Earlier this week I returned from an amazing journey with my dear friend Sam who came to visit from California (more on that journey in a subsequent post). She had been planning a special trip for us since before Tyler and I even made the move to Zurich. She’s a twisted lady and she wanted to spend the holiday season with this guy!

This is Krampus and he’s Yin to Santa’s Yang (OK, St. Nicholas if you’re nasty). He’s part of an Alpine/Bavarian tradition that evolved as heathen elements synthesized with Christian Christmas customs and winter ceremonies. He’s been associated with the Christian devil (hence the chains and goat-like features). Krampus carries a birch branch switch to hit naughty children, sometimes stuffing them in a bag and taking them away to eat them, drown them or take them to Hell. So, naturally Sam wanted to meet this guy.

Sam researched the apex of Krampusness and found it was located in a small village in Austria called Klagenfurt so that’s were we set our sights. Happily, my Zurich friends Tracy and Shona also wanted to join in on the adventure! For months we had heard warning that things might get a little crazy. We heard about roving gangs of drunken young men who might be dangerous. We were also told that the Austrians were unfriendly and resentful of tourists. Where we about to jet off to some meth fueled hick town in the Austrian alps with the hope of meeting some monsters? Turns out that was only half true…

Sam and I arrived in Kalgenfurt in the dead of night. Our frighteningly small prop plane from Vienna coasted to a landing into a night so dark and foggy we couldn’t see more than a few feet in front of us. A bus transported us across the tarmac to the 2nd tiniest airport I have even been in (Chios, Greece wins 1st prize there). From there we hopped into a cab and set off to meet our friends at the hotel. Slinking through the suburbs in the dark of night we wondered what we would find when we got to town. What we found was a compact, tidy and charming as hell old Austrian town replete with cobbled pedestrian zones, twinkling Christmas lights, dramatically lit statues and monuments, warmly glowing shop windows selling beautiful hand-crafts and lots of cozy looking restaurants. Our hotel was right in the center of it all. So, not a drugged out small town with a chip on it’s shoulder and a taste for mayhem? Again, only half true…

We arrived on Friday, the Krampusnacht (the night the beasts come out to play) was scheduled for Saturday evening. That first night we had a lovely dinner of delicious Wiener Schnitzel and good local beer at a sweet little place called Der Magische Hut (The Magic Hat). After, we wondered around town a bit enjoying the lights and architecture.

The next day we enjoyed some shopping and gluhwein (hot, spiced wine sold everywhere during the holidays in Europe) at the Christmas market.

As we were wondering around we had our first monster sighting. It was a juvenile, perhaps 6 or 7 years of age. Despite its relatively small size it was nonetheless horrifying. It carried a horsehair switch and with some encouragement from its handler, beat me with it mercilessly.

Now that we had seen one of these monsters up close we knew we had better steel ourselves both physically and spiritually for battle. We headed back to the hotel to prepare ourselves for the battle ahead.

We lined up along the parade route quite early to be sure we got a good spot up front. We packed ourselves against the rail at an intersection and waited with the growing crowd, taking the occasional nip from some pocket booze to keep warm. Almost the entire crowd, save ourselves, appeared to be Austrian and relatively local. We stood next to a couple from Kalgenfurt with their young son who was about 5. Lucky for us they spoke English very well and we were able to bombard them with questions. We asked if the boy was going to be afraid. The mom told us that they had been gradually exposing him to Krampus to get him ready; reading stories and looking at pictures and videos. He was also able to handle a Krampus mask and even try it on in the days before. Both he and his parents were quite excited! After a time, the crowd (about 10 people deep behind us at the barricade) hushed and we could hear bells from afar. The firemen on patrol cleared the street and the parade began with a procession of young men wearing enormous bells around their waists. After they passed by, we looked up the now empty street which was slowly filling up with an ominous cloud of smoke…

From that moment on it was wall to wall monsters. The Krampus’ are all part of a club or guild and each has its own dedicated style and look. As they passed by, each beast more ferocious than the last, they gnawed and gnashed their terrible teeth and interacted with the crowd by shaking at the guard rail, stealing hats, plucking small children from the fence and carrying them on their shoulders all the while lashing out at people with their switches. One Krampus reached out with a long, black talon and marked my cheek with his devil’s soot. They also gave out candy to the kiddos. Because of the monstrous and macabre theme, it’s easy to forget that in the end, Krampus is for the Children. Though there were many more adults in attendance, the Krampus’ made special efforts to include and encourage the youngest in the crowd. And there were no tears from our small Austrian friend. He was having the time of his life. That twinkle we see in the eye of young American boys and girls as they sit in Santa’s lap at the mall was magnified ten fold in the eye of our young Austrian friend. He was seeing true magic and artistry at work. The costumes were elaborate and beautiful and the energy from the crowd and procession was palpable. We asked the Austrian couple if the parade was the same when they were kids and they said absolutely not. When they were little it was much scarier. There were no volunteer firemen doing crowd control, no barriers along the route and the Krampus’ were much freer with their switches and chains. They sounded wistful and reverent of the old days (this would have been no more than 20 yours ago; they were but young after all). It was extraordinary to be a part of this centuries old tradition and I felt especially thankful to be able to participate so fully as an outsider. The fears of a cold shoulder or roving bands of drunken youth with malice on the mind were wholly unfounded. We found a warm welcome there on the streets of Klagenfurt, surrounded by monsters and the screams of the young.

Enjoy these videos!

Here are a few more shots from the parade. It was hard to get good ones of the Krampus’ since they were constantly in motion. As usual, I will include a link to my online album which has much better photo quality than this blog.