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Winter / Christmas Celebrations: Costumes & Costumed Figures

All pretty scary.
 
Does anyone else feel Christmas is turning into another Halloween? Ghosts have long been associated with Christmas, for reasons that perplex me (at least insofar as it isn't part of Christian custom), and now folk are dressing up as a devil like figure around Christmas time. Not a criticism, just an observation.
 
Nooo! Krampus & Co. are not new. It is probably five or six years since I learned of Krampus. Those animal skull and hide costumes have a Welsh cousin in the Mari Lwyd.

The custom of sending Krampus cards to naughty children is one which should be revived! :evil:
 
Since first learning about them, I've appreciated the Krampus folklore / rituals as examples of cultural psy ops waged on children to illustrate and enforce acceptable behavior. The notion that a child's Xmas receipts aren't guaranteed, but rather depend upon an annual reckoning of naughty versus nice, is one of the elements that's been leached out of the holidaze during my lifetime.

Go back and review the lyrics to Santa Claus is Coming to Town (http://www.41051.com/xmaslyrics/santatown.html), which dates back to the 1930's. Their face-value implications are more cautionary than celebratory.

When I was a little kid (1950's; USA) it was not unusual for parents, adult relatives, church acquaintances, teachers, and even the occasional adult stranger encountered in public to remind us children at anytime during the year that our actions - especially whatever naughtiness they'd just caught us doing - could / would have Xmas consequences.

Visits by Krampus (most especially those in which both Krampus and St. Nicholas arrive together) seem clearly designed to inculcate and reinforce a lesson that bounty accrues to the nice, while the naughty risk disappointment, if not punishment.

I won't go so far as to claim I miss being subject to that lesson, but I do believe we're somewhat poorer for having abandoned attempts to teach it.
 
According to the new FT article, Krampus is a relatively new bit of folklore which started about a hundred years ago, though it was based on various superstitions before that, it just wasn't collectively called Krampus.

Also, the author says the Krampus film is rubbish, but I can only assume he saw one of the rip-offs that arrived in the wake of the horror from last year, because that was a lot of fun (though set on the wrong night of the year).
 
EnolaGaia said:
Since first learning about them, I've appreciated the Krampus folklore / rituals as examples of cultural psy ops waged on children to illustrate and enforce acceptable behavior.
Click to expand...
I feel that idea of a bogeyman to punish unacceptable behavior i.e. that which will bestow on you and yours an evolutionary disadvantage, often at the sharp end of some carnivore, is probably quite old.
 
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15380417_700553166778934_2282941687608708827_n.jpg
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Krampus, it would seem, congealed from a variety of folklore threats to naughty children just about the time an industry of postcards arrived to celebrate him? :)

Was there no Krampus-Kola? :evil:
 
Glad to see Krampus and company about. One good thing about being a misfit in the backwaters of Texas is that we were inspired to befriend all the immigrants who were at loose ends during the holidays. We were able to hear tales about Krampus, La Befana, Zwarte Piet, etc. Very interesting Christmas traditions.

EnolaGaia said:
Since first learning about them, I've appreciated the Krampus folklore / rituals as examples of cultural psy ops waged on children to illustrate and enforce acceptable behavior. The notion that a child's Xmas receipts aren't guaranteed, but rather depend upon an annual reckoning of naughty versus nice, is one of the elements that's been leached out of the holidaze during my lifetime.

Go back and review the lyrics to Santa Claus is Coming to Town (http://www.41051.com/xmaslyrics/santatown.html), which dates back to the 1930's. Their face-value implications are more cautionary than celebratory.

When I was a little kid (1950's; USA) it was not unusual for parents, adult relatives, church acquaintances, teachers, and even the occasional adult stranger encountered in public to remind us children at anytime during the year that our actions - especially whatever naughtiness they'd just caught us doing - could / would have Xmas consequences.

Visits by Krampus (most especially those in which both Krampus and St. Nicholas arrive together) seem clearly designed to inculcate and reinforce a lesson that bounty accrues to the nice, while the naughty risk disappointment, if not punishment.

I won't go so far as to claim I miss being subject to that lesson, but I do believe we're somewhat poorer for having abandoned attempts to teach it.
Click to expand...

