Holidaze

We are in the throes of the 2011 holiday craze. I remember as a child the time between Samhain/Halloween and Thanksgiving seemed a lifetime; between Thanksgiving, my birthday and Yule/Christmas was always a blur. Now, I see Christmas stuff up alongside the Halloween decorations and Valentine’s beside the Christmas stuff. Wow. Slow down a little here folks.

Holiday season brings many emotions out in people that aren’t always the cheerful ones. While most of us do remember and cherish our families, there are many out there that are recently missing loved ones and the holiday season makes this transition even more difficult for some. I feel for you.

I prefer the older traditions, the slower pace of the holidays. Enjoy the seasons, watch the autumn leaves fall, and watch the spring flowers bloom. We recently had a lovely Winter Solstice dinner with wonderful friends. Gifts of food, companionship and conversation were given, after all, isn’t our time the most valuable gift of all?

Speaking of old holiday traditions, let’s talk about my new favorite one: Krampusnacht (Night of Krampus).

Krampus is a very old figure, associated with Saint Nicholas and celebrated in Germanic countries or countries with a strong Germanic influence, notably Austria, Germany, Hungary, and Romania. The celebrations were kept alive and typically held in the mountainous regions because the Church didn’t deign to proselytize there due to geography and population.

Based upon the tradition, I’m sure I would have been a better behaved child around the holidays if two things had been different: Krampus was around, and my birthday wasn’t.

Krampus is generally described as basically a devil; a traditional, Christian devil, replete with horns and cloven hooves.

Vintage Krampus postcard

Krampusnacht is December 5^th, and Saint Nicholas’ Day is December 6^th.  On December 5^th, Krampus creatures take to the streets, burdened with chains and warning bell, and threatening naughty children with a switch. That switch is the least of the punishments, however. In some tales, Krampus takes naughty children, stuffs them in a bag and potentially takes them to hell….some say Krampus feasts on bad children.  The traditional offering to Krampus is schnapps. What holiday isn’t made better with drunk devils running about? Krampusnacht is held in Portland, Oregon and Seattle, Washington as well as other, more traditional, locations worldwide.

Here's one of my favorite videos from a Krampuslauf (Krampus Run): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WLnl5ZWG4tg

Then, the next morning, Saint Nicholas comes in and rewards the good children. If you are in the Old Country, you get candy and fruit in your best pair of shoes, if you polish them and leave them by the door. Hmmm.

Here in the US, we’ve sanitized and amalgamated the punishment and reward system to a “good” and “bad” list overseen by Santa Claus. He’s nice, he’s happy, he’s fat and laughs a lot. If you’re bad, you get coal…not very fearsome in my book.

 Further, in our efforts to not offend anyone, we’ve further denigrated the American traditions….schools don’t have Halloween anymore, it’s a Harvest Festival (and I’m all about that, but let the kids dress up at least, jeez); this year some schools quit singing a line from Deck the Halls, because of the reference to “gay apparel”. Seriously, people? The song is an old Welsh melody dating back to the 16^th century and the lyrics are American and date back to the late 19^th century thereabouts.

I’m so tired of thin skins. I can appreciate others’ holidays, but why do I have to change mine to suit others? That’s not acceptance.

So, this year, I have decided to change up my holidays a little next year. I’m bringing Krampus back into our Germanic family. Let’s bring back the scary side of Yule.