50 Fun Facts About Krampus

Krampus is a horned figure from the folklore of which mountain region?

The Alps. The Catholic Church tried to ban his masked revels, but they survived in remote mountain towns.

Krampus runs also fill the streets around Merano in South Tyrol, a German-speaking province of which country?

Italy. South Tyrol was Austrian until Italy took it after the First World War, and it kept the masked runs held around 5 December, the eve of St Nicholas's Day.

In the run-up to St Nicholas's Day, Dutch children leave out hay and a carrot for which companion of Sinterklaas?

His horse. Sinterklaas is said to ride it over the rooftops at night, and next morning the children find sweets or a small present left in return.

With what does Krampus traditionally punish naughty children?

Birch rods. The saint was no softer: children who had misbehaved were told he would leave them a rod in place of presents.

Krampus is usually depicted with which kind of foot?

Goat's hoof. The half-goat, half-demon look has made him a ready-made horror villain, in a 2015 Hollywood film and a string of low-budget Krampus movies besides.

Besides horns and dark fur, which feature do most descriptions of Krampus give him?

A long lolling tongue. In a 1953 Time magazine account he also rattles a huge chain in menacing disbelief while children plead that they have been good.

What does Krampus carry on his back?

A sack or basket for children. In the old tales he carried off the worst-behaved in it, to be drowned, eaten or delivered to Hell.

Popular accounts make Krampus the son of Hel, ruler of the underworld in which mythology?

Norse. The same tellings root him in pagan midwinter rites that were later folded into the Christian feast of St Nicholas.

What are the fearsome masks of Krampus runners traditionally made from?

Wood. The masked figures do more than parade: on the eve of St Nicholas's Day they go from house to house to frighten the children who answer the door.

Who traditionally put on the masks for a Krampuslauf, the Krampus run through the streets?

The town's young men. Drink is usually involved and onlookers can expect a swat, and the runs have boomed since a late-20th-century push to preserve local heritage.

In Austrian St Nicholas processions, the saint who walks beside Krampus is dressed as what?

A bishop. The mitre and golden staff mark the office the real Nicholas held in the fourth century, long before America remade him as Santa Claus.

Which 20th-century government in Vienna banned the Krampus tradition?

The Austrofascist regime, the Catholic dictatorship of 1934 to 1938, forbade the custom, but the ban did not hold and he was back in Austrian homes within a generation.

A 1953 Vienna leaflet titled 'Krampus Is an Evil Man' warned parents that he could do what?

Scar children for life. The head of Vienna's kindergartens wrote it, but the tradition shrugged off the scolding and was booming again by the end of the century.

A 2004 book of vintage Krampus cards helped introduce the demon to which country, where he had been little known?

The United States. Few people there had ever seen the cards; since the book he has become an ironic seasonal icon, with Krampus parties, runs and a 2015 feature film.

Vintage Krampus cards often carry the line 'Gruß vom Krampus', which means what?

Greetings from Krampus. The cheery line usually sits above a picture of the demon thrashing or carrying off children, and some racier cards show him courting women.

What do Krampus runners strap to their belts to announce their approach?

Cowbells. The din is part of the point: the runs are billed as an old rite for scaring off the ghosts of winter.

In Slovenia, Krampus is known by what name?

Parkelj. Centuries under Austrian rule carried the custom into Slovenia, where he trails Miklavž, the local St Nicholas, rattling his chain.

Krampus also visits children in which country, where his name is spelled Krampusz?

Hungary. The figure came over from Austria, name and all, and now walks beside Mikulás, the Hungarian St Nicholas.

Hans Trapp, a Christmas bogeyman said to be based on a real 15th-century knight, frightens children in which French region?

Alsace. The knight, Hans von Trotha, feuded with the abbey at Wissembourg and was excommunicated; the story goes that he dammed the river above the town, then broke the dam to flood it.

Who directed the 2015 comedy-horror Krampus, having earlier made the Halloween anthology Trick 'r Treat?

Michael Dougherty. A lifelong monster-movie fan, he had most of the film's creatures built as puppets and costumes rather than computer effects.

In the 2015 film Krampus, what does young Max do that summons the demon?

Tears up his letter to Santa. It asked for nothing for himself, only wishes for his squabbling family, and he rips it up after his cousins read it out at dinner to mock him.

Which studio created the creature effects for the 2015 Krampus film?

Weta Workshop. Its creatures were mostly puppets and suits on set, which the director said forced a style of shooting that made the scenes more suspenseful.

What does the demon leave behind for families he has tormented in Krampus (2015)?

A bell-shaped bauble bearing his name. Max's grandmother was handed one as a girl, and when Max unwraps another on Christmas morning the family realises it was no dream.

In which Christmas action-comedy is Krampus the estranged adoptive brother of Santa Claus?

Red One. Game of Thrones actor Kristofer Hivju plays him as a grudge-bearing outcast who still turns up to help rescue Santa in the final battle.

Germany's best-known Nicholas companion, Knecht Ruprecht, has a name that translates as what?

Farmhand Rupert. Knecht is a cousin of the English word knight, which began just as humbly: in Old English a cniht was a boy or a servant.

By tradition, what does Knecht Ruprecht quiz children on before deciding to reward or beat them?

Their prayers. Those who can say them perfectly get apples and nuts; in some regions the rest were beaten with a bag of ashes.

