Enter Krampus Night.
Imagine if you will just minding your own business at the Y, swimming some laps on a laid-back Saturday afternoon. As I stopped to take a breather, I look over to realize I know the person swimming in the next lane. After a short conversation, I find myself invited to the annual Krampus parade that night. The exact definition I was given was "people dress up as evil Chewbaccas and switch naughty children". Hmm... that was an intriguing enough description for me to decide to go check it out.
The parade began as any Christmas parade would, a few angels and Saint Nicholas welcoming everyone for coming out. The angels were handing out stickers that said "naughty" or "nice". Somehow the stickers didn't make it to me, which I was completely fine with for my first Krampus experience. Before I knew it the Krampus were making their appearance. Giant goat-like demons caring switches to get the "naughty" children back in line. The Krampus were wearing chains with cowbells and grunting and growling and were getting in the face of anyone wearing a "naughty" sticker. They even had their hands covered in soot, so if they touched you, you would have the mark of the Krampus (this may have happened to one of my friends). Everyone loved it! Even smaller children, who I expected to be afraid, weren't afraid to mess with the Krampus. Although quite possibly the best thing I saw was a little Maltese attempt to take on a Krampus. One Krampus found this Maltese that was barking it's head off at the Krampus and the Krampus just turned and shook it's butt (and cowbells) at the Maltese. Great fun.
Afterwards we hit up a bar, because the rumor is the Krampus roam the Bloomington bars looking for people wearing the stickers from the parade. Unfortunately we didn't run into a Krampus in the bars, but on the walk back to the cars, we saw a pickup truck bed full of them! They were still grunting and growling like there was no tomorrow. So with that said... I would totally recommend seeking out a Krampus parade near you. Completely unique and fun tradition!
Fun Fact: Krampus is an Alpine tradition, in which the Krampus work for Saint Nicholas. They only come out on Krampus night (December 5th) the night before Saint Nicholas Day. The part about switching the naughty children comes from this Alpine tradition. Doesn't seem quite as bad as that new Krampus movie now, does it?
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