Working Vacation
6th Mar 2010Krampus Every year, in the Obersalzburg area of Bavaria and in other parts of Austria and Hungary, they celebrate St. Nicholas' Day a little differently than the rest of the world. You know how the German culture is about cautionary tales for children... Well instead of being told that Santa Claus will bring bad children lumps of coal, German children are told that if they're bad, the Krampus monsters will administer corporal punishment or carry them off to the pits of hell. Ever since the 90s AFRC employees at the Berchtesgaden and Chiemsee hotels have been going to Berchtesgaden for St. Nicholas' Day to have the sin beaten out of them. In 2005, when those hotels closed, it became a tradition for Edelweiss employees. It was talked about so much that I had to experience this for myself. I was in a car full of 5 girls headed down to Krampus on the 5th of December. We stopped in Chiemsee along the way to go to the Christkindlmarkt on Frauen Insel - one of the islands in Chiemsee where there is a convent. We watched the sunset from the ferry back to the car, then drove the last little bit to Berchtesgaden. We stayed in a guesthouse on a steep, windy, narrow road. Really, it wasn't far from the center of town. We would have walked if it weren't life-threatening. Instead, we had to wait about an hour for a cab. From our perch on the hill we could hear the clanging of the Krampus monsters' cow bells. It made my heart race! The Krampus parade kicking off the evening of abuse was earlier in the evening, before dark. Once we got to the main pedestrian street we saw people with black shoe polish all over their faces. The marks were from the Krampus to show that this individual had already been beaten. In theory, it should spare the individual from another beating, but the Krampus monsters are probably so drunk they don't care. Berchtesgaden's fire department performs the role of the Krampus monsters, and come in a variety of costumes of either giant haystacks or animal skins and furs. Some wear enormous cow bells on ther backs, and the infantry wear smaller bells on their backs and shoulders. They drink before the event, they drink after the event, then they sleep until it begins again for the second day and drink again. They hand-make their birch switches. Some are braided for added discomfort. These switches and whips are a point of honor for these young men. When people try to grab them from their hands, the beating they are given is so much worse. Those who try to steal their whips from their hands are usually the drunkest people there, though (Alice and Tom from Alpine Adventures). Maybe 20 of us from Edelweiss were there, standing on the sidewalk, which is about a meter higher than the pedestrian street, drinking our first cup of Glühwein mit Schüss (mulled wine with a shot) when the bells first came within ear shot and the Krampus were approaching en masse. I thought standing on higher ground would mean I was safe. I turned my camera on and started to take a video of St. Nicholas and all of the Krampus monsters marching up the street. The first one to get to me all of a sudden lashed out and whipped the back of my knee. It was shockingly painful! That's when I knew this was anyone's game. There wasn't anywhere that was off-limits to them (except supposedly the face). In the hours that followed, we broke off into smaller groups, drank more Glühwein, and encountered more and more of the smaller groups of Krampus. Just when you thought you were safe, you would hear the giant cow bells ringing and everyone would start running away. It was seriously terrifying. I got hit twice more. The bruises were raised welts and the discoloration lasted for at least a month afterward. They left the center of town eventually and sat around near the fire house drinking more. We found them reposed like this when we went to try to find somewhere still serving food. After that, I guess they went back to their lair. We would have ended up going to the same bar to hang out with them, but we had to find a cab still running to take us all back up to our guesthouse. To this day, whenever I hear bells clanging, my heart starts racing and the memories come flooding back.
|
| 833 Words | This page has been read 67 times | View Printable Version |