Merry Krampusnacht to All!

 

By Jillian Owens

 

I am deeply excited about this Friday, as it is one of my favorite holidays!  You won’t find it on that wall calendar your bank sent you, but you will find it in the hearts of some fun-loving Columbians with a thing for costumes and odd Austrian traditions.

Here’s a little background info.  In Alpine countries, Santa doesn’t travel alone.  He brings his good buddy, Krampus!

Eep!

 

Terrifying, No?  As you can probably surmise from this guy’s grim visage, nothing good is going to happen when he’s around.  While Santa is busy rewarding the good, Krampus punishes the naughty by beating them with tree branches and chains.  If you are particularly naughty, he’ll toss you in his sack and drag you to his evil lair.

During the first week of December, it’s a tradition for young Austrian men to dress as Krampuses and roam the streets, scaring children with rusty chains, branches, and bells.   There have been many attempts to squash this tradition which some think is inappropriate for the wee ones, but it continues to thrive.  Because Fun.

 

Krampusnacht 2013

 

Columbia, SC and Portland, OR are tied for the longest-running Krampuslauf in the U.S.  A Krampuslauf is basically a just-for-fun grownups bar crawl version of the holiday.  On Friday, December 5th, Krampuses will roam the streets of our fair city playfully punishing the naughty for their bad behavior.  Don’t worry…no one is going to actually get hurt.  If you don’t want to be bothered by a Krampus, you won’t be.  It’s all in good fun.

If you’d like to join us, we’ll be meeting outside of The Statehouse at 8:00pm.  From there we’ll be reveling in several fine Krampus-Friendly establishments, such as The Whig and Jillian’s in the Vista.  You can read more on the Columbia Krampusnacht Facebook event page.

After the revelry, there will be an 11:00 pm showing of the Christmas slasher classic, Silent Night Deadly Nightat The Nickelodeon Theatre (part of the First Friday Lowbrow Cinema Explosion) as well.  Sounds like a perfect end to a Kramptastic evening, don’t you think?

I hope to see you there!

Don’t be skeered!

 

 

Jillian Owens is a writer, designer, and eco-fashion revolutionary. A Columbia SC transplant, she graduated from the University of South Carolina with a BFA in Theatre and English. When she’s not gallivanting about, she’s busy refashioning ugly thrift store duds into fashionable frocks at ReFashionista.net or helping the underserved through her work in Community Impact at United Way of the Midlands. She also reviews local theater productions for Jasper Magazine and Onstage Columbia, and is an occasional contributor for The Free Times. Any comments, questions, or crude remarks can be directed to [email protected].

 

 

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