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What is Krampus?
Krampus is a perfect example of good versus bad.
Krampus has always been
the counterpart to Santa Claus in European folklore.
Saint Nick would go to people's houses, knock on the door,
and give the good little kids candies and toys.
And if you were naughty child, Krampus would be
right there to swoop you up and give you a spanking.
So it's a classic example of good versus bad
at holiday time.
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- We created this group to have a traditional style
Krampus Pass, which is what they call a group in Austria.
Our biggest event is Leavenworth, and that's kind of our baby.
We take pictures with, locals and people that are visiting.
We do the Bremerton parade.
That's the other big one in the state.
We also do the Seattle Christmas market.
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- We pride ourselves in authenticity.
So all of our masks Austrian made.
Same with our outfits.
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- Our mascot, Schnitzer, is what he's called.
He's a mask maker, and he carves on us out of wood.
- I'm a full time Krampus mask carver from Austria.
So for me, Krampus is, wooden masks
with animal horns, and it punishes the naughty kids.
I prefer to the, statement of the Krampus should look like the chained
and suffering Lucifer.
So how does Lucifer look? Like?
Artistic freedom.
So this masks has impala horns.
Africa. Real ones. And they're carved out of
white pine or Swiss stone pine, painted with acrylics.
A lot of them have glass eyes that can light up with LEDs.
It should be frightening.
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- Oh, I think the masks are quite scary.
And it's such a contrast to the traditional Christmas
regalia that you see.
So I really think it's quite
entertaining and just fun.
- A lot of times I'd like people to feel a little bit intimidated
or a little bit spooked, even though they may
be extremely comfortable around spooky things.
I like to step inside their bubble and make them feel, you know,
I've I've been bad.
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- The beauty of Krampus is just to make sure that you're
not a naughty little child, and you do good things.
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