"many people enjoy the holidays because of how 'jolly' they are, but, some of the stories about the holidays aren't as jolly." -- DOmino Howlett-cragg, 6th grade
As we all know (and mourn,) Halloween is long over. But for people who long to enjoy the spookiness of Halloween when the rest of the world turns to holiday cheer, you’re in luck. You can actually celebrate a spooky holiday season because there are actually some little known spooky sides to it if you just look close enough.
“There are some spooky aspects in Christmas, I think about who eats the cookies and drinks the milk, or if you were awake and heard creaking in your house. Is it Santa? Or it could be something scary,” wonders Olympic Hills Elementary School student Elliot Villamarin.
Now, the main star of the creepy holidays is your half-goat, European child snatcher, Krampus. The Catholic Church has tried to ban his celebration twice for sharing a similar appearance with Satan. According to European folklore and a little Britanncia, Krampus will arrive on December 5th along with St. Nicholas, and on this very special day, Krampus will beat actual children with sticks. And that's not even the worst of it. Krampus is also said to be an occasionally rabid child devourer. He is also known to send “bad children” to the Underworld, while St. Nicholas gives the “good” kids presents.
Then the children wake up the next day, or not because some children might have been eaten, and tend to their injuries if they were one of the poor unfortunate souls to find themselves on the naughty side.
Another event that has something to do with Krampus, is called “Krampus run,” which involves people dressing up as Krampus and running around the block to scare locals. Sometimes this involves chasing the locals too, and god knows what happens if you actually get caught by the actors.
To take the attention away from Krampus, let's talk about some other interesting, not-so-jolly Christmas characters. Another half human half non-human character is Gryla. Gryla is a half troll lady who resides in the Icelandic mountains with all thirteen of her sons.
Gryla is Icelandic, and when I asked local spooky enthusiast Cindy Howlett if she’d heard any scary/creepy urban legends she replied, “Yes I have, things such as Krampus, the Christmas Carol, and other things I have found scary. But I’m sure there are some dark Nordic and Pagan traditions around Christmas time.”
Much like Krampus, Gryla has an acquired taste for gobbling down naughty children. Every Christmas, she will also collect naughty children, and when she does, she turns them into a stew. Gryla carries around a knife with her, because who doesn’t? And according to the Smithsonian magazine, there is also a poem about Gryla: “Down comes Grýla from the outer fields / With forty tails / A bag on her back, a sword/knife in her hand, / Coming to carve out the stomachs of the children / Who cry for meat during Lent.”
But Gryla isn’t the only scary Christmas witch-lady. Other than Gryla, there is the terrifying Frau Perchta. Frau Perchta might share some traits with some of you dear readers, since she is a huge neat freak. If she catches your house in a messy state she’ll be more than judgy. Another necessity for when Frau Perchta arrives is spinning flax.
According to Boroughs of the Dead, who refers to Linda Raedisch, the author of The Old Magic of Christmas, “Legend has it that you’d better get all your flax spun by Twelfth Night (January 6th), ‘for when the Christmas season was over, it would be time to set up the big upright loom, at which time you must have enough thread to warp it and start your weaving.’ And what’s Frau Perchta’s punishment for those lazy ladies who haven’t finished all their weaving? ‘In Germany, Austria, and Switzerland, there were numerous tales of Frau Perchta trampling and even setting fire to the half-spun fibers.’”
And something else that increases your chances of this, is porridge. It's said that when Frau Perchta comes, you prepare porridge for you and the rest of your family.
And when you do, you should always leave spare for Frau Perchta. Because if you don’t, then it’ll really tick her off. On top of that, if you don’t spin your flax, put out porridge, or keep your house neat. She’ll slit your stomach and stuff you with rocks and hay, helping you reenact the big bad wolf. Of course, this is why Europeans also call Frau Perchta, the “belly slitter.”
After covering all of those Christmas monsters, I think all fellow “spooky Christmas” lovers could find a way to make Christmas a “Halloween 2.0” while mentioning these creatures.
“There are some spooky aspects in Christmas, I think about who eats the cookies and drinks the milk, or if you were awake and heard creaking in your house. Is it Santa? Or it could be something scary,” wonders Olympic Hills Elementary School student Elliot Villamarin.
Now, the main star of the creepy holidays is your half-goat, European child snatcher, Krampus. The Catholic Church has tried to ban his celebration twice for sharing a similar appearance with Satan. According to European folklore and a little Britanncia, Krampus will arrive on December 5th along with St. Nicholas, and on this very special day, Krampus will beat actual children with sticks. And that's not even the worst of it. Krampus is also said to be an occasionally rabid child devourer. He is also known to send “bad children” to the Underworld, while St. Nicholas gives the “good” kids presents.
Then the children wake up the next day, or not because some children might have been eaten, and tend to their injuries if they were one of the poor unfortunate souls to find themselves on the naughty side.
Another event that has something to do with Krampus, is called “Krampus run,” which involves people dressing up as Krampus and running around the block to scare locals. Sometimes this involves chasing the locals too, and god knows what happens if you actually get caught by the actors.
To take the attention away from Krampus, let's talk about some other interesting, not-so-jolly Christmas characters. Another half human half non-human character is Gryla. Gryla is a half troll lady who resides in the Icelandic mountains with all thirteen of her sons.
Gryla is Icelandic, and when I asked local spooky enthusiast Cindy Howlett if she’d heard any scary/creepy urban legends she replied, “Yes I have, things such as Krampus, the Christmas Carol, and other things I have found scary. But I’m sure there are some dark Nordic and Pagan traditions around Christmas time.”
Much like Krampus, Gryla has an acquired taste for gobbling down naughty children. Every Christmas, she will also collect naughty children, and when she does, she turns them into a stew. Gryla carries around a knife with her, because who doesn’t? And according to the Smithsonian magazine, there is also a poem about Gryla: “Down comes Grýla from the outer fields / With forty tails / A bag on her back, a sword/knife in her hand, / Coming to carve out the stomachs of the children / Who cry for meat during Lent.”
But Gryla isn’t the only scary Christmas witch-lady. Other than Gryla, there is the terrifying Frau Perchta. Frau Perchta might share some traits with some of you dear readers, since she is a huge neat freak. If she catches your house in a messy state she’ll be more than judgy. Another necessity for when Frau Perchta arrives is spinning flax.
According to Boroughs of the Dead, who refers to Linda Raedisch, the author of The Old Magic of Christmas, “Legend has it that you’d better get all your flax spun by Twelfth Night (January 6th), ‘for when the Christmas season was over, it would be time to set up the big upright loom, at which time you must have enough thread to warp it and start your weaving.’ And what’s Frau Perchta’s punishment for those lazy ladies who haven’t finished all their weaving? ‘In Germany, Austria, and Switzerland, there were numerous tales of Frau Perchta trampling and even setting fire to the half-spun fibers.’”
And something else that increases your chances of this, is porridge. It's said that when Frau Perchta comes, you prepare porridge for you and the rest of your family.
And when you do, you should always leave spare for Frau Perchta. Because if you don’t, then it’ll really tick her off. On top of that, if you don’t spin your flax, put out porridge, or keep your house neat. She’ll slit your stomach and stuff you with rocks and hay, helping you reenact the big bad wolf. Of course, this is why Europeans also call Frau Perchta, the “belly slitter.”
After covering all of those Christmas monsters, I think all fellow “spooky Christmas” lovers could find a way to make Christmas a “Halloween 2.0” while mentioning these creatures.
