Krampus

vb. criado em 09/05/2013, 22h58m.

Here's an interesting mythological creature I hadn't heard of until a couple years ago: Krampus. Krampus is a hairy demonic creature, rather like a satyr with a long, pointed tongue. He began as a pagan beast, but when the Christian church gave up on eradicating him from his native Alpine regions, he was adopted into the Christmas tradition of various northern European countries. There he takes on the job of punishing bad children while Saint Nicholas rewards the good ones.

It's really quite horrible, both in theory and in practice. The mythological theory is that bad children will be punished with coal or sticks instead of presents. Very bad children will be beaten by the monster with switches and chains, and the worst children of all will be stuffed in Krampus's sack and carried away to be drowned, or devoured, or delivered straight to hell. Nice. Because nothing says "Christmas" like child abuse and sadistic vengeance.

The way this gets acted out in reality is not much better. Apparently roving bands of hideously costumed drunkards roam the streets terrifying young and old (especially young women, of course, since these hooligans are mostly young men.) The traditional night for such frolics is December 5, the eve of Saint Nicholas's Day. Are you afraid to leave the house? Then it's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

I suppose I could examine how this sort of anarchistic fantasy functions as some sort of pressure-release valve, giving juvenile delinquents a structured, limited arena in which to misbehave. Or perhaps I could discuss how fantasy threats - boogeymen - are used in cultures all around the world to encapsulate and personify all the dangers and evils that face children who don't learn the Right ways to behave. Maybe we could muse on the phenomenon that humans seem to want to invest all our celebrations with fantasy (Easter Bunny? Great Pumpkin? Elf on a Shelf, anyone?) Perhaps Krampus can teach us a lesson about how we tend to end up adopting the very cultural traits we try to reject.

In fact, there are so many directions the Krampus phenomenon could lead that I think I'll just leave it here, with an invitation to thought. I don't much like Krampus, but he's undeniably an archetype that humans have invented, adapted, and reinvented over and over throughout history and wherever we live. What does Krampus tell us about ourselves?

As for these pictures, they are all Krampus postcards from the late 19th and early 20th century. Unfortunately, to my intense frustration, although images of Krampus abound on the web, none of them seem to be attributed in any way. Nobody even gives their dates. The last is taken from the book The Devil in Design by Monte Beauchamp (Fantagraphic Books, 2004) but I can't find any specific info about it, either. It pains me greatly to post images without their proper credit and information, but I simply cannot find the facts. Sorry!

f.: aqui

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