It's that time again

Last year I wrote about Austria's tradition of Nikolo and Krampus. In case you missed it, instead of bad kids going on Santa's naughty list, they get chased around and whipped with branches by a devilish figure called Krampus. Krampus traditional shows up on the 5th or 6th of December, but tonight the Krampuses (or is it Krampi? I think I prefer Krampi.) were out in full force.

The photos below are from Krampuslauf -- or Krampus Run. As far as I can tell, it's basically an event where adults enjoy scaring the bejeebers out of their kids by exposing them to these frightening creatures. Be warned, these really are some frightening images.

The first group traveled with Nikolo. They looked scary, but they didn't taunt the crowd too much.


This guy doesn't look too bad. Look, he's smiling.


That is, until he started yelling in the face of the guy standing right in front of me. I was a little too scared to stand directly next to the barrier because I didn't want to get so close to these creatures. Moments later, the Krampus was hitting this guy's backside with his switches. But don't worry, the guy was laughing the whole time. The kids, on the other hand, had run away screaming.


Here are a few more Krampi. They don't look quite as festive, but they certainly look scary. I think seeing one of these guys would be enough to make me want to behave the whole year.