‘Tis the season to be spooky, though Halloween has passed there are still plenty of creatures that go bump in the night, and while these creatures are a bit more festive some are also terrifying. So put on your favorite ugly Christmas sweater and light that pine scented candle while I tell you just a few of the creepy creatures that will make a stocking full of coal seem like the least of your worries.
Is everyone having fun this holiday season? Yup me neither. As we get older the holidays seem to lose some of their magic more and more every year, and considering I’ve been more or less on bed rest since before Halloween I’m determined to bring some of that magic back, but remember magic isn’t always a good thing.
As certified millennials Natasha and I are of course obsessed with The Office, and I’m a sucker for a good holiday special, so imagine my surprise when I learned that Dwight’s notorious character the Belsnickel actually exists in folklore. Similar to Natasha and I the Belsnickel is of German descent and considered a stricter version of Santa Clause. Often depicted dressed in fur and carrying a small whip, Belsnickel is known for knocking on the windows and doors of homes, making himself known to the children who inhabit the house. There are many differences between this cranky creature and our jolly Saint Nick but most notably Belsnickel does not shy away from being seen by the children he visits but even though he does indeed give gifts to the good children, rather than being disappointed by coal in their stocking the badly behaved children get ‘smacked by the switch’ or more plainly child abuse but make it Christmas. Even those who were lucky enough to make it on the Belsnickel’s nice list could still fall victim to his switch, if a child was too hasty or greedy while claiming their treats they too could meet the wrong end of the switch, however it seems as though it was more of a smack on the hand.
As time continued on and Germans immigrated to America they didn’t just bring along the tradition of the Christmas pickle on the tree, ‘Belsnickeling’ became a tradition of its own, where between the week before Christmas up until New Years groups would dress in various costumes of rags and masks, some even stuffing their costumes to hide even further their identity, these groups would then go door to door and their neighbors would attempt to guess who was hiding behind the mask. If the neighbor was successful the Belsnickel in question would have to remove their mask and accept defeat but if the neighbor was incorrect the entire group was to be invited into the home and offered refreshments which could be anything from candy to cocktails. The Americanized version of Belsnickel became more of a playful character rather than a strict judge of character, with his original personality was far more pious with him testing children for their ‘niceness’ by reciting bible verses. While we generally connect Germany to Krampus the Belsnickel hails from western Germany making him Krampus’s weirdly religious cousin. To quote Jim Halpert the Belsnickle is “Kind of like Santa but dirty and worse”.
Now I mentioned Krampus, arguably the most famous counterpart to old Saint Nick. The half man half goat originates from the area around Germany and Austria. To quote an article from the Smithsonian “The Krampus is the yin to St. Nick’s yang,” Seghers tells Smithsonian.com. “You have the saint, you have the devil. It taps into a subconscious macabre desire that a lot of people have that is the opposite of the saccharine Christmas a lot of us grew up with.”
So in early December (generally the 5th) Krampus follows Saint Nick as his evil twin. While he is now connotated with Christmas his origin story dates back to pre-Germanic paganism, believed to be the son of the norse god of the underworld Hel. Krampus’s main duty is to punish the children who end up on the naughty list but rather than children being afraid to get coal they are afraid to be put in his sack and dragged to Hell, or be eaten, or be beaten by his birch branch (which I suppose is the best option considering the other choices). I’m still very confused as to how Santa is cool with cannablism and child abuse but I digress. And if the evil satyr of it all isn’t bad enough some believe that there isn’t just one Krampus. A blog from the library of congress states “In many contexts, Krampus is not an individual monster but a type of monster, like a werewolf or a vampire; you can have many Krampuses together in one place”. I love the idea that there can be MULTIPLE evil satyrs to the one Saint Nick.
The story of Krampus spread due to ‘Krampus cards’ in the late 19th century, these were similar to goofy greeting cards depicting Krampus stealing children, trying to flirt with women, or even as a woman trying to flirt with men, Now a days Krampus has seemed to become more of a silly holiday character rather than a demon that frightens children into behaving, there is even a Krampus version of a turkey trot called Krampuslauf which translates to Krampus run, though according to the history channel it’s less of a run and more of a festive way from people to get drunk and bully children which is honestly a vibe.
As I said Krampus is by far the most famous companion to Santa even having movies and merch depicting him he definitely helps make sure we don’t let kids get too excited during the holiday season.
Finally I’d like to talk about one of my favorite Santa adjacent entities, La Befana. La Befana (also known as the Christmas witch) is probably the most wholesome of the three. The legend of La Befana is a Catholic tradition and is largely celebrated in Italy. The 6th of January is known as the feast of epiphany (the feast of epiphany is when the 3 wisemen arrive with their gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh) but is also known to be the day La Befana arrives. The story goes that the 3 wisemen stop at La Befana’s house on the way to deliver their gifts to baby Jesus. Some stories say they were looking for shelter and a meal or directions, regardless of how or what she helped them with. It was incredibly meaningful to them because they invited her to go with them to wish God’s son a happy birthday. La Befana declines their invitation, stating that she was busy with chores however she changes her mind and sets out on her way to find the 3 wisemen and baby Jesus. Unfortunately for her she waited too long to start her journey and she isn’t able to find the men or the child. One version of this legend says that when she set out she set out with her broom and baked goods with the intent to find Mary, Joseph, and Jesus and help Mary who had just given birth, she believed that a helping hand to new mother and father would be more helpful than the gifts of the wisemen. La Befana is truly a girl’s girl and in her rush to help the new parents the broom she brought to help them clean actually took flight. While she didn’t find baby Jesus she did become a sort of God in her own right, similar to Santa she is known for entering the homes of sleeping children through the chimney and leaving gifts in stockings for the well behaved children and leaves ‘coal’ for the children who are badly behaved. Unlike Santa her gifts are largely sweets and treats (which if you have ever had the privilege of knowing an Italian grandmother that just makes sense) and even the coal she leaves is actually a type of candy. Rather than leaving out milk and cookies for La Befana it is common to leave out wine and a type of ‘girl dinner’ or a plate of snacks, La Befana is truly an icon.
Whichever entity you prefer to use to intimidate the children in your life we hope you’re having a good holiday season and we hope you stay strange.
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