# A Merry Dark Christmas Holiday!



## Zurgh (Dec 21, 2009)

The Dark Side of Christmas...
KRAMPUSNACHT (Night of Krampus or Night of Claw)... It's the night that Christmas eve used to be... and still is.. 
December 5th in Europe... The 24th in other countries... and now, Black Friday, too?

Santa has some rather nasty Henchmen...

The Krampus (The Claw) AKA; Knecht Ruprecht, Certa, Perchten, Zwarte Piet (Black Pete/Peter), Schmutzli, Klaubauf, Le Père Fouettard, Bartel, Pelzebock, Rumpelklas, Hans Muff, Drapp, Little Babushka, Bellzebub, "the Devil", Buzebergt and Belsnickel, Belzeniggl or Pelznickel.

Some of the names are regional variations of Krampus, some also share the same names as some of Kris Kringles not so nasty helpers. Some may be other entitys entirely... All are bad news for naughty children.

The least bad thing he (or they) do is take away the gifts Saint Nick brings... the worst is being beaten with a switch, kidnaped in a sack, placed in a barrel till they cry, then dragged off to hell or snatched off to his Black Forest home to be eaten.

They vary in appearance from Demon/Devil to Monstrous Beast, and sometimes just an evil old man.

Some of Santa's not so nasty henchmen... 
Belsnickel or Pelznickel, Knecht Ruprecht, Zwarte Piet (Black Pete/Peter), Le Père Fouettard of France (The whipping Father) AKA Father Flog or Spanky.

These guys just give coal and/or switches and sometimes beat bad children... not maim/kill them or drag them off to hell in bags or stuff them in barrels, usually... they also are known to leave candy and presents for good kids.

They generally appear as a more rustic, often filthy, and slimmer version of Ol' Saint Nick.

In the Czech Republic, St. Nicholas is accompanied by the Čert (Devil) and Anděl (Angel).

In Hungary, the Krampusz is often portrayed as mischievous imp rather than a devil. He wears a black suit, has a long red tongue, tail, and red horns that are more comical rather than frightening.

Prior to the influence of St. Nicholas in Sweden, the job of giving out gifts was done by the Yule Goat "julbocken", sometimes depicted as a goat-man. Before that, he was more of a trickster. Tanngrisnir or Tanngnjóstr, one of Thors goats, may be the Yule goat. Santa has been depicted riding him. A magic yule/X-mas goat seem pretty cool to me.


























So it looks to me like Santa has quite the interesting adventuring party on his night out...

That would be 2 (or more) Devil/beast Henchmen, at least 1 "normal?" Henchmen, a magic goat (of the gods?), 3+ X-mas elves (probably his sleighs flight support crew, possibly a mischievous imp, not to mention every local Elf & Kobold (Bogie, Goblin, Puck, or house sprite/sprit... possibly his 'red shirt,/cannon fodder or local sprit militia) and his 8-9 magic Reindeer (the names of Donder (Donner/Dunder) and Blitzen (Blixem/Blixen) derive from Germanic words for thunder and lightning) deployed with Santa. He probably employs Gremlins now, too.

And if rumors are true about Santa Claus (aka Father Christmas) being a Time Lord (or demi-god), then his other incarnations would totally be the reason for his other appearances as Old Man Frost/Winter, Jólnir & Langbarðr (aka Odin?), Saint Nicholas, Sinterklaas/the Christmas man, and possibly others. That's 5 'Santas', minimum!

That would put him on his 4th+ regeneration, each with at least a Beast/demon and a 'normal' Henchman companion, minimum of two magical sleighs with 8 magic Reindeer each, a devil & an angel, another yule goat, not to mention any & all of his other traditional resources...

Santa: a force to be reckoned with, a total Bad Ass and Nice Guy. He employs some bad dudes to do his dirty work. He would be able to take out Chuck Norris, unless Santa is Chuck Norris... Or perhaps Chuck is another of Santa minions...

This was compiled off of Wiki & other internet sites. Some twisted Zurgh logic was used.

I post this on Black Friday, the day I start to welcome the Christmas season. Any time before Thanksgiving, mere talk of this holiday irritates me something fierce. I actually love the Christmas season, just not before it's time.

Got some more dark lore about yule or Christmas, or maybe some dark tales of X-mas past? Share it here. I'd love to see any other of Santas monsters or dark minions. Post links to any Krampus work here or elsewhere, too.

Merry Christmas/Yule/other assorted holidays I may have missed (post those other holiday creepy things, too)! :googly:


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## Evil Queen (Mar 8, 2008)

Interesting research Z, I may have to do a little digging myself.


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## scareme (Aug 29, 2006)

That last picture is freaky. I think I'd wet myself if I ran into that thing on Dec. 5th. Or anytime for that matter.


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## Lunatic (Oct 3, 2006)

Ahhhhh crap!
Now I have nothing to believe in. I knew that chubby SOB was up to something.


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## MorbidFun (May 8, 2012)

http://2coolghouls.blogspot.com/

Ive been blogging about the creepy Christmas traditions in Europe myself Krampus parades that scare the crap out of kids, A witch that serves as Santa in Italy


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## Hairazor (Mar 13, 2012)

MorbidFun that European Krampus parade really caught my imagination, loved it, played it several times!


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## MorbidFun (May 8, 2012)

Hairazor said:


> MorbidFun that European Krampus parade really caught my imagination, loved it, played it several times!


Thanks Hairazor Krampus celebrations are growing here in the states its wild to see


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## Zurgh (Dec 21, 2009)

Excellent site, MorbidFun! Bookmarked it, too. A killer X-mas cat, a troll family, and more... Thanks for sharing!


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## MorbidFun (May 8, 2012)

Zurgh said:


> Excellent site, MorbidFun! Bookmarked it, too. A killer X-mas cat, a troll family, and more... Thanks for sharing!


Thank you


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