La légende de Saint Nicolas

C'est la Saint-Nicolas aujourd'hui. Je partage donc une vidéo que j'ai trouvée aujourd'hui, qui raconte la légende sinistre que j'aime tant, ainsi que bien des choses sur le Père Fouettard et Krampus, ainsi que quelques légendes locales sur Saint Nicolas.

I missed Krampus Night

I learned yesterday that it was Krampus Night, a night dedicated to, well, Krampus, the Christmas baddie, enemy or at least adversary of Santa Claus. I understand this is a relatively new thing, maybe I'm wrong, but anyway, I am not sure if I will properly celebrate it, since I observe something else on the 5th of December and it has all my attention. But I thought I would mention its existence here. I love Krampus, it shows a more sinister side to Christmas. I wished I had knownhim when I was a child.

Krampus: Origins of the Yuletide Monster

Quick post today, 'tis the season to be a tad creepy. Monstrum made a video about Krampus recently and it was too good not to share it. Who doesn't like Krampus? I debunks a lot of misconceptions about the critter, particularly his association with Santa. Anyway, here it is:

'Tis the season to be spooky

I found this meme on Facebook and I thought I had to share it. I thought it was so funny. It is also a bit true: so many people, too many people, think of Christmastime as this sickeningly sweet holiday, with sweet music and sweet candy cane and sweet feel good Christmas movies. And then there are people like me who know that Christmas has a darker side and embrace it. And thus, here's Krampus, folkloric character from this dark side of the season. 'Tis the season to be spooky, it was about time he showed up on this blog, even on a silly meme. I wish I had known about him as a child.

Christmas Curiosities ('Tis the season to be reading)

This year, I started on Facebook the tradition I had already started on this blog of sharing a book for the Christmas season (or for other seasons at other times of the year). It has been so far quite successful, so I thought I'd keep it alive on the blog as well. I know I already mentioned Christmas Curiosities, but I thought I would plug it again as it was four years ago. So this was a present from my brother PJ which is now among my early Yuletide reads. It is about the darker side of Christmas in its iconography: you have plenty of images of Krampus, creepy Santa Claus, Saint Nicholas who carries a rod to beat naughty children, dead birds (!) on season's greetings' cards, elves, devils, the Christm Child advertising cigars (!), winter spirits, etc. Because one should always remember Christmas' more sinister overtone, its part of darkness which makes us enjoy its lights all the more, I recommend that you read it.

The darker side of Christmas

Because there is a darker, ghoulish, creepy side to Christmas. Among the many books I am reading at the moment, I have this one, Christmas Curiosities, last year's Christmas present from my brother. We often forget that Christmas in many ways was a "dark" holiday, that was much closer to my beloved Halloween. Pagan beliefs and traditions are still deeply rooted in it , and with it supernatural, monsters, ghosts, etc. Most of Western Christmas imagery is rooted in Nordic legends. In Victorian times, Christmas was the season of ghost stories (A Christmas Carol belongs to this tradition). In Québec, we have the legend of the Chasse-Galerie, a cautionary Christmas tale that has very sinister tones.

But even the genuinely Christian side of Christmas is not devoid of a sinister tradition: who does not shiver thinking about the Massacre of the Innocents? And there is also The Legend of Saint Nicholas, which I blogged about before and which I might rewrite here, the same way I did with The Legend of Jack O'Lantern.  The legend of the evil butcher was maybe at the origin of the Père Fouettard, Krampus and other sinister Christmas bogeymen. So I am reading this book with fascination. I love to go back to the primitive roots of Christmas, to its darkness that makes us appreciate its lights even more.