While St. Nicholas used to go from house to house bringing presents to children who have been good over the year, the Krampuses carry birch rods and large cow bells and are said to beat the naughty ones.
The Krampuslauf is an old tradition in this part of the world and every December the noisy Krampuses are guided through the streets by St. Nicholas who rings his bell to drive off evil spirits. Their elaborate costumes are made of sheep and goat skins and their masks are expertly handcrafted. These scary Alpine characters still follow every one of St. Nicholas’ commands – despite their taste for chaos. Whether you’ve been good or bad this year, the Krampus Run is not to be missed. This year in Ebensee there are 500 of them! Needless to say Catherine won’t be getting much sleep but we’ll be sure to post some stories when we go and watch them this Saturday 10th! We’ll also be visiting some Advent markets around the area so check back for photos and don’t forget there’s still time to get over here to visit the market yourself. If you feel like visiting a market or two over the coming weekends then we are ideally based to get you there, so please phone us on +43 (0)664 99 55 321 or email us: info@rosenhof-austria.com