Belsnickel is a crotchety, fur-clad Christmas gift-bringer figure in the folklore of the Palatinate region of southwestern Germany along the Rhine, the Saarland, and the Odenwald area of Baden-Württemberg. The figure is also preserved in Pennsylvania Dutch communities and Brazilian-German communities.
Man dressed as a modern Belsnickel in his travel attire on his way to scare children in the schools in Norwich, New