We Americans have taken a shine in recent years to Krampus, that Satanish anti-Claus of the German holiday tradition who kidnaps and punishes naughty children for kicks. But you know who hasn’t? The Germans. At least this was my experience a few years ago when I made a yuletide visit to the North Rhine Westphalian region that is now my home.
I’d created the above image for a Christmas card, which I presented to the German members of my now-step-family, only to discover that many of them had never heard of this infamous creature. “It’s a Bavarian thing,” I was informed. And what happens in Bavaria stays in Bavaria. Since that Southern free state is considered the Alabama of the Fatherland, the cultured elite of NRW only begrudgingly acknowledge their low culture.
But then at the end of Karnival, that same cultured elite burn the court jester Hoppediz to death in a public ceremony, which I’m sure is in no way traumatizing to die Kinder.
- A.H.
(And let’s not forget Ashley’s website, jam-packed with portraits and other drawings, his illustrated rant column, The Symptoms, his highly-affordable prints and books currently available, his eagerness for your portrait commission, and his contact email, thrdgll@gmail.com, where he longs to hear from you.)
Merry Christmas!