
Thank you! Even though my family moved to Swabia in Southern Germany, Stuttgart is culturally quite different from the more traditional Black Forest or Schwäbsche Alb, let alone the Subalpine region around the Bodensee. (I bet the Krampus is still more present in those parts.) Those are mountain cultures, they would explain, and in the urban culture of the city it doesn't really matter which part of the country you're in.
You're right, Krampus (or Perchten as they're called too) are mostly an alpine heritage. In Vienna, for example, there is usually only one run at the Prater (kind of the viennese fun mile). As you mentioned in your post, Knecht Ruprecht ist the more common figure when going north from the alps.