Krampus: Reindeer Games "To find out who is the best, they’re going to have to tear down the wall." Krampus is a half-demon who carries out gruesome punishments for the children of naughty bad boys and girls. On Christmas Eve, he visits towns and gives them gifts. Krampus takes the form of a man on the outside but his appearance inside his sack on a reindeer-drawn sled is terrifying. The people of the town he visits may see him in disguise, they may see a demonic figure, or they may not see anything at all. If they do see him, they would get his gift from the sack, and it would be painful. This tradition is supposed to be a Christmas tradition in Austria, Germany, and Slovenia and to some extent, Austria and Slovenia are all that exists for Krampus to live in now. In Austria, the Krampus doesn't just visit the town but instead brings presents for the children in town and does his job there. Sometimes, the towns dress up and make Krampus costumes to wear out during the night. If you look up videos of Krampus, you will find only a few with some of the children. The most notable character in this town is “The Child-Killer.” There are several stories of a little boy named Kasperl, who kills babies and throws them in a fire pit. If he is caught, Kasperl gets Krampus’s gift. Then there is another story of a little boy named Krampus who is good, and one night, his brothers kill him and place his body in a fire and burn him. When Krampus comes to get Kasperl, he is not there and he scares away all the townspeople but hides him in a tree and takes him back to his den. In both of these stories, Krampus is the only one with a story. Many of the songs written about Krampus include images of blood and gore, so children may be frightened of Krampus’s appearance. If children did not grow up being frightened by Krampus and his stories, these stories would have been forgotten. Because there is this fear of Krampus and the stories that surround him, people have decided to have fun with the Krampus stories. Some people do things like play Krampus in their children’s costumes with their friends. But you can also make it a festive family tradition. Make masks and costumes and dress up as Krampus to scare people and maybe get a treat out of it. You can play Krampus or dress up as Krampus at home or at school. Play Krampus stories together as a family to teach your children about how not to be naughty in the future. This is also a chance to show your children that there are consequences for doing bad things. “To find out who is the best, they’re going to have to tear down the wall.” This article is meant to get your own creative juices flowing and to inspire you to find a tradition that you could create at your school or home. There are no right or wrong ways to do this. Whatever you decide, this article should inspire you to celebrate Krampus and the Krampus traditions that exist in your community. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License. Please feel free to repost with proper attribution and all links included. Krampus is not only a Christmas tradition in Alsace, but is also popular around Austria. He is typically portrayed as a dark half-goat creature, wearing a long black coat, with horns on his head. Also, he has goat ears, or even longer goat legs. Traditionally, Krampus would visit homes in Alsace and give children small gifts or punish the naughty children. If a child would become naughty and not listen to his parents, he would be carried by Krampus on his back and taken to his lair where he would be punished. Krampus is a scary character, but can also be kind to the children of people who follow the rules and stay good. He can also be the opposite of the Krampus that would punish the children of bad parents or disobedient children. So while his appearance may be gruesome, he is the protector of good children. Although most people think he does not exist any more, in reality, the Krampus tradition is still practiced in Alsace. However, the more children there are in a family, the less likely it is that there will be a Krampus visit. The best way to keep this tradition alive is to make it into a family tradition. Although this tradition was originally done only on Christmas Eve, it is now becoming more widespread among families to practice throughout the year. Instead of Krampus visiting on Christmas Eve only, he will visit families to give them a gift as a gift for being good. He will also collect unwanted toys from the children who have been naughty and take them back to his lair to throw away. This tradition is now becoming more and more popular as well. A big part of Krampus is also becoming more popular outside of Alsace, Germany, and Austria as well. In this version of the Krampus story, there are no gifts given to children or punishments at all,