Beware the Krampus!

The full cultural experience. Advent in Gaming. Our entire quiet, sleepy Kartause has been transformed today. Every nook and cranny is filled with booths of local Austrians selling their wine, bread, cheese, honey, pottery, glass-work, wood-work, candles, flowers, ornaments, needle-work, art, and crafts of every kind. They have taken over our class-rooms and court yard. They will be here until right before we leave.

The highlight of the day, however, was just after dark. The courtyard filled with expectant people, me included. The Krampuses are coming.
I had been warned about the Krampuses. Fr. Seraphim showed us a video he made about them the other day in history class. So I had worked up some excitement.
I was not to be disappointed. They puffed smoke into the courtyard. Creepy music began. They knocked at the courtyard gate. They busted through the gate and spilled into the courtyard to the most epic music ever, if not exactly what I would have picked: theme music from Chariots of Fire. I was dying laughing.
No one that speaks English can tell me exactly what the Krampus is. They have been around since ancient times, of that much is certain (and by the smell of them, the costumes, made of real fur, are aparently originals) Apparently a Krampus is some kind of evil spirit that whips the people and eats the bad kids just before Santa Klaus comes. That way, I guess, Santa doesn't have to bother with making a list. Saves him some trouble with procuring the lumps of coal, too, I guess.
They are hideous to look at. A real feast for the eyes.
Tolkien might have had this in mind when he first started writing about orcs

Why is the baby not screaming in terror? A few children did get afraid, but most Austrian children just don't have a healthy amount of fear. American kids cry when they see the Easter bunny. But this ain't no Easter bunny.

This one demonstrating his whipping procedure. He had a horsetail and he wasn't afraid to use it. He was the one who got me three times. And by 'got' I mean singled me out in the crowd, and chased me down with steady assuredness. No amount of hinding behind guys or slipping through the crowd helps. You think you've lost him and then suddenly you feel his furry grip with the bear-like claws and he drags you away like an ogre. They have this really good tactic of completely enveloping you in this big bear hug, lifting you off the groud so you don't know which way is up and your autonomic nervous system begins to kick in. You dare not scream because that only gets you a mouth full of the beast's hair, which is probably from some yak 50 years since eaten. So you laugh. There is nothing else to do and everyone else is laughing at you. You laugh until you are let go and then you run, during which you are picked up by another Krampus.

I have to admit, it must be enormously fun to be a Krampus.

Caitlin getting mauled

This was the only one who wasn't terrifying. Kinda cute in fact. And he had no arms to beat you with or pick you up with.

Three smiling faces: conceals the slight terror that is gripping our hearts. Everyone else is smiling, so it must be okay. We keep smiling till we turn around, and then we gulp hard.

They are completely silent, as in no roaring, except for all these massive cow bells and gourds filled with beans to make noise-makers. It is actually a slightly creepier effect.

At the end, someone lights a torch and they all congregate in the middle of the courtyard, after about 15 minutes of harrassing the crowd. They all settle down and kneel down and remove their masks. And the show is over. What exactly the last part means....speculation on the part of Fr. Seraphim that it is the light of Christ?? Would research it, but they just don't have that kind of information readily available, or Fr. Seraphim would have found it out.

Christy tried on a sweaty smelly Krampus mask

This is what happened to the bad little girl