The Common Pencil

Monsters have been part of our existence since the beginning of time. Krampus was one of them: a black/brown-furred half-goat with a long red serpent tongue and a whip made of birch. It is said that Krampus joined Saint Nicholas in the bestowing of judgement upon children. This happened on the 5th of December, on the night that was called: St. Nicholas’ eve.

St. Nicholas was an actual living, breathing human being. He was born in the country now known as Turkey, around the year 280 AD. Nicholas was known to help the poor and the sick with his fortune, and was a devoted Christian. He also had a great white beard.
There is no doubt that the Christmas-Santa we know today has been more than inspired by our Saint Nicholas. That’s right, those who were raised to believe in Santa, were raised to believe in something that was very old. (Especially when you dive into Old English stories of Lord Christmas, who shares similarities with the Old English god Woden! But that is a story for another time).

Krampus was a monster; Nicholas was a Saint. So what? It was said that the celebration of Krampus already appeared in pre-Christian times. In some parts of the world, the creature may have been considered a protector from evil. It is impossible to know for sure though, because people did not exactly write stuff down back then.

Similar to the Borg from Star Trek, church-people have been very good at forced assimilation. Creatures that modern religion called demons often were worshiped as gods in the old days. Naturally, once churches appeared in Europe, our possibly pagan friend Krampus was deemed evil, and got accompanied by the story of a more suitable hero: Saint Nicholas. Ever since, as part of the festivities, good children were rewarded with gifts from the Saint and bad children were punished by his evil helper, Krampus. Children were taught songs to sing, adults were given postcards to give. All was well.

Years later, governments worried for the mental health of their children. They banned the Krampus-figure for good. Some parts of the world stubbornly held on to tradition, while other parts landed on a compromise. For example: Krampus got degraded from demon to human in The Netherlands. He became Nicholas’ human helper named Black Pete (Zwarte Piet). Later, Black Pete was considered racist, so he morphed into a character simply known as Pete. Songs rewritten, church happy, politicians happy. All was well.

Or was it? Our modern world has been seeing a Krampus-comeback on Saint Nicholas’ Eve. Every year more people celebrate the day of the half-goat monster. It seems that our hooved friend never really lost its grip of the minds of men. That raises the question: Should we fear this monstrous nightmare before Christmas? Also, have you been good this year? If not..

Happy Spookydays everyone 🙂

I would have a great laugh if one day postcards show up with Krampus as your friendly neighborhood demon and supposed saints as the evil element. ‘Away with thee, foul influence!’ Thank you for reading!