On December 5th, the Alpine character Krampus shares the Holidaze folklore stage in conjunction with the Feast of St. Nicholas. The devious deity who takes delight in kidnapping and punishing the “naughty” children, Krampus is usually depicted as a hairy, horned, humanoid creature, wearing chains and carrying a bundle of birch sticks. Though anthropologists speculate a pre-Christian presence, it seems Krampus was popularized as the evil counterpart to St. Nick around the 17th century.
Christian cultures were known to find an angle to incorporate beloved pagan roots from the Old Ways into their own Holy Agenda: “There seems to be little doubt as to his true identity for, in no other form is the full regalia of the Horned God of the Witches so well preserved. The birch—apart from its phallic significance—may have a connection with the initiation rites of certain witch-covens; rites which entailed binding and scourging as a form of mock-death. The chains could have been introduced in a Christian attempt to ‘bind the Devil’.” Nowadays, those who dress as Krampus meander throughout their town expecting neighboring shops to have free shots of Schnapps. Essentially a bizarro bar crawl derived from the traditional parade known as “Krampuslauf”, Krampus cosplay seems more aesthetically imaginative than the annoying drunken bros in red and white known as SantaCon.
Though the demonic figure has been around for centuries, Krampus remained niche until recently according to Nat Geo: “Krampus’s frightening presence was suppressed for many years—the Catholic Church forbade the raucous celebrations, and fascists in World War II Europe found Krampus despicable because it was considered a creation of the Social Democrats. Krampus is making a comeback now, thanks partly to a ‘bah, humbug’ attitude in pop culture, with people searching to celebrate the yuletide season in non-traditional ways”. A number of films have depicted Krampus in both horror and satire.
With many interesting (and often terribly creepy) depictions in photographs of festivities and artwork since the 1800’s, Krampus became a particularly popular subject for postcards. Since Krampus was kin to the Devil, this character was depicted rather gruesomely at first, but as culture changed, Krampus was depicted more as a party monster. The “lady’s man” in more adult-themed artworks, Krampus creeped around parlor rooms and dance floors and bedrooms, ready to romance naughty ladies instead of killing little children. Not necessarily a succubus, Krampus had more class, a sly seducer, drawn as a gentleman in pre-1920’s illustrations armed with bouquets of flowers and bundles of jewelry. The more cartoonish, the more obvious a horny little devil, overwhelmed by the racy graces of over-exaggerated mid-1900’s pin-up bombshells with a very flirty, short and non-scary Krampus.
Artists would sometimes portray Krampus as a “she-devil”, a curvaceous giantess, yet not a “temptress” or “trickster”. Femme Krampus often kept with the original M.O. of snatching children and dragging them to hell, similar to the Greek myth Lamia, “a child-devouring Daimon”. Daughter of Poseidon, Lamia’s namesake and lineage rendered her as something of a shark, with other tales suggesting Lamia a Libyan queen loved by Zeus. Hera stole Lamia’s children upon learning of their affair, and wild with grief, Lamia tore her own eyes out. In transformation, she became a monster seeking revenge by hunting and eating children. In more romantic tales, Lamia is a siren, immortalized by Pre-Raphaelite artists like John William Waterhouse, who painted her as a beautiful maiden fixing her gaze on an unassuming suitor.
The femme version of Krampus, even if “sexy”, carried gendered implications: she was either a bitter mama monster trying to steal everyone’s babies, Lamia with yeti-esque Satanic edge, or she ruined the lives of men for power, or sometimes she was a dominatrix, punishing tiny men, whipping one after another, all lined up for a turn. Whether Lady or Lord, Krampus is indeed an archetype of punishment. From Kindle novellas like A Kiss From Krampus: An Erotic Christmas Tail (yes, that’s “tail” not “tale”), gay erotica A Naughty Boy for Krampus, a themed photo shoot by trans porn star Tara Emory… the modernized context of the century-old S&M Krampus lives on in fantasy art, which has always been a realm to explore sexual taboos, even though some of the early illustrations are in ambiguous juxtaposition to its origins.
Krampus makes sense as a kitsch character today, a cultural phenom that has made its way into media, and highly appropriate for an alt for the “Ugly Christmas Sweater” or a festive subject for a theatrical wintry music video (see Actually Huizenga below). Either way, Krampus was the original “you better be nice” of the Holidaze, the coal for Santa’s “naughty and nice” list. If there was ever a perfect character for a macabre Christmas, it would be the demonic beast known as Krampus. MAY YOU ALL HAVE XXXMAS KINK!
THE FEMME MOON 