Alpine wild runs

Evil and good: (Left) A Perchten character; a grotesque Krampus along with St Nicholas and a woman representing his angel. photos by author

The Alpine towns of Austria and Bavaria come alive in midwinter with traditional, scary runs as masked men with grotesque costumes relive a tradition, writes Stuart Forster.

Demonic-looking masks bearing grotesque, twisted features and horns are most commonly associated with Halloween. But in the Alpine towns and villages of Austria and Bavaria, such masks play a significant role in the traditional Krampus and Perchten runs, held in midwinter.

These events, whose roots can be traced to ancient folk traditions, are noisy, fearsome affairs. Men don costumes of shaggy animal furs, strap on belts bearing cow bells and sometimes rattles, carry rods of birch or willow and cover their faces with horned wooden masks carved into repulsive grimaces. They then run through the streets making a racket that one onlooker described as “loud enough to wake the dead.”

Belief system

The noise is intended to scare away evil spirits. The participating characters may look devilish, but they are part of a belief system in which mountain dwellers attempted to rid their surroundings of negative energy and the midwinter’s darkness.

“Perchten are beings that drive away the winter demons: snow, dirt and cold. Back in the olden days, winter would have rolled in during the November storms and people would have allowed their fantasies to run wild. People could then take control, scare off the spirits and brush away the dirt of autumn and winter,” explains Barbara Walther of Salzburg Museum.

The men who don their costumes and masks to play Krampus will also run as Schiachperchten (meaning ‘ugly perchten’ in southern German dialect).

“Krampus accompanies St Nicholas,” explains Frau Walther. “That’s important because it symbolises good and evil… that’s how it was originally seen… Krampus only appears with St Nicholas, whose feast day is on 6th December. Over the last few years, we’ve seen a blurring of the borders between Krampus and Schiachperchten. We’ve even seen horror masks being worn during the runs. But that’s got nothing to with the tradition. We’re holding workshops to explain the differences.”

The origins of Perchten run can be traced back to pagan beliefs in the Celtic era. Krampus did not appear until the 15th century, and the traditions varied markedly from valley to valley, due largely to the mountains restricting communication between the inhabitants of the Alps. Over time, the folk tradition was assimilated into Christian beliefs.

“Originally, the Krampus story symbolised the victory of good over evil; when Nicholas spoke, the Krampuses fell silent. Therefore, the two have to appear together. Of course, Krampus has something heathen about him, but it has been taken over into Christianity,” explains Frau Walther.

On the 5th and 6th of December, the figures of St Nicholas and the Krampus take to the streets and work together to encourage good behaviour among children. St Nicholas was a Bishop of Myra, in modern-day Turkey, during the fourth century. He was renowned for distributing alms among the poor and regarded as a protector of children.

In Alpine regions, he appears with a female helper, an angel, who carries a book listing a child’s good and bad deeds over the past year. If a child has been well-behaved, then St Nicholas will distribute small gifts. Badly behaved children, on the other hand, have the ire of Krampus to reckon with.

“Of course, there are people behind the masks, and sometimes we know them. But once they put the masks on, they are totally different people. Out in the countryside, the groups can be really boisterous,” says Teresa, a teenager from Salzburg.

Animalistic drama

There are reports of Krampus runs getting out of hand in rural areas. The birch and willow rods which the Krampuses carry are regarded as fertility symbols. But they can deliver a hefty blow if misused. “We are trying to establish this tradition back into society, and this area has quite a few tourists, so we are careful how we approach people,” explains a member of Munich’s Sparifankerl Pass, a group which has been holding Perchten runs in and around the Bavarian city.

“Since 2001 we’ve breathed new life into the tradition. The tradition goes way back 500 years or so, and Sparifankerl means devil in Munich dialect. Unfortunately, the tradition was no longer practised and we decided to keep this beautiful old ritual alive.” During Krampus runs the groups enter the Advent market from two sides, meeting in the middle and greeting each other by rubbing up against one another like animals in the wild.

One of the biggest Perchten runs is that of St Johann im Pongau, 70 km from Salzburg. The villages of St Johann, Bischofshofen, Gastein and Altenmarkt take turns to host the event, which attracts as many as 500 to 600 participants.

The first documentary evidence of the St Johann event dates to 1867, but it is widely accepted as being several centuries older. The two world wars interrupted the runs, but they have been held annually since 1948.

Traditional Krampus masks are handmade, using locally sourced wood and horns from animals such as the ibex. New masks cost around €800 (₹68,000). Some of the masks seen in Alpine areas during the Krampus and Perchten runs are antiques, passed from generation to generation. A set of furs costs around €300 (₹25,500).

The 30-minute runs are strenuous for the people involved. “You get used to it. The whole costume weighs 20 to 30 kilos. That’s a fair bit of weight and you notice it the next day,” explains one participant. “It gets pretty warm under the mask,” admits another.

Training is the key to making a good impression. “Sometimes I sit in front of the television with the mask on,” he adds, revealing how he trains ahead of the event.

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