You've met Krampus and Belsnickel, now meet...

One of the Perchten!

Last weekend, my mom and I went to German Fest in Milwaukee. We had a lot of fun. There were many sights to see, but one thing stood out as prime blog material!

This figure is one of the Perchten. His fur is blowing in the wind. A little girl who seemed strangely unafraid walked up and started petting the fur.

So here's the full Perchten standing in front of his creator's work area. I took one of the sculptor's business cards, so I could give you guys his information and a link to his online gallery of work: Bryan T. Berenson, Master Sculptor

www.btbsculptor.com

Check out his "gallery" link to see some of the awesome masks he has carved.

The artist at work:

So, who are the Perchten? Well, this brief article with some information was sitting near the figure. So I took a photo of it. There was no way I was going to remember this creature's name if I didn't take a pic of it!

The "Perchtenlauf" is the procession the Perchten walk in. There is a folk custom in the Tyrol region of Central Europe called Perchtenlaufen. (If you follow that link, you'll read some wild stuff.)

The Perchten appear in December to banish away winter and any evil spirits hanging around at that time. These creatures look almost scary enough to intimidate an entire season. The Perchten are the entourage of Perchta.

Perchta is a goddess in German folklore. She can look pretty (this gif is the image that came to my mind) or really creepy and craggy. I'm not going to get into too much here, but she's worth reading about. You can read a little about how the Perchten are connected to her in the "related beings" section:

Perchta's Wikipedia Page

It's worth visiting that page, if only to see the picture of another Perchten mask. That's one of the scariest yet!

These parading Perchten are similar to some other German creatures that come out in groups, wearing bells and carrying sticks, clubs, or in this picture, some kind of wooden farm tool. Hairy, menacing creatures.

So, of course I wanted to see a modern celebration of people in these costumes. There were plenty of videos to choose from on YouTube. I managed to find one without blinky strobe lights and flames or intense Metal music. This video shows a parade with many kids in the audience. The Perchten here are shaking hands or posing for photos. That's different from the other videos I watched where they were more or less attacking or chasing people. This is the tamest I could find:

There are also what appear to be interviews with the mask makers/sellers in this video. I don't know, it's all in German. I couldn't help noticing that some of the masks in the beginning of this video very strongly resemble the head witch in that 1990 movie The Witches. Do you remember that one? Angelica Houston is in it. And that movie has a strong German vibe. Just listen to Angelica here. So... someone was influenced character design-wise. Here's a clip of what I'm talking about (warning: big time spoilers and ickiness)

It's funny, how in so many of the comments under this movie clip people are saying how they were "traumatized" by watching The Witches, and yet I just watched a bunch of little kids at that Perchtenlauf event acting totally calm. And they were face to face with these things! I think culture plays a role here...

Speaking of witches, we saw one at German Fest. This was more of the Kitchen Witch variety! It was funny walking behind this witch, watching even the grumpiest of faces start smiling when they looked at her.

I'd been spotted!

The witch then (grossly enough) starting twanging this booger looking thing on a spring next to her nose. This was probably a photo op she was trying to provide for me, but I was too busy laughing to take a picture.

It turns out this witch was quite masculine, complete with a full mustache. I saw him later in the day sitting at a bar with his mask off. 😁

Krampus goes Grimm

I was so excited to watch the Christmas special of Grimm last Friday! I always look forward to watching Grimm, but this episode had Krampus! For those who don't follow the show, it involves a lot of different creatures. Some are based on old Grimm's fairy tales, some are creatures designed especially for the show, and others are cultural legends. Grimm has recently been doing the cultural legend thing and I love it! A few weeks ago, I learned about El Cucuy, a boogeyman type creature told of in some Hispanic countries. The Krampus episode had some similarities, because he is also a creature creating a form of justice.

Many of the people who read this blog are well familiar with Krampus, but I'll give a quick explanation for anyone who isn't. In some Alpine and Northern European countries, the Krampus follows St. Nicholas around to meet with the children. While St. Nicholas is the giver of gifts, Krampus is more the giver of swats with the sticks he carries around. If you've been really awful, he'll load you into his sack and carry you off as a snack for later. Krampus is a horrifying devil-like creature who is often depicted with hooves and a long, red tongue. Here's how he looked on Grimm:



Pretty cool, hey? I couldn't have been happier with how he was represented! Here's Krampus with his switch and bag for collecting naughty kids:



In this plot, Krampus takes the kids and hangs them from the tallest trees in baskets. I'd never heard that part of the legend.



This Krampus not only looked scary, but he also had a scary voice. It was used sparingly, which I thought was perfect. I found a video full of Krampus moments. You will definitely get the idea! (There's a short advertisement before you see Krampus.)



What do you think? I think it's amazing how far mask making has come. Today, Krampus can be ultra scary with the use of silicone masks and contact lenses. I saw some modern Krampus get-togethers on YouTube recently and it's really spine-tingling now. I'm sure it always was, but now Krampus is like something from a Horror movie. This 2012 Krampus parade video was taken in Austria:



I find this video fascinating but I don't know if I'd be up for attending one of these parades in person. There's always that potential for people to get extra aggressive when they're wearing masks, carrying sticks, and probably fueled with a little beer! Still, I liked the creativity of the costumes, that red fire, and the way that one Krampus got lifted up.

I found a series of postcards and a few photos to give you an idea of what Krampus looked like back in the day:

Krampus postcards

The first two photos are of traditional Krampus costumes

You've come a long way Krampus!