How does Belsnickel, the fur-clad gift-bringer of the German Palatinate, differ from Krampus?

He visits alone, without the saint, and does both jobs himself: cakes and nuts from his pockets for good children, and a switch for the rest.

Belsnickel survives in the folklore of German communities in which two places outside Germany?

Pennsylvania and Brazil. Emigrants from the Palatinate carried him to the Pennsylvania Dutch country, and later German settlers took him to Santa Catarina in southern Brazil.

Père Fouettard, the Nicholas companion of eastern France and Belgium, has a name meaning what?

Father Whipper. In the best-known legend he is the butcher, or in some tellings the innkeeper, who murdered three boys; the saint revived them, and the killer has followed him ever since as penance.

In a 2012 Christmas episode of The Office, which character dresses up as the fur-clad gift-bringer Belsnickel?

Dwight Schrute. He hosts a party in the style of his German farming forebears, cooks their food and judges each colleague naughty or nice, switch in hand.

Schmutzli, the Swiss companion of St Nicholas, has a name that seems to come from Schmutz, a German word for what?

Dirt. The link is a best guess: a leading 19th-century folklorist admitted he could only suppose the name came from the figure's smutty, blackened face.

In the Czech Republic, svatý Mikuláš is accompanied by which pair?

A devil and an angel. Naughty Czech children are threatened with coal or, in a local twist, a potato from the devil, though in practice everyone ends up with sweets.

Which 19th-century scholar linked the Nicholas companions to pre-Christian house spirits like the kobold?

Jacob Grimm. The fairy-tale collector's study of German myth argued that Knecht Ruprecht was the same household sprite the English call Robin Goodfellow.

Which composer wrote a piano piece called 'Knecht Ruprecht' for his Album for the Young?

Robert Schumann. Unlike his Scenes from Childhood, the early pieces of this 1848 collection were written simply enough for children and beginners to play.

From which country does Sinterklaas traditionally arrive by boat each year in the Netherlands?

Spain. The real St Nicholas never lived there: his home was Myra, in what is now Turkey.

By 2021, which revised version of Sinterklaas's Dutch companion had become more common at public events than the traditional one?

Sooty Piet. The actors keep their own skin tone, with a few dark smudges said to come from climbing through chimneys.

Frau Perchta, the midwinter spirit of Austrian and south German folklore, was said to punish women who had failed to do what?

Spin all their flax. During the Twelve Nights she was said to inspect every spinning room, and thread left undone was tangled, fouled or paid for with bad luck.

In folklore, what did Frau Perchta do to anyone who ate the wrong food on her feast night?

Slit open their bellies. She was said to take out the forbidden food, pack the space with straw and sew the victim up again, using a ploughshare for a needle.

Austrian winter processions feature 'Schönperchten' and 'Schiachperchten', meaning what?

Beautiful and ugly Perchten. The ugly ones roam at night in fanged masks to drive out the spirits of winter, while the beautiful ones come by day to wish the village luck.

What do German children traditionally leave outside the door on the eve of St Nicholas's Day, hoping for sweets?

A boot. By morning the Nikolaus-Stiefel has been filled with nuts, mandarins and chocolate, and the saint is said to use the visit to check how each child has behaved.

Which actress plays Sarah, the mother of the besieged family, in the 2015 film Krampus?

Toni Collette. Her character Sarah is stuck hosting the sister, brother-in-law and aunt whose sniping pushes her son Max to give up on Christmas.

In which German state is the Krampus tradition most firmly rooted?

Bavaria. The runs had faded there before a 21st-century revival put the horned monsters back on the streets each December.

In Krampus (2015), what does the family call Tom's mother, who knows the demon's legend?

Omi. She speaks almost entirely in German, which the rest of the family follows without trouble, and she alone has met the demon before, as a child.

Krampus (2015) is set in a snowbound suburb, but in which Southern Hemisphere country was it filmed?

New Zealand. Shooting began there in March, the start of the southern autumn, yet one trade review found its wintry landscape convincing enough to make you shiver.

Which animated sitcom's 2013 episode 'Minstrel Krampus' has the demon carry off the family's bratty son, Steve?

American Dad! The demon turns out to be a soulful figure who wins the boy round, and it is Santa who leads a bloody assault on his castle.

In Krampus (2015), what is the name of the giant jack-in-the-box among the demon's killer toys?

Der Klown. During the toys' attack on the family it swallows one of Max's young cousins whole.

St Nicholas visits Austrian children in early December, so who traditionally brings their presents on 24 December?

The Christkind. The winged Christ Child began as a Protestant alternative to St Nicholas, yet today it is mainly Catholic regions such as Austria that keep the custom.

In Krampus (2015), which festive treats come to life and attack the family?

Gingerbread men. One lures a greedy young cousin to the fireplace, and when the boy goes to eat it he is hauled up the chimney.

Krampus's name is usually traced to an old German word meaning what?

Claw. The German word is Krampen, and his fearsome look brought trouble: the Church once tried to ban the revels because the horned figure looked too much like Satan.

In which 2020 Netflix film is the villain Belsnickel, a fallen elf cursed to live as a human?

The Christmas Chronicles 2. Julian Dennison plays him, and his plan is to steal the star from the top of the tree, which powers the whole North Pole village.