Day 5 Krampus

Tonight is Krampus night, the day when the "Christmas devil" comes to round up all the bad kids and beats them or takes them down to the underworld. He comes the same night as St Nikolaus, the patron saint of children who delivers small gifts. So Krampus is the antithesis of all the good and holy of the season, and sometimes we just need that. In Germany and Austria, there are Krampusnacht parades, where people dress as krampus in wooden masks, hairy costumes with giant bells and wander the streets, terrorizing kids. It's all in good fun. These people are likely your neighbor, accountants, dentists, computer programers, actors. They play with the crowds gathered to watch. My Krampus is borrowed from a 19th century German greeting card (yes, you should image search this), and inspired by cat art from Rumi. Note my kittens observing in the foreground--They're very good kittens and therfore only mildly wary of Krampus... I really struggled with this one. Scary stuff haunts me, I’m too visual. That’s how Krampus ended up borrowed and why he’s running around in the background with my cats in between us and him.

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