After watching this little guy sell out
every season for many years,
I finally pulled the trigger
and bought one.
A Krampus nutcracker!
Who's Krampus you ask?
The following is from Wikipedia...
"The Krampus is a horned, anthropomorphic
figure in the Central and Eastern Alpine
folklore of Europe who, during the Advent
season, scares children who have misbehaved
Assisting Saint Nicholas, or Santa Claus, the pair
visit children on the night of December 6th,
with Saint Nicholas rewarding
the well-behaved children with gifts such as
oranges, dried fruit, walnuts and chocolate,
while the badly behaved ones only receive
punishment from Krampus with birch rods.
Krampus day itself, on the other hand,
is on December 5th"
I think Krampus is a very unusual character,
and I love the idea of him.
A little scary to mix into the Christmas season.
He has chains thought to symbolize the binding
of the Devil by the Christian church.
for a vigorous child thrashing.
When I saw this nutcracker at
Dellamorte & Co on ETSY
I loved the colors and he was just the
right amount of scary.
With the price of $95
it really was a little scary
and the reason I never
acquired one sooner.
I once toyed with the idea of
ordering a hand carved wooden
Krampus mask from Austria
as a wall hanging...
But the cost of one of those was
TERRIFYING!!!
So this little nutcracker
would do nicely.
I assume Michael Locasio, the owner of
Dellamortico & Co hand sculpted the
first Krampus prototype.
He then produces them in resin,
hand paints and assembles them, adding
hair and metal chains to a handful each year.
He has an education in classical sculpture,
anatomy and the bronze monument process.
Michael has worked as a fine artist as well as
sculpted action figures,
toys, and collectable statues.
He also has a fascination for the macabre,
the mythic, and the unusual.
My Krampus Nutcracker arrived yesterday!
I wasted no time arranging him
into the vignette I intended for him
Can you see him?
He's right beside Santa on
a small box to give him height.
He's ready with his birch rods
to thwack naughty children.
He sort of reminds me of one of
those grumpy monster Muppets
in amongst the cheery Muppet cast.
I wish he was a bit bigger
but then he'd probably cost more.
Happy Krampusnacht!
Thanks for stopping by
and Merry Hunting!
