With Christmas rapidly approaching and Krampus opening in theaters this weekend, the anti-Santa is everywhere, including Austria’s yearly Krampus parade.
At the “Krampuuslauf Graz” parade, known as “The scariest parade on Earth”, hundreds of people dressed in their scariest Krampus themed costumes join to celebrate the legend and scare who they can.
The centuries old legend of Krampus has Germanic roots. The beast is St. Nicholas’ other, darker half. His job is to punish naughty children. Krampus, half-demon, half-goat, literally beats the naughty out of bad kids with birch sticks, before dragging them into the underworld. In Norse mythology, Krampus is the spawn of Hel and arrives in town on December 6th.
I don’t know about you, but after seeing these terrifying characters, I swear, I’ll be good next year. I would hate to get on Krampus’ list.
