Be good, kiddies!
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Earlier that month, on St. Nikolaus Day, children of goodwill sprang from their beds and rushed to the empty shoe they’d placed outside the night before. Inside, they’d discover small gifts and treats left for them by St. Nikolaus, and joy would fill the air. Disobedient children, however, awoke to the shakes and the shivers. In their shoes awaited switches, with which their parents would spank them. Or worse yet, they’d be paid a visit by the Krampus.
In European folklore, the Krampus is Nikolaus’s dark servant—a hairy, horned, supernatural beast whose pointed ears and long, slithering tongue gave misbehavers the creeps!
The Krampus terrorized the bad until they promised to be good. Some he spanked. Others he whipped. And some he shackled, stuffed into his large wooden basket and carted away, then hurled into the flames of Hell!
