So, this post is only about two weeks
behind—hooray.
One fascinating and somewhat terrifying
tradition I experienced here was Krampus.
On
December 6th
in Austria and elsewhere in Europe, Saint Nicholas visited the houses
of all the good boys and girls and brought them small gifts—usually
chocolate. The day (or now days) before that, something else
happens—the bad children were punished by creatures known as
Krampus.
These creatures
really are the stuff of nightmares:
(source: theatlantic.com)
This creature in
some form of another, has been a part of Alpine folklore for over one
thousand years, and has accompanied Saint Nicholas since the
seventeenth century. Within Austria, this tradition was taken much
more seriously in the more mountainous regions, especially Tirol,
Salzburg, and to an extent Carinthia—my region, not as much around
Vienna (we'll see what tourism and some sort of performance of an
imagined authenticity does to this—if anything).
One way that people
engaged this tradition of Krampus was to make or wear completely
handmade Krampus costumes.
The masks were
often handcarved from pine wood and could cost several hundred Euros
alone.
(source: the atlantic.com)
The hairy/furry
bodies were often made from over a dozen goat or sheep skins, take
days to produce and also cost a few hundred Euros.
Many of them also
had really large bells attached to the back of the costumes that
would ring loudly every time the Krampus walked, a forboding warning
of a monstrous creature nearing ever closer.
My
observations/experiences:
I first came across
Krampus during my first visit to Austria in August 2008 at our
language camp. The instructors told us about this tradition, and
pretended that in Gmunden, people even dress like them in August to
scare away tourists (not really true). Joke was on us when they had
their friends dress up and run after all the exchange students in the
language camp's basement—unforgettable
Then, later in
December I went to my first Krampulauf.
(Altmuenster Krampuslauf, December 2008)
In this
Krampuslauf, it was basically a parade where dozens and dozens of
people dressed as Krampusse walked past. If you were near the
front, they reach at you to mess up your hair, hit you with sticks,
throw flour on you, or other actions.
According to some
people I talked to both this time and in '08, these parades were
really safe and tame—almost too much so. The Krampus were not
allowed to do such things to really really small children, and there
was plenty of police presence to make sure the Krampus (many of whom
had several drinks before beginning the parade) didn't do anything
too crazy. Each Krampus also has a number on their costume, so if
they did anything really inappropriate you have a way of finding out
who it was.
This year, I also
went to two Krampuslaeufe—one on a Friday night in Villach, the
other on Saturday in Klagenfurt. It was pretty fun. In Villach one
took my hat and made me chase it, and another hit my leg hard enough
for me to feel it a good while later. Some of the TAs and I pretended
to flirt with them, which was also fun and silly.
I knew about the
Krampus tradition in other pars of Austria. I heard stories from very
rural areas (including where my host grandmother lives) where Krampus
stormed the schools and scared kids so bad they passed out. Places
where wearing 3 pairs of pants (including ski pants) was sound
advice. But do I feel like I missed out? Not really.
In Vilach and
Klagenfurt, I was not really a tourist. Attending a Krampuslauf was a
social event—not a tourist attraction. I was participating in my
community's event, no matter the scale. Perhaps I didn't yet know any
people behind the masks, but could tell my students in the crowd did.
This was my way of celebrating Krampus, grounded in a specific
time and place--not some abstracted, timeless Krampus "tradition". And it was wonderful.
Now.... for all the pics! (Klagenfurt ones taken by Karen)
from the Villach Krampuslauf, the lights in the back are our ice-skating rink.
Me, Donatella (the Italian TA at my school), and Marie (the French TA at my school)
Little kid Krampus in Villach
British and American TAs and Krampus in Klagenfurt
Krampus and Fire in Klagenfurt
Some of the
images/extra research taken from:
