Krampus Festival, Zell am See, Austria. Copyright © 2023 Terence Carter / Grantourismo. All Rights Reserved.

A Krampus Christmas in Zell am See

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We don’t have children. And because we don’t have children I’m in no position to offer advice to our friends and relatives who do. Or so they keep telling me.

One friend once said “never, ever question how people raise their children until you have your own”. The life-changing experience flicks a switch in some people.

But I’m going to offer some advice anyway: If you bring your kids to Austria, don’t go to a Krampus Festival.

Krampus (meaning claw) is the anti-Santa Claus. If children are ‘nice’ they get presents from St Nicholas, if they’re ‘naughty’ they get a visit from the demonic Krampus.

Krampus Festival, Zell am See, Austria. Copyright © 2023 Terence Carter / Grantourismo. All Rights Reserved.

If you’re in Zell am See on the 5th of December, you get a little Santa and a lot of Krampus. And a lot of crying children and adults getting whipped with bunches of birch branches by Jägermeister-fuelled sadists.

“They’re idiots,” said the owner of the bar we snuck into for a glühwein to escape the madness of the procession of ugly, furry ‘monsters’ that had been streaming down the main pedestrian street for a couple of hours. “There’s not enough control over them and they run riot. They’re usually drunk and their sweaty suits stink,” she said.

Krampus Festival, Zell am See, Austria. Copyright © 2023 Terence Carter / Grantourismo. All Rights Reserved.

As we emerge from the bar, a teenage boy slips over in the snow after getting whipped and is knocked out cold.

We’ve been to plenty of traditional festivals around the world, but what’s missing from this tradition is that there is no sense of fun. There was little devilish humour in the way these guys (and it’s mostly guys) acted. Most of the ‘monsters’ demonstrated little in the way of personality and were straight-out malicious. And while I’m not a parent, is scaring the living daylights out of your kids really the best incentive to get them to be nice instead of naughty?

Krampus Festival, Zell am See, Austria. Copyright © 2023 Terence Carter / Grantourismo. All Rights Reserved.

As we were being served our glühweins at an outdoor bar where we had gone to ponder this, a Krampus chased a screaming teenage girl into the bar. Steaming hot wine spilled left, right and centre. Lara wore a mug of it on her face, while my camera and flash were soaked in the sticky liquid.

When we complained to the manager about how stupid it was to these guys to run riot when there’s hot drinks and outdoor gas heaters everywhere, the bar manager turned to us and said, “That’s how it goes, welcome to Austria!” Indeed.

Did I mention if you bring your kids to Austria, don’t go to a Krampus Festival?

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AUTHOR BIO

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Terence Carter is an editorial food and travel photographer and infrequent travel writer with a love of photographing people, places and plates of food. After living in the Middle East for a dozen years, he settled in South-East Asia a dozen years ago with his wife, travel and food writer and sometime magazine editor Lara Dunston.

9 thoughts on “A Krampus Christmas in Zell am See”

  1. Wow. That does look downright scary. My six-year old nephew gets scared by “funny” masks . . . he would cry for days on end after seeing this. In a way, it kind of reminds me of Halloween except with less of the fun in it.

  2. Exactly! It *was* scary. There were a lot of terrified children watching. And adults! Including me. The welts across the backs of our knees didn’t go away until the next day either.

  3. Where I live, this is called ‘assault’

    Wonder what the reaction of Krampus would be to a knuckle sandwich & calling for a cop? I’ve never heard of anything like this; most such ‘spactacles’ give you the *choice* of taking part, or just watching.

  4. Keith, I could have mentioned a couple of incidents of retaliation, but they’re best left for my memoirs…
    Many ski towns have made the festival a little more anodyne to attract tourists (barricades etc), but the tourists we spoke to in Zell were a more than a little taken aback at the ‘festival’.
    It would be great from a 1st floor balcony if you’re not a masochist. Or a photographer.
    T

  5. Great sane advice Lara! I believe that praising children when they do good is more effective (they’ll continue to do good) than scaring them when they are naughty. And to think it’s a Christmas festival! Christmas is for children! Poor kids!!

  6. Thanks! The poor kids are petrified of these furry monsters! They’re not only super scary-looking but they chase after the children and whip them with branches. We’ve never seen anything quite like it.

    Thanks for dropping by!

  7. That was Terence’s advice actually, but totally agree. I know, it’s very sad to see the frightened little things. I reckon some must have nightmares for weeks or be scarred for life!

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