Those days aren't so far behind, it seems! This year my son has designed some Nineteen Eighty-Four themed Christmas cards that say "Santa Is Watching" :D
 
Ulalume said:
Glad to see Krampus and company about. One good thing about being a misfit in the backwaters of Texas is that we were inspired to befriend all the immigrants who were at loose ends during the holidays. We were able to hear tales about Krampus, La Befana, Zwarte Piet, etc. Very interesting Christmas traditions.



Those days aren't so far behind, it seems! This year my son has designed some Nineteen Eighty-Four themed Christmas cards that say "Santa Is Watching" :D
Click to expand...
That sounds like an interesting mix of traditions.
 
Ulalume said:
Glad to see Krampus and company about. One good thing about being a misfit in the backwaters of Texas is that we were inspired to befriend all the immigrants who were at loose ends during the holidays. We were able to hear tales about Krampus, La Befana, Zwarte Piet, etc. Very interesting Christmas traditions.



Those days aren't so far behind, it seems! This year my son has designed some Nineteen Eighty-Four themed Christmas cards that say "Santa Is Watching" :D
Click to expand...
1984 Brother-ness seems to be everywhere. Horrible regional legislation abounds.
The eyes of Texas are upon you
All the livelong day.
The eyes of Texas are upon you
you cannot get away.
Do not think you can escape them. . .
 
GerdaWordyer said:
1984 Brother-ness seems to be everywhere. Horrible regional legislation abounds.
The eyes of Texas are upon you
All the livelong day.
The eyes of Texas are upon you
you cannot get away.
Do not think you can escape them. . .
Click to expand...

Or as Chuck Norris so memorably sang:

In the eyes of a ranger,
The unsuspected stranger
Had better know the truth of wrong from right,
'cause the eyes of a ranger are upon you,
Any wrong you do he's gonna see,
When you're in Texas look behind you,
'cause that's where the rangers are gonna be

When I was in Texas recently I did keep looking but those rangers are clever, I never once caught one behind me.
 
GerdaWordyer said:
1984 Brother-ness seems to be everywhere. Horrible regional legislation abounds.
The eyes of Texas are upon you
All the livelong day.
The eyes of Texas are upon you
you cannot get away.
Do not think you can escape them. . .
Click to expand...

And ironically, we sing it while making devil horns.
Heckler20 said:
Or as Chuck Norris so memorably sang:
Click to expand...

Good lord, I hope he didn't.
But he probably did. :rolleyes:

Freakin' Chuck Norris. Why is there no emoticon for cringe?
 
Ulalume said:
Good lord, I hope he didn't.
But he probably did. :rolleyes:
Freakin' Chuck Norris. Why is there no emoticon for cringe?
Click to expand...

Oh, that means you probably haven't seen 'Walker Texas Ranger' have you, which the above is the theme song sung by Chuck?

Awful, issue of the week show, the issue usually involving someone turning their life around helped by Chuck and his brave band of rangers, the bad folks being on the receiving end of Chuck's wooden delivery followed up by his fists. My other half never missed an episode, which I think says much about the fierce Texan spirit.
 
Heckler20 said:
Oh, that means you probably haven't seen 'Walker Texas Ranger' have you, which the above is the theme song sung by Chuck?

Awful, issue of the week show, the issue usually involving someone turning their life around helped by Chuck and his brave band of rangers, the bad folks being on the receiving end of Chuck's wooden delivery followed up by his fists. My other half never missed an episode, which I think says much about the fierce Texan spirit.
Click to expand...
That show is comedy gold. More so when you can recognize the locations and know what they're getting wrong geographically and culturally.
 
Ulalume said:
Glad to see Krampus and company about. One good thing about being a misfit in the backwaters of Texas is that we were inspired to befriend all the immigrants who were at loose ends during the holidays. We were able to hear tales about Krampus, La Befana, Zwarte Piet, etc. Very interesting Christmas traditions.



Those days aren't so far behind, it seems! This year my son has designed some Nineteen Eighty-Four themed Christmas cards that say "Santa Is Watching" :D
Click to expand...


When we scare the kids at Halloween Techy wears a devil mask that looks a lot like Krampus. We're thinking of somehow incorporating Krampus into our next Halloween performance.
 
Delightfully Fortean thread this is and even resulted in the following image somehow coming up from copious, related online searches.

One has consummately no idea what on earth this is about... :D

Screenshot_20201204_120834_resize_67.jpg
 
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