Krampusnacht

What: Ever won­dered what hap­pens to the chil­dren who make it onto St Nicholas naughty list? – they get a vis­it from the evil demon of San­ta, Kram­pus, who accord­ing to leg­end is a hor­rif­ic half-goat, half demon crea­ture, cov­ered in fur and with coals for eyes and large prod­ding horns, who kid­naps, drowns and devours the indi­vid­u­als who make it onto the naughty list, and for whom Aus­tri­ans have decid­ed to ded­i­cate an entire upbeat fes­ti­val to in the lead-up to Christ­mas.

Known as Kram­pus­nacht, this full day fes­ti­val cel­e­brates the demon with fan­cy-dress which is always in the theme of Kram­pus or dev­il like crea­tures and con­sists of a parade known as the Kram­pus­lauf, a series of Kram­pus Run, where peo­ple are chased through the streets by the “dev­ils,” a series of Kram­pus style flash mobs, which usu­al­ly take place in the Christ­mas mar­kets where fur­ther chas­ing ensues and an after par­ty, which is cen­tred on either a par­ty fea­tur­ing a death met­al, pagan ref­er­ences or with a relax­ing stroll and drop of alco­hol at one of the many Christ­mas mar­ket stalls.

When: Tra­di­tion­al­ly Kram­pus­nacht take place on the either the 5^th of Decem­ber St Nicholas Eve or the ear­ly hours of Decem­ber the 6^th (St Nicholas Day) with a num­ber of small­er Kram­pus Runs tak­ing place across Aus­tria and Ger­many, how­ev­er the biggest Kram­pus­nacht fes­ti­val takes place in Kla­gen­furt in late Novem­ber.

Where: The biggest (and rec­comend­ed) Kram­pus­nacht event takes place in the town of Kla­gen­furt in Aus­tria, where thou­sands of peo­ple don Kram­pus cos­tumes to hon­our the demon. There are also a num­ber of Kram­pus events in the state of Tyrol in the Aus­tri­an moun­tains as well as fur­ther parades all over Aus­tria and in the famous Munich Christ­mas mar­kets – so you’re not short of options to hon­our Kram­pus.

Dura­tion: The Kram­pus­nacht lasts for a full day, how­ev­er the main action tends to kick off in the ear­ly evening with a parade through the streets in Kram­pus cos­tumes, fol­lowed by the Kram­pus runs, par­ties and the sight­ings of Kram­pus at the evening mar­kets.

Tick­ets:  There are no costs to take part or watch the Kram­pus­nacht, but the parade requires a Kram­pus cos­tume, so assum­ing you don’t have your own it is pos­si­ble to rent local­ly – although they are nor­mal­ly quite expen­sive to hire.

Need to Know: For the parade, which in Kla­gen­furt is high­ly rec­om­mend­ed, spots along the streets of Kla­gen­furt tend to fill up ear­ly so it’s rec­om­mend­ed to be there in the late after­noon for when the parade starts at 7pm. Also be aware that this is a win­ter event so wrap up warm and take your time to enjoy the amaz­ing Christ­mas mar­kets that line the streets of Aus­tria and Bavaria after Kram­pus has passed.