{"id":7253,"date":"2021-12-01T10:30:05","date_gmt":"2021-12-01T15:30:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.aesu.com\/?p=7253"},"modified":"2021-12-01T10:30:05","modified_gmt":"2021-12-01T15:30:05","slug":"the-legend-of-krampus","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bobeckmedia.com\/aesu\/the-legend-of-krampus\/","title":{"rendered":"The Legend of Krampus"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure id=\"attachment_7254\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-7254\" style=\"width: 325px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><a href=\"https:\/\/bobeckmedia.com\/aesu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/GettyImages-858202878.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-7254\" src=\"https:\/\/bobeckmedia.com\/aesu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/GettyImages-858202878-1024x683.jpg\" alt=\"Krampus in Austria\" width=\"325\" height=\"217\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-7254\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">In Germany and Austria, Krampus is believed to come on the night before Saint Nicholas&#8217;s feast day to snatch and abduct evil children while they are sleeping.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>The story of \u201cJolly Old Saint Nick\u201d and his workshop on the North Pole has become ubiquitous all around the world. Even in some countries where Christianity is not widely practiced, Christmas is still celebrated. We all know that Santa Claus is \u201cgonna find out who\u2019s naughty and nice\u201d, but what happens to the naughty kids during the Christmas season? For some, naughty kids simply get coal in their stockings. But children in Germany and Austria fear the coming of Krampus, who will chase them around and punish them &#8211; or maybe even abduct them! The legend of Krampus is an integral part of the celebrations surrounding the feast of Saint Nicholas, occurring this year on Monday, December 6<sup>th<\/sup>.<!--more--><\/p>\n<h2>Who (or What) is Krampus?<\/h2>\n<p>A typical depiction of Krampus is the stuff of nightmares. He is described as something akin to the ancient Greek satyr \u2013 half man, half goat \u2013 often depicted with dark hair, fangs, and a long tongue. The legend of Krampus originates from earlier <a href=\"https:\/\/bobeckmedia.com\/aesu\/england-travel-tips\/stone-circles-and-druidic-traditions\/\">pagan<\/a> winter solstice traditions that were merged with Christian traditions in much the same way as other holidays such as <a href=\"https:\/\/bobeckmedia.com\/aesu\/europe-travel-tips\/the-origins-and-customs-of-all-saints-day\/\">Halloween<\/a> or Easter. Many European countries have a tradition of an evil equivalent to Santa Claus, though Krampus is the one most familiar to Americans as the tradition has seeped into our popular culture.<\/p>\n<h2>Krampusnacht (Krampus Night)<\/h2>\n<p>According to folktales told in the Germanic area of Europe, Krampus comes to towns on the night before Saint Nicholas Day \u2013 the night of December 5<sup>th<\/sup> this year. Typically, children leave their shoes out on their home\u2019s front porch on this night, because on St. Nicholas Day they would wake up to find sweets and other treats in their shoes if they were good. The legends said that, during the night, Krampus would come and swat wicked children with his birch sticks, put them in his sack, and abduct them to his lair in the underworld. Nice children would wake up the next morning to find sweets in their shoes, and while the truly wicked would disappear, naughty children would have a rod in their shoes, serving as a warning to shape up, or they would be next.<\/p>\n<h2>Krampuslauf (Krampus Run)<\/h2>\n<p>Another tradition associated with Krampus is that of the Krampuslauf, or Krampus Run, which was another way to scare Austrian children into behaving. In this tradition, grown men would get drunk, dress up as Krampus, and wildly run through the streets of their town. Many think of it as a way for adults to blow off some steam in a manner that might not have looked that out of place to an ancient pagan, while still pushing the legend of Krampus to impressionable children.<\/p>\n<h2>Explore the World with AESU!<\/h2>\n<p>Are you ready to plan an adventure of a lifetime? AESU offers unique, thrilling travel programs for college students and young professionals at affordable rates. Each trip is action-packed and informal\u2014designed just for people your own age. We are also able to design custom tours just for your group.<\/p>\n<p>Experience an exhilarating adventure in 2022 on the\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/res.aesu.com\/stw\/STWProduct.aspx?Theme=AESU&amp;ProductCode=22-COS-AESU\">Cosmopolitan<\/a>,\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/res.aesu.com\/stw\/STWProduct.aspx?Theme=AESU&amp;ProductCode=22-GES-AESU\">Great Escape<\/a>,\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/res.aesu.com\/stw\/STWProduct.aspx?Theme=AESU&amp;ProductCode=22-GRE-AESU\">Greek Island Hopper tour,<\/a>\u00a0and more! 2022 tour dates are now available! If you have any questions or want help booking your next adventure, please contact AESU by calling 800-638-7640, or fill out the contact form found on our website. Follow AESU on\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AESUTravel\">Facebook<\/a>,\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/aesutravel\">Twitter<\/a>,\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/aesutravel\/\">Instagram<\/a>,\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/company\/214296\/admin\/\">LinkedIn<\/a>, and\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.pinterest.com\/aesutravel\/\">Pinterest<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The story of \u201cJolly Old Saint Nick\u201d and his workshop on the North Pole has become ubiquitous all around the world. Even in some countries where Christianity is not widely practiced, Christmas is still celebrated. We all know that Santa Claus is \u201cgonna find out who\u2019s naughty and nice\u201d, but what happens to the naughty [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":7254,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"postBodyCss":"","postBodyMargin":[],"postBodyPadding":[],"postBodyBackground":{"backgroundType":"classic","gradient":""},"footnotes":""},"categories":[49,39],"tags":[50,66,38,65],"class_list":["post-7253","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-austria-travel-tips","category-germany-travel-tips","tag-austria-2","tag-christmas","tag-germany-2","tag-krampus"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.1.1 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>The Legend of Krampus - AESU Travel<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The legend of Krampus is an integral part of the celebrations surrounding the feast of Saint Nicholas in Germany and Austria.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/bobeckmedia.com\/aesu\/the-legend-of-krampus\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Legend of Krampus - 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