Krampus My Style.

As I'm certain every other Creepmas Blogger knows, December 5th is a famous day amongst Austria and other Alpine countries for that is the day that St. Nick's companion, Krampus, visits the homes of children and gives warnings or punishments to bad children.

"Krampus is a hairy devil with a long tongue, a tail, and is often in chains and carrying a switch. Krampus accompanies Santa Claus or Saint Nicholas. As Santa disperses justice on good children by rewarding them with gifts, so does Krampus reward the bad people by beating them with his switch of sharp sticks."
--Ephemera ;
by Pamela Apkarian-Russell

I wrote a little about Kramden Krampus two years ago, so I've plundered the writings of another blogger and came up with a bit of クランパス in Japanese.

このモンスターは、クランパス と呼ばれるヨーロッパのクリスマス悪魔です。 (This monster, Krampus, is a European Christmas Demon.) アルプスで、クランパスはクリスマスの前に来て、悪い子供にお仕置きをします。(In the Alps, Krampus comes before Christmas and punishes the naughty children.) 皆さんの家に、クランパスは来ませんでしたか？ (Everyone, are you looking forward to having Krampus come visit your house?

Yet another blogger has written even more but there's way too much Japanese for me to translate it so click that link yourself. I think he scammed a lot of his info from the net, as have I.

Looks like a lot of fun!

Krampus Cramps Us!

Thanks to one of my roving reporters, I've just discovered a new reason to be happy at Christmas. It's Krampus, St. Nicholas' darker half. While St. Nick is handing out presents to the good kids, Krampus is dishing out punishment to the bad kids. I'm glad I didn't grow up in Germany or certain other parts of Europe, or I'd have had my hide tanned with a switch or chains! OUCH! Be sure to check out those links to learn more.

Here are a few of my favourite postcards that I've yanked from the site:










Not quite as scary as Krampus, is yours truly in Kris Kringle apparel. On Saturday morning I posed for photos with over a hundred rugrats and then helped my able assistant, Carl dole out some presents to the good kids. If there were bad kids, they were below my radar.

Today's GeGeGe sees Kitaro and the gang go up against some Cycloptean Oni. I'm pretty certain that I'd be real careful as to which toothbrush I use in that household and don't you just love to see Neko-Musume go feral?









It's frick'n cold here these days, so how about a bit of Yuki-Onna to warm you up?

Santa Cross is Coming to Town.

Many moons ago when I lived in Tokyo, a co-worker told me that he had seen a picture of Santa hanging prostrate on the cross as part of a Department store window-dressing to celebrate Christmas. I took him at his word and being a neophyte in this wild and wacky land, began to regale my friends with this same story. Now maybe he was just having me on, or he had sincerely heard this myth himself. But so begins yet another Urban Legend. With but a few Googling clicks, here are a few of the documented cases over the years recounting this same tale:

1. A few Decembers ago a Japanese department store, desperate to appear Westernized, mounted an extravagant Christmas display, featuring a life-sized Santa Claus, crucified upon a cross.
2. The granddaddy of cultural faux pas occurred just after World War II, when a Ginza department store rolled out its elaborate Christmas promotion: a smiling Santa nailed to a crucifix.
3. A Japanese department store reputedly once put up a big Christmas cartoon which had a Santa Claus prominently displayed on a crucifix. Whether or not this story, which has been doing the rounds in Tokyo for some years, is true or just another urban legend, is unclear.

Well, as far as I can tell, it's all a load of hooey but I can share with you photos of another Santa, who may not share Jesus' fate, but does share his birthdate.

Presenting Santa Jones or Michael Claus, take your pick...