Monthly Archive for December, 2009

It’s a common theme in the Western world to view Christmas as a judgment day for children: Have they been naughty or nice? Many European countries have a good-cop, bad-cop Santa system. While St. Nicholas makes the rounds handing out presents to the good children, his evil twin disciplines the bad ones. No one takes it quite to the level of Austria, where Krampus, a mutant goat-like creature, roams the streets threatening naughty children with rusty chains and birch sticks. The creature is rooted in legend and re-enacted in many parts of the country on Dec. 5, when men dress up like Krampus and terrorize the neighborhood with bells, chains, whips and baskets (to carry away bad children).