Comments on: Santa’s Evil Side Kick

By: Twitter Weekly Updates for 2011-01-02 « MetaKnigel

Twitter Weekly Updates for 2011-01-02 « MetaKnigel — Sun, 02 Jan 2011 00:58:46 +0000

[…] Evil Side Kick – http://thesocietypages.org/socimages/2009/12/21/santas-evil-side-kick/ […]

By: Liriana

Liriana — Tue, 28 Dec 2010 11:00:40 +0000

You’re right it’s another holiday, not Christmas, same in Switzerland. And the “Samichlaus” that used to come to school and to our house when I was little was the catholic St Nikolaus as well, he also wore a golden and white garment, and a bishop hat, he pretty much looked like a catholic priest or bishop with a white beard. And aside from Schmutzli (Knecht Ruprecht) he always had a donkey with him, that carried the presents. Those presents were mostly nuts, chocolate, cookies and “Grittibänzen” (bread in human shape). The real presents brought the Christkind (a blond girl angel) on Decenber 24th.

By: Liriana

Liriana — Tue, 28 Dec 2010 10:48:18 +0000

(I’m Swiss) so no, it’s the 6th as well. Yes, Knecht Ruprecht and Schmutzli are the same, but I don’t know which one is the original :-)
YES! Christkindli (Baby Jesus) is a girl for some strange reason. She has long blonde hair and brings the presents on December 24th, we always had to leave the window open, so she could get in.
We have Sternsinger, I’m not sure if you mean that- the Sternsinger go to people’s houses inbetween christmas and new year, they sing and bless the house, so they get money which they will spend to a charity. I used to be a Sternsinger, so there’s the “normal” singers dressed in white and then there’s the tree kings and one who carries the star. The kings and the carriers will speak more lines, so we made “castings”, those who knew the lines the best were allowed to play these roles. One of the three kings is Melchior, he’s african and the kid playing him was painted black. Once a dark skinned boy was one of the other kings, he was painted white and a light skinned child was painted black to play Melchior.. I don’t really know, what to think about that, at least he’s not considered evil like zwarte piet.

By: Liriana

Liriana — Tue, 28 Dec 2010 10:21:10 +0000

I’m Swiss and actually the Samichlaus comes on December 6th, but you’re right, I also only know Schmutzli, he’s the same as Knecht Ruprecht, who’s been mentioned above- Santa Clauses assistant. I’ve never been afraid of him either, I liked him even more than his boss, even though I got my presents from Samichlaus.
But where I grew up there’s also the same tradition of boys “hunting” girls, but on January 2th. They should scare away the deamons so the new year can start in a good way (right…). So boys dress up in scary costumes and walk through the streets, some of them have sticks to “beat” girls – girls can avoid being beaten by kissing the boys. It’s considered a funny tradition. Nice, eh? (how grateful I am to live in the city by now)

By: Twitter Updates for 2010-12-27 « MetaKnigel

Twitter Updates for 2010-12-27 « MetaKnigel — Mon, 27 Dec 2010 00:58:31 +0000

[…] Evil Side Kick – http://thesocietypages.org/socimages/2009/12/21/santas-evil-side-kick/ […]

By: Nissi

Nissi — Sun, 26 Dec 2010 15:40:01 +0000

Im from Baden Württemberg – we´ve also got no Krampus. Though I believe they originally looked pretty much alike because I once visited a childrens christmas celebration in the Allgäu were they had a really “hairy” Knecht Ruprecht (he was just missing those horns).

Interestingly in my family Knecht Ruprecht is tied to Saint Peter. Furthermore he´s not santa´s sidekick but accompanies the Christkind – St. Nikolaus only visits at December 6th. Saint Peter is a really scary fellow, he hits the bad children at christmas eve and threatens them that he wont´t let them through heavens gate (cause he´s the one holding the keys to heaven). I have no idea why we celebrate it that way (not even my grandma knows) I just expect it´s because we´re black sea germans and that tradition somehow survived because I´ve never heard that any other “real” german family has this tradition.

