Krampus is the counterpart to St. Nicholas or Santa Claus. Where St. Nicholas rewards good children with presents, Krampus scares naughty children, leaves them coal or birch sticks (ruten), or even carries them off in a basket! Although mostly known in Europe, Krampus has been gaining popularity in American cities such as Los Angeles and was even featured in the TV show Grimm last December.
Christmas cards featuring Krampus are known as Krampuskarten and reportedly go back to the 1800s. There are tons of variations of Krampus as you can see in this huge gallery of Krampuskarten. Most often Krampus is depicted covered in black fur with horns, long tongue, and holding a bunch of sticks.
After learning about Krampus last year, I'd been thinking about creating a custom Krampus PEZ. Something tells me the PEZ company will never create one. ;-) After some trial and error, below are photos of what I came up with. Master Shifu from Kung Fu Panda seemed like the perfect starting point.
In Austria, birthplace of PEZ, on the night of December 5th, Krampusnacht is celebrated each year. On this night before St. Nicholas day, boots or shoes are left out and the next morning children find them filled with treats left by St. Nicholas, if they are good, or filled with coal or switches left by Krampus, if they are bad.
The Krampez Challenge:
Are you a veterean fantasy PEZ creator? Or even a novice at making fantasy PEZ (like me)? Interested in making your own version of Krampez? Great, because I'd enjoy seeing it and featuring photos of your work here for others to see. Just email me photos of your Krampez by November 30th. Then on the night of December 5th I'll feature all the sumbitted photos in a new post, KramPEZnacht.
This is fantastic!! Informative and scary :)
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