In
Australia, we tend to celebrate Christmas in a pretty conventional fashion. It
varies a little from family to family and across geography of course, but the
broad strokes tend to go something like this:
-Visit a relative’s place for a BBQ and prawns
-Open presents
-Off to the beach
Adherence
to Christianity is far from mandatory for participation; for many it’s a rather
secular affair. It’s not very hard work to trace a lot of the symbols (e.g. the
tree, mistletoe) back to pagan Europe, but such is the way that culture shifts
over time. But my overall point is that Christmas in Australia is a pretty
pedestrian affair; Santa is jolly, gifts are abundant and there is food and
drink aplenty.
But in
other parts of the world, it’s a little…different. In parts of Europe, a lot
more of the pre-Christian culture has survived into modern Christmas
celebrations – and some of it is absolutely terrifying. One such example is the
Krampus.
I probably
first became aware of him a few years ago, when I was putting together an
article for my then-day job on unusual Christmas traditions from around the
world. Having spent quite a bit of time with Dutch people from childhood, I
already knew about (the frequently controversial) Zwarte Piet – but the Krampus was fairly new territory.
Hailing
from the Austrian Alps, he’s a half-goat, half-demon, who’s a companion of the
holy St. Nicholas. Rather than bringing gifts for good children (St. Nicholas
looks after those) he delivers punishments to naughty kids. All fun and games,
like getting a lump of coal in your stocking, right? Maybe nowadays, but in ye
olden times there were stories of him throwing naughty kids into his bag, dragging
them off and either eating them or throwing them into Hell.
How
seriously anyone took this is up for debate, but look at him. Imagine getting one of those cards in the
mail as a kid. It’s a slightly more intimidating prospect than ending up on
Santa’s naughty list, isn’t it? As might be expected, these days he’s a little
more sedate, and “only” tends to hit kids with his bundle of birch branches.
Like many
pagan holdovers that got turned into Christmas traditions, Krampus has also
generated his share of controversy over the years. Conservative Christians are
frequently not fans (perhaps not surprising, given his obvious resemblance to
the Medieval depiction of the devil) and the Dolfuss regime tried to stamp out
his presence from the 1920s to the 1950s.
Still,
these efforts don’t seem to have dulled his popularity; if anything, the last
few years have seen him have something of a renaissance, both in Europe and in
America. And so we now have a Krampus from Funko.
Funko are
staking more than you might expect on this POP – there’s a regular version and
a flocked version, both of which also have a chase. There’s also a “frozen” FYE
exclusive too, though it doesn’t seem to be out yet. I assume it’ll just be
available at Popcultcha in Australia.
For myself,
I just went with the regular version. It’s a fantastic POP; a nice, chunky
piece of plastic. He’s massive, and bedecked with all the trappings you’d
expect; big horns, big tongue, chains around his body and holding a whip. Turn
him around and you’ll even see he’s wearing a basket on his back, complete with
a naughty kid peeking out, who’s no doubt destined for some kind of terrible punishment.
While the
paint lines could definitely be cleaner, this is still a great figure. The only real downside is that there's no Saint Nicholas to accompany him, though Funko did make a Rankin-Bass-style Santa a few years ago.
I can’t quite see Krampus ever taking off in the same
way in Australia that he has in other parts of the world. The climate’s wrong
for one thing. But will he garner a cult following? All the signs point to h*ck
yes.
