It's that dreadful day of the year again... Krampus is almost certainly coming to punish all of the naughty people with beatings with switches and twigs!

This a very dangerous day to be naughty and have cocktails - as St. Nick's Not-So-Nice Counterpart Krampus is almost certainly afoot! Still - we are going to be open, because we are committed to absolutely earning that coal in our stockings... as such this horned son of Hel is certainly someone to celebrate!

As such, we will be featuring a variety of Krampus themed drinks, our partners at Screenland Armour will be showing the 2015 Krampus Movie, we will have a Krampus Costume Contest at 10 PM, and of course we encourage and will be exchanging Krampuskartens(Krampus Cards).

For those of you unfamiliar with Krampus, here is a bit of information from National Geographic:

The scary counterpart to St. Nicholas—Krampus punishes naughty children by beating them or dragging them to his lair, or even to hell—has already appeared on the Colbert Report, starred in a comic book, and inspired parties and parades across the U.S. He’s even the subject of a feature film (though he’s also appeared in multiple low-budget movies).

Krampus dates back to pagan celebrations of December 22, the longest night of the year, that were later adopted for Christmas. Together, the Krampus-like figures and the bishop St. Nicholas—a more austere version of the American Santa Claus—held a kind of judgment day for children, where the punishments for being naughty were much more severe than a lump of coal.

Manufacturers started to commercialize Krampus after 1890, when the Austrian government relinquished control over the nation’s postcard production, causing the industry to flourish. Between then and World War I, German companies sold Krampus Christmas cards in Germany, Austria, and other countries, often with slogans like “Gruss vom Krampus” (Greetings from Krampus) or “Brav Sein” (Be Good).The cards for kids featured images of a scary Krampus frightening children, beating them, or taking them away, usually in a pouch on his back. Often these children were screaming or crying.

Beauchamp says that as early as 1903 or 1904, adult cards also began to appear. Although some showed Krampus punishing adults, others portrayed Krampus as a silly figure carrying women away, or even as a romantic suitor.These adult cards seem to portray Krampus as kitsch or ironic long before Americans held their first Krampus bar crawl, but Beauchamp thinks that manufacturing Krampus cards for children and adults was likely just a way for companies to sell more of them.

In Austria and parts of Germany, people still dress up as Krampus to scare children on Krampusnacht (“Krampus night,” traditionally held on December 5), as they did in the 19th century; but the Krampuslauf (“Krampus run”), in which men get drunk and run through the streets in frightening costumes, is, obviously, mainly for the grownups. In the U.S., most celebrations of Krampus are also kind of like drunken dress-up days for adults—which, ironically, are more similar to an older type of American Christmas, before the holiday became more focused on kids and presents for kids.

Interesting Fact: Krampus started to fall out of practice in Germany because the fascists thought it was the creation of Social Democrats. So, celebrating Krampusnacht is a good way to tell the Nazi's to f*** themselves.

For More Information, check out Anthony Bordain's "A Krampus Carol"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9p1JYvV178E







