BLACK ANGELS AND ORCS
It’s a booming trend, with ever more groups springing up to satisfy a seemingly insatiable demand, and not just in Austria but in southern Germany and further afield too.
One of Austria’s biggest parades, in Schladming south of Salzburg, involves some 800 monsters and attracts 8,000 spectators paying €12-15 ($14-18) per adult.
Yet, while it may be inspired by past customs, the phenomenon has moved and evolved far beyond its supposed origins in the remote valleys of the Alps.
Head-to-hoof in dark fur with horns, a tail and a lolling red tongue, from the 16th century Krampus traditionally appeared on Dec. 5, the eve of Saint Nicholas Day.
“Children would be tested on religious knowledge by Saint Nicholas. He would reward them but couldn’t punish them. That was Krampus’s job,” ethnologist Helga Maria Wolf told AFP.
“Even into the 1960s, the pair would visit families on request,” she said.
“Perchten” meanwhile, figures of good and evil whose origins are possibly pagan, would emerge in early January or in the carnival season before Lent, the Christian period of fasting.
Traditional Perchten processions still exist, such as in Gastein in western Austria where
CONFRONTING FEARS
Every Krampus season however, Austrian newspapers are full of stories about drunken young men dressed up as monsters causing injuries and mayhem.
In one such recent event in the town of Voelkermarkt, police were called after at least six people were injured, reportedly after two rival Krampus groups clashed.
One therapist near Salzburg, Andrea Hammerer, runs a yearly seminar helping people who are scared to go outdoors at this time of year.
“The sound of the bells goes right to the unconscious,” Hammerer told AFP. “We get people to confront their fears, we bring in people dressed up as Krampus.”
Krampus performers say spectators can be the problem, grabbing their horns and throwing beer to wind them up.
Some groups held a demo in Klagenfurt recently to protest against negative media coverage.
But a whiff of danger is perhaps also part of the fun.
“There’s a nice word for it — ‘angstlust,’” the pleasure of fear, Wolf said. “People love rollercoasters for example. There’s a kind of comforting frisson about it.”
“When I was little I was a tiny bit scared,” said Lukas, 13, getting ready in Schwadorf to appear in his Krampus disguise. “But then I became one.” —