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).

November 20, 2017

Often the most intriguing element of a hero’s story is his or her vulnerability. The ancient Greek hero Achilles had his heel, and the medieval German literary hero Siegfried had that little spot between the shoulder blades, you know, where scratching an itch can be difficult to reach. Both legendary warriors could have thwarted death had they not had an almost-avoided weak spot.

Sigurd the Dragon Slayer of Teutonic mythology was the model for Siegfried the medieval hero in German literature. Sigurd watches the bearded blacksmith Regin make a sword for him.
Credit: Detail of a wood panel (1100′s) from Setsdale Church, Oldsaksammlung, Oslo, Norway (photo © Dagli Orti, The Art Archive)

Achilles’s mother held the back of his foot as she dipped him in the River Styx of the underworld. The river’s water made those who bathed in it invulnerable. Achilles met his end when a poisoned arrow struck him in his, um, Achilles heel, the only spot that was not washed in the Styx.

Siegfried—hero of the Germanic epic poem the Nibelungenlied, written about A.D. 1200—also had a fatal flaw. The character of Siegfried was based on Sigurd the Volsung, a hero in the Icelandic Völsunga Saga, written around the same time. As the story goes, the young Siegfried obtained the massive treasure hoard of the Nibelungs. (Harry Potter readers might be interested that the treasure included an invisibility cloak.) Siegfried killed a dragon and bathed in its magical blood, making him invulnerable—except one specific spot. A leaf of a linden tree, it seems, had fallen on our hero’s back as he bathed, leaving a couple inches unprotected.

Siegfried would later help the Burgundian people—who lived along the Rhine River—defeat their enemies in battle. He wished to marry Kriemhild, a beautiful Burgundian princess. Siegfried agreed to help Kriemhild’s brother, King Gunther, woo the physically strong Valkyrie, Queen Brunhilde of Iceland. Gunther, aided by Siegfried’s trickery involving his magical cloak, succeeded, so the king and princess married their sweethearts in a double marriage ceremony. Brunhilde later found out about the trick and made Siegfried her enemy. Her ally, Hagen, discovered Siegfried’s leaf-shaped weakness and fatally speared him through the back. The story of the Nibelungenlied—a tale of bloodshed, revenge, treasure theft, and bathing advice—would go on, but sadly without its nearly unbreakable hero.