By: Ida

Ida — Mon, 06 Dec 2010 23:03:56 +0000

It seems others have also mentioned Krampus comes with St Nicholas and not Santa.

By: Ida

Ida — Mon, 06 Dec 2010 22:50:12 +0000

I’m from Croatia. The concept of Krampus is widely accepted in my country, too (probably some of the Austrian influence, or..?). Anyway, it’s true some children are really frightened by Krampus and his appearance (especially if eager parents bring their kids to a St. Nicholas show and Krampus starts dancing around in the audience… I’d say any 3 year old would be afraid of a fuzzy masked man appearing out of nowhere and acting totally strange, regardless of the story they hear about him). I myself have never seen Krampus as something spooky: my parents softened the image for me so I actually saw him as sort of cool and funny. St Nicholas keeps him in check. I know he’s supposed to be a devil, but, compared to Lucifer, he never seemed that scary for me. (This is just a personal oppinion).

Oh, another thing. In Croatia, Krampus is said to follow St Nicholas, and both are associated with St Nicholas’ Day (December 6th). Essentialy, St Nicholas IS Santa Claus, but there’s a difference (as Santa, he’s mostly been stripped of his religious connotations).
Christmas presents were traditionally said to be brought by baby Jesus (Kristkind). In communism this was quite unacceptable, so a Santa Claus-like image became popular: Deda Mraz ( = Grandpa Frost). Capitalism is all the rage now, and today children believe in Djed Božićnjak (Grandfather Christmas), who can be considered as Santa using a Croatian name.
Anyway, just wanted to point out that Croats associate Krampus with another December holiday, not Christmas. I don’t know if this is the case in Austria, Germany, Slovenia and Italy but … maybe it would be wise to double-check.

By: Meanwhile, on the Internet… // VOID-STAR.NET

Meanwhile, on the Internet… // VOID-STAR.NET — Tue, 19 Jan 2010 02:32:06 +0000

[…] Santa’s Evil Side KickThis guy is way cooler than Santa. Also: Check out the rest of the site while you're there. I find it somewhat interesting that the other "crazy Christmas traditions held by dem foreigners lulz" post is marked NSFW for blackface. christmas lulz […]

By: chocolatepie

chocolatepie — Tue, 29 Dec 2009 20:11:23 +0000

There's a Wonderella comic up this week about Krampus, which was the first I'd heard of him (her? it?), and now I see Krampus everywhere! Baader Meinhof, you sly devil(s).

By: ?

Thu, 24 Dec 2009 14:20:53 +0000

This thread demostrates a remarkable phenomenon. Americans actually pay notice to the traditions of other countries. How much longer until we have an americanised version of this “krampus” (character that is present in most European cultures but does not really go by the name of “krampus” in most places, in case you did not realise) forced down the throats of people by americanised commercial advertising? Just look at what they did to our St. Nicholaus!!! Currently know as St. CocaCola.

By: Gloria

Gloria — Thu, 24 Dec 2009 00:37:22 +0000

What? Full-time jobs…unacceptable. As bloggers, your full-time jobs are blogging!

Heh.

By: lisa

lisa — Wed, 23 Dec 2009 20:21:27 +0000

That’s awesome! :)

By: Tlönista

Tlönista — Wed, 23 Dec 2009 20:18:26 +0000

There’s a winter solstice thing in Kensington Market, Toronto, and in the parade—where there are a lot of fanciful masks, lanterns, stilt-walkers, etc.—I did see a Krampus! And screamed to my puzzled friends, “KRAMPUS!!” Thanks, Sociological Images.

By: R

Wed, 23 Dec 2009 13:12:15 +0000

In central and eastern Europe sticking your tongue out is still considered VERY rude. Hence people here having a difficult time pronouncing the sound “th” properly–they’re trained from birth not to show their tongues!

I would guess that Krampus has no manners.