The carrot and the stick

When we talk about discipline with the boys in response to bad choices they make, we talk in terms of the carrot and the stick. There are two ways that mom and dad can get them to behave. And we are not too proud to think that one way always works over the other way. We can offer a “carrot” and encourage good behavior OR we can offer them the “stick”  and punish the poor choice.

That whole life lesson was brought to life over the past week through the celebration of St. Nicholas and the Tirolean tradition of the Krampus. A perfect, albeit heavy handed and scary, representation of the stick and the carrot. Let’s just the say the whole “coal in your stocking” we offer to kids in the states has nothing on motivating good behavior like the Austrian Krampus.

Krampus is a horned, anthropomorphic figure described as “half-goat, half-demon”,[1] who, during the Christmas season, punishes children who have misbehaved, in contrast with Saint Nicholas, who rewards the well-behaved with gifts. Krampus is one of the Companions of Saint Nicholas in regions including Austria, Bavaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Hungary, Slovenia and Northern Italy. In traditional parades and in such events as the Krampuslauf (English: Krampus run), young men dressed as Krampus participate; such events occur annually in most Alpine towns.[4]

A “warm” holiday greeting to your favorite kids! OMG!

Be good my children and St. Nick will visit you with goodies!

It’s a tradition in Tirol to hold some sort of Krampus run in conjunction with the celebration of St. Nicholas Day. Of course we attended both to get the full experience. On Monday night, we watched a beautiful procession of Tirolean children sing and parade across town followed by a beautifully vested St. Nicholas who shook hands and gave out apples.

That night, the boys put out their shoes in hopes that St. Nick would fill them with goodies. Turns out the shoe thing is what they do in the Netherlands so St. Nick filled the shoes and then left a traditional Austrian package for each boy outside our door as well (bless the the gringoes hearts for not knowing the Austrian way). He must have a key to our building! Apparently I was not as well behaved. I only got sticks in my shoes and not the bottle of wine Patrick was sure I would receive given the shape of my boot! There’s always next year I guess.

The following night we walked to the old town to witness the Krampus run. One of the strangest things I’ve ever seen. A throng of people gathered around the square. There were about 15 Krampuses of all sizes and types. They stood around a huge caldron filled with fire and smoke. While most of the heavily horned ones danced while beating on crude drums, blowing eery sounding horns and clanging bells, the other creatures climbed the tower and set off fire crackers, sparklers and flares. They also dropped their “potions” into the fire that caused the flames to turn different colors and billow all sorts of purple, blue and red smoke. This ritual lasted about half an hour.

They all faced into the middle of the circle around the caldron. But towards end all of these Krampuses that were basically just inches away turned around to face the crowd. I thought Oh no. This is it! I was even creeped out. Given the fact that Aeneas has walked for weeks in a wide semicircle around the window of the local costume shop displaying the horrid Krampus masks, I wasn’t sure how this whole event would play out for him. Lucky for me the Krampus men walked around smoking cigs and chatting sans masks before the event and were so exhausted with their heavy costumes, drums and masks with enormous horns afterward, had they had a desire to chase small children, said child would easily have outrun them and laughed in their faces. Aeneas is a smart kid and knew this. He said to me afterward, “That was awesome. I’m so glad you brought us to this mom.” Whew. Turns out this was not going to be the parenting fail I feared after all.

Happy St. Nicholas Day. Boo hiss the Krampus!

#history #culture #curiosities #Christmas #church