Credit: © FooTToo, Shutterstock

When thinking of the Christmas holiday, many think of Saint Nicholas. Did you know he had a beastlike companion who disciplines naughty children? The Krampus is a figure in the Christmas folklore of the central European nation of Austria. Krampus didn’t dole out coal, it often threatened ‘bad’ kids with physical punishment. Krampus was modeled after the Christian Devil, also known as Satan, and northern European gods whose worship predated the introduction of Christianity in the region. The name Krampus comes from the old German word krampen, meaning claw.

Krampus originated in the Middle Ages (about the 400′s through the 1400′s), when the famous bishop St. Nicholas became a popular gift-giving figure. Traditionally, St. Nicholas brought presents to well-behaved children on December 5 or December 6, his feast day. Medieval Christians also created a companion for St. Nicholas to discipline badly behaved children, as they pictured the Devil punishing sinners. The companion served as a sort of alter ego of St. Nicholas—that is, another aspect of his nature, or a close associate. This tradition was especially popular in central and eastern Europe. The companion was known as Knecht Ruprecht (Servant Rupert) or Belsnickel (also spelled Pelznickel or Belsnichol) in parts of Germany, Schmutzli in Switzerland, Zwarte Piet (Black Peter) in what is now the Netherlands, and Krampus in Austria.

An illustration of Krampus
Credit: © darko m, Shutterstock

Among the different versions of St. Nicholas’s companion, Krampus was especially frightening. Images of Krampus show him with large, goatlike horns; a long tongue and sharp teeth; and hooves on one or both legs. Some accounts describe Krampus with an empty basket on his back, for carrying away naughty children. In some descriptions, Krampus carries chains, and holds a whip or birch twigs for beating children.

The purpose of Krampus was to scare children into being good. Accounts about St. Nicholas describe the bishop as intervening on behalf of naughty children so that Krampus did not actually harm them. St. Nicholas would scold a naughty child, usually a boy, and tell him that he had to change his ways and obey his parents. Over time, Krampus became a less frightening figure. In the 1800′s in Austria, accounts described Krampus as accompanying St. Nicholas through village streets and to children’s homes, suggesting that he was not really all that dangerous.

In some parts of the world, St. Nicholas developed to become the jolly figure of Santa Claus. Santa’s only associates are elves who make toys and visit with children in department stores at Christmastime. However, the Krampus tradition has survived. Some communities in Europe hold Krampus events on December 5, known as Krampusnacht (Krampus night). People dress up as Krampus and celebrate in the streets. Krampus also has been the subject of novels, television programs, video games, and even a motion picture called Krampus (2015).

October 31, 2017

Today, October 31, marks the 500th anniversary of the onset of the Reformation, a religious movement that led to Protestantism. According to tradition, German theologian Martin Luther nailed his Ninety-Five Theses (articles for academic debate) on the door of the Wittenberg Castle Church in Saxony (then part of the Holy Roman Empire) on Oct. 31, 1517.

Martin Luther, a German theologian, was a leader of the Reformation, a Christian reform movement of the 1500′s that led to the birth of Protestantism. Credit: British Library, London (HIP/Art Resource)

The theses, protests against certain practices of the Roman Catholic Church, were soon widely circulated. (Protestant comes from the Latin word protestans, which means one who protests.) Luther continued to publicly criticize the church, and in 1520, he published works spelling out his understanding of Christianity and attacking the papacy (authority of the pope) and many traditional practices. He was excommunicated (expelled from the church) in 1521. Luther spent the rest of his life protesting aspects of Catholic authority, guiding the reform movement and creating what became known as Lutheranism or Lutheran Christianity.

The Reformation had a tremendous impact on social, political, and economic life throughout Europe, and its influences are still felt today.

July 22, 2016

On July 19, a team of British and Puerto Rican researchers published an article in the journal Antiquity detailing drawings on the walls and ceilings of a cave on the Puerto Rican island of Mona (Isla Mona in Spanish). Cave drawings are not especially rare on islands in the Caribbean, but the rich imagery of this cave, called Cave 18, proved to be something special. Many of the inscriptions were made by native Taíno people, and some date back nearly 1,000 years. Most of the inscriptions, however, date from the 1500′s, during the early years of the region’s Spanish conquest. And many of the inscriptions were made by Spanish colonists, side-by-side with Taíno drawings. Most of the inscriptions depict a variety of religious and spiritual symbols, with space given to both Taíno and Spanish beliefs. The researchers claim the inscriptions are evidence of mutual religious exchange and tolerance, a rare occurrence at a time when the Spanish sought to convert native peoples to Christianity, often through the use of force.

A researcher shines light on inscriptions of crosses above the name Jesus (in Latin) in the soft limestone wall of Cave 18 on Mona Island, Puerto Rico.
Credit: © Jago Cooper, The British Museum/University of Leicester

Cave 18′s inscriptions include many crosses, Christian phrases written in Latin and Spanish, names of Christian Saints, and Christograms (abbreviations of the name of Christ). There are also many Taíno symbols, including complex figures with human and animal features, human faces, wavy lines, and different styles of crosses. The Spanish inscriptions were made with a metal dagger or other sharp object. They are easily distinguished from Taíno etchings made with fingers in the soft limestone. The mix of religious symbols suggests that the Taíno were able to communicate and explain their religious beliefs while receiving Spanish suggestions at the same time.

Mona Island lies some 41 miles (66 kilometers) west of Puerto Rico. The Taíno people lived there and in other areas of the Caribbean. They were the first Native Americans encountered by Christopher Columbus after he arrived in the region in 1492. Christian Spanish missionaries soon established themselves among the Taíno, and native spiritual beliefs were largely repressed. Cave 18, however, shows not all Spanish colonists treated religion with so heavy a hand. Unfortunately for the Taíno, the Spanish arrival proved their undoing. By 1600, most had been killed or had died of disease.

Some elements of Taíno culture survive in the Caribbean region as a result of syncretism, the bringing together or merger of two or more distinct beliefs or customs. Most scholars think that all religions have experienced at least some level of syncretism. Today, most people in Puerto Rico are Roman Catholic. However some remnants of Taíno beliefs survive in the practices of espiritismo, a form of traditional religious healing in Puerto Rico. Taíno culture survives also in our everyday language. English and Spanish words of Taíno origin include canoe (canoa), hammock (hamaca), hurricane (huracán), iguana, maize (maiz), manatee (manatí), papaya, and tobacco (tabaca).