I’m sorry to have kept you in the dark for so long, but Ypsilanti’s sixth annual Krampus festivities are scheduled to take place the night of Saturday, December 19.
This year, like last year, things will kick off at Ypsilanti’s Dreamland Theater at 8:00, with a big, ass-shaking, anti-holiday dance party. Then, at around midnight, things will culminate in an raucous torchlit procession through the dark streets of Ypsilanti.
Right before last year’s event, I got a call from a writer at National Geographic. She wanted to know why the people of Ypsilanti had decided, several years ago, to summon the spirit of Krampus back to earth. Now that Krampus events are becoming more commonplace around the United States, she wanted to find out where it had all started, and apparently this quest had led her back to Ypsi. We talked for half an hour or so. I told her how we were motivated, among other things, by the over-commercialization of Christmas, and the ridiculous notion put forward by religious conservatives that Christmas is “under attack” by the left. I’d like to think that I was eloquent in my explanation, and made it clear why it was only natural that this happened here, in the bizarre and magical little town of Ypsilanti. Apparently, though, none of that made the cut.
My only quote in the article was this: “We’re not devil worshipers. We’re just having a party.”
I wish they’d gone into a little more detail, but I can’t really complain. It’s an accurate quote. I can actually remember saying it in the context of Ypsilanti musician Black Jake’s appearance on Telemundo. The woman from National Geographic was asking if we’d experienced any pushback from the community. I told her that I knew people weren’t universally enthusiastic about the reemergence of Krampus, and noted the fact that at least one of the people interviewed in the Telemundo piece saw Krampus as anti-Chirstian. With that said, though, I told her that we hadn’t experienced anything like that in Ypsi. “It’s not like churches are holding prayer vigils outside this event,” I told her. “People know it’s tongue-in-cheek.” But, yeah, when you boil it all down to its essence, we don’t worship the devil… we just like to drink and dance.
Here, for those of you who still aren’t sure if you’d like to attend, are five links. If you follow them, I think you’ll get a pretty good sense as to what the event is all about: 2010 recap, 2011 recap, 2012 recap, 2013 recap, 2014 recap.
And here, if you’re unfamiliar with the backstory, is a clip from something that I posted way back in 2010, just before Ypsi became the first community in the midwest to welcome Krampus.
…I’ve been fascinated with Krampus for the past several years, since I first learned of his existence through my friend, the cultural anthropologist of all things strange and Fortean, Doug Skinner. Doug had sent me a turn-of-the-century Austrian greeting card. On it, Krampus, a large, shaggy, bipedal horned beast with wild, flaming eyes and a long red tongue, was lashing plump, rosy-cheeked children and stuffing them into sacks… I was hooked.
With Doug’s help, I began to learn about this fellow, who, in addition to “Krampus,” has gone by names such as Knecht Ruprecht, Perchten, Pelznickel, Black Peter, and Klaubaur. According to pre-Christian Alpine tradition, while old St. Nick went about the business of handing out treats to the good children at the turn of the new year, old Krampus would be dispatched to punish the bad. He, in other words, was the stick to Santa’s carrot – a tool used to ensure good behavior. Children, if they were good, would get candy and presents. And, if they weren’t, they wouldn’t just get lumps of coal come Christmas morning – they’d be thrown into the pits of hell by a cloven-footed monster covered in matted black fur. But, as brilliant of an idea as it is, for whatever reason, Krampus hasn’t made the leap to the shores of America, where all the children, regardless of how evil and disrespectful they might be, can expect to be rewarded with video games and cigarettes come yule-tide.
In countries like Croatia, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, and Slovenia, however, he’s still very much a part of the Christmas tradition…
So, if you get burned out on holiday parties and find that you could use an unseasonably dark release, or if you just find yourself wanting to lash out against the over-commercialization of Christmas, or even if you just like dressing up and drinking beer, come and join us as we take back the holiday season on behalf of Santa’s dark assistant…
For what it’s worth, our version isn’t terribly dark. We’re not traditionalists. We don’t chase children through the streets with birch rods. Our annual Krampus event in Ypsi is more like a glam, sci-fi monster dance party… Just imagine the cantina scene from Star Wars, only maybe a little sexier, and with a bit more spanking.
Here, to get you in the mood, if you’re not already, is Ypsi’s own Black Jake performing the local holiday favorite, Krampus Bells.
[For more information, check out our Facebook Event page.]
