So I see you all like the Krampus-Festivities.
I want to tell you something about one of its origins if you like.
First of all as a rule of thumb: if it is loud, has something to do with nature, masks or animals it is very likely pagan in origin. That is the beauty of folklore in my opinion: it is an ever evolving mix of everything that came before. Halloween, the christmas tree, Santa Lucia – all pagan in origin.
Krampus‘ main origin is alpine folklore. For the past thousand years or so Perchten are part of alpine folklore. They are part of the paneuropean belief of the „wild hunt“, which has different names and different protoganists in different countries. The main characteristic is that an army of the dead is storming over the winter sky. Mainly between December 24th and January 6th. (Catholicism used pre owned holy days, which is a very smart move marketing wise).
In Scandinavia the wild hunt is known as Åsgardsrei and the leader is Odin himself leading an army of the Einherjer, the fallen warriors of Valhalla. This belief can also be found along the Germanic countries, Wotan being the German name for Odin.
In the Alps however a different leader of the dead emerged: Frau Holle or her sister Frau Percht. They later merged into the same person. You may know Frau Holle from the fairytales, she is suppossed to let it snow.
So Perchta quickly became a revered figure in alpine folklore. Sometimes the army she leads is a flock of dead children, which tells us so much about the harsh realities and longings of the peasents in the past centuries.
These nights are called the “Rauhnächte“ in alpine folklore. The name derives from Rauch (smoke) and Nacht (night). It was and still is tradition to „smoke out“ your house in these nights. In the past centuries this was increasingly done with incencse, which is a clear nod to christianity and its part.
The idea is to fight evil spirits and cleanse yourself and your house from the past year. Another superstition is that you cannot leave your washed clothes out to dry in those nights because the wild hunt will tangle and stay in your house. This has become a little superstition that is still widely adhered to in Austria, mainly over New Years. There are so many more dark beliefs and superstitions during the Rauhnächte, for example peasents would leave out a bowl of porridge with a spoon for every member of the household on the edge of the bowl. If a spoon would fall into the porridge over night this meant that the person will join the Dead next year. Cheery.
Anyway: People began to mirror the wild hunt on earth. They made masks and costumes to protect themselves and saw themselves as the wild hunts guardians on earth. They would roam around all night and making sure that people would not leave their houses after nightfall (so the wild hunt would not take them with them). This results to nowadys getting beaten up (in some regions really badly). They saw themselves as the protectors of people and the guardians of the wild hunt. Mostly it was young people behind the masks and in many cases young women (the masks gave them freedom they otherwise did not have).
As you have guessed these were the first Perchten and they looked very much like we see them today. Masks were carved out of wood and the costumes sewn out of fur from different farm or wild animals. Often these were passed down over centuries.
Over time all this changed and evolved. As I said that is the beauty of folklore. So christianity adopted Krampus into their belief. He is the companion of St Nikolaus (who is of course also the origin of Santa Claus). On the 6th of December he visits the children and brings them little presents, tangerines, nuts and gingerbread. But only if they are well behaved. He has a book from which he reads the good and bad deeds the children in question have done. In good old fear based child upbringing little children were threatened with being taken away by Krampus if they were bad.
Over time Perchten and Krampus merged into the same. Now it is heavily marketed as Krampus-runs because this is so much easier to explain. But truly what you see is a very old alpine tradition. It is the Perchten.
You can see the importance of Perchta and Perchten in town names like „Berchtesgaden“ btw, which of course is the same name.
I hope I didn’t bore you and it wasn’t too long. I love these traditions so much. We learn so much about societies past and their way of handling life. Also it is a good reminder that nothing concerning humans is pure, it is always a blend of everything: christian, pagan, lived tradition, business and connected over the whole continent. (Last picture is my beloved little handmade Perchten-Figurines. If you see them somewhere please tell me. Bought them 10 years ago, haven‘t found them again since)
SOURCED FROM Facebook Group here: Magical Christmas Markets of Europe
SOURCED FROM Facebook Group here: Discussion sourced link
