Until quite recently, I was unaware of Krampus, although if one wanted to reflect upon the general principles of Christmas, it makes sense that Santa Claus would require someone to handle the punishment even as he doled out cheap grace upon both the worthy and the unworthy children. In the dialectic of gnosticism, Santa Claus represents the North, representing the heavens, while Krampus represents the South, representing their conception of hellfire and judgment. Santa Claus (by whatever name) gives out gifts to good children while Krampus drags off naughty children to judgment after beating them with switches and chains [1]. Santa Claus represents a vision of God, while Krampus represents a vision of Satan.

In a way, though, I should have been at least somewhat aware of Krampus, had I known what it is that I knew. During my time in high school, a deeply private singer named Loreena McKennitt released a successful hit single called “The Mummer’s Dance [2].” This particular song portrayed a relic of pagan worship which involved costumed dancing, some of the people dressing as Krampus, and some as Old Man Winter (another variant of Santa Claus). Among the symbolism of death and rebirth of the winter solstice, Krampus represented the freedom to discipline wicked character and to fulfill our need to be horrified at the judgment of evil as part of moralism’s efforts to scare people into being good. The rise of Krampus and the rise of moralism in our contemporary culture are not unrelated phenomena.

Unsurprisingly, Krampus has managed to rise out of obscurity to the extent that my awareness of this mythical being was prompted by two nearly simultaneous portrayals in popular culture. First, a recent episode of the television series Grimm [3] showed Krampus in his role as a punisher of the naughty and as a near-human sort of creature known as a “Wesen.” (It should go without saying that Grimm is a television series based in Portland, where I suppose more odd creatures would feel at home than in most American cities.) In a recent episode of American Dad [4], Krampus is misunderstood as evil when his discipline is portrayed in the series as being responsible for keeping wicked children in fear of discipline, with his absence being related to the rise in wickedness among youth in recent decades. These television shows have given Krampus a bit of hitherto unknown notoriety.

As it happens, I had a Grampa who was not too unlike Krampus. In fact, I may have had two such grandfathers, seeing as I do not remember my paternal grandfather (who I had nicknamed “Cookie Monster” as a small child). At any rate, for a variety of personal reasons, I grew up with my maternal grandparents, and my maternal grandfather [5] was quite fond of physical discipline of wicked children. Being a stubborn and strong-willed child who was prone to wander away from my family without letting them know, I got a lot of physical discipline [6] as a child. Needless to say, I do not remember my Grampa Koontz as being a kindly grandparent fond of presents, but rather as a stern and somewhat harsh fellow who greatly enjoyed making babies cry [7]. I would like to think that my childhood would have been better with a little bit more love and kindness, but I suppose some discipline was certainly necessary as well. If we do not have changed and redeemed hearts, we will either depend on internal self-discipline or the external discipline of punishment, that dialectic of gnosticism that presents a false dilemma in which many of us spend our lives.

[1] http://www.krampus.com/who-is-krampus.php

[2] http://youtu.be/qxTpvA-pUG0

[3] http://grimm.wikia.com/wiki/Twelve_Days_of_Krampus

[4] http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2543690/

[5] https://edgeinducedcohesion.wordpress.com/2011/05/24/obituary-jacob-franklin-snyder-koontz/

[6] https://edgeinducedcohesion.wordpress.com/2012/05/23/book-review-thy-rod-and-thy-staff-they-comfort-me/

[7] https://edgeinducedcohesion.wordpress.com/2012/06/30/making-babies-cry/