Krampus!!

I adore folklore, I mean ADORE and it is something I often go back to for nighttime reading when I am in between other books.

The stories inspire me and make me dream.

When I was visiting Europe the first time on my own, I encountered St Nicolas

....I was in Holland and there was a parade and I had no idea who this person was

and why there was a parade.

I slowly uncovered the story and then lore and began thinking about this holiday.

Then years later while wandering in and out of shops in Prague, I came across a little corn husk doll that had horns and ropes...when I asked the shopkeeper who this was she grimaced and said, it was the devil.

This sold the doll; I use to have corn husk dolls when I was little so I had an immediate sense of nostalgia. I figured she meant it was a winter spirit or something, it was winter time and all the shops had winter things on display...

We pulled out our little doll when it was Dia de los Muertos and thought nothing of it and then I found a little article....

All the parts suddenly fell together and I discovered who this little doll was...and it was AMAZING

Now every year we pull out the doll at the beginning of the month and remember to be good kids, because we don't want the KRAMPUS to take us away.

Here is this years parade in Austria...we have added this to our list of festivals to see