Among the folkloristic events and food and wine rites throughout Italy this year we have selected the
Krampus Night. Demonic figures of Alpine folklore capable of transforming the countries of the
Trentino-Alto Adige in out-of-time scenarios. Half man and half goat-horns imposing, tongues
protruding,animal skins, bells, chains and flames to cut through the night. Their arrival is never
silent: it’s a roar, a collective thrill. Traditionally they appear on the evening of December 5th,
on the eve of St. Nicholas, to punish the bad children while the Saint rewards the good. But their
history has its roots much further back.
Krampus are born from pre-Christian winter rites: noisy processions to chase away spirits
evil, ancestral calls to the return of the sun, symbols of protection and rebirth. Fear was not a
game: it was a collective act to tame what could not be controlled. As the centuries passed,
Christianity has reshaped the myth. Today, often, the Krampus accompanies St. Nicholas, like a
defeated demon forced to serve him. But his soul remains pagan, indomitable, deeply
Alpine.
December’s parades: shows of fire, smoke, and tradition
From late November until December 6, the whole of South Tyrol experiences its Krampus season: streets
invaded by tuifl – “devils”, as they call them in dialect – who are not true devils, but incarnations
of frost, mystery and winter.
Masks are a work of art:
made of wood by the carvers of the Tures and Aurina Valleys, often hand-shaped piece
after piece, unique and scary. The costumes, on the other hand, are goatskins, deliberately kept
with their acrid smell, like a bond with the animal, the earth, instinct.
On their abdomens they carry enormous cowbells, to make as much noise as possible and make every one tremble
corner of the country. The parades are accompanied by chains, whips, smoke bombs, torches and choreography
pyrotechnics: fear becomes spectacle, the night becomes theater. Today every Krampus must be
registered and recognizable thanks to a numbered plaque: an ancient tradition that coexists with the
modern security.
The most famous parades: Dobbiaco, Aurina, Stelvio
The oldest parade in South Tyrol is that of Dobbiaco, in Alta Pusteria: every year it gathers more than
600 Krampus and Perchten, equally frightening figures who chase away winter with the sound of
bells.
A breathtaking event, a wave of noise and fire crossing the icy roads.
In Stelvio, however, another tradition survives: the Klosn, where young people wear masks and
giant bells to chase away winter. An equally powerful ritual, rooted in the heart
of the community.
Krampus may or may not like. They can frighten, fascinate, divide. But one thing is
certain: they are a living part of Alpine identity. And in a time when everything flows quickly, when the
roots risk becoming just images on a social network, these traditions remind us
the essential: that a people lives as long as their memory lives. That every country guards a rite that
he tells it. That folklore is not folklore, but the secret language with which a community speaks of itself.
For this reason Italian Tradition has chosen Krampus among the symbolic destinations of December: why
they represent the heart of an Italy that does not want to forget who it is. And why, as long as in our
mountains the Krampus pass will resound, winter will still have a story to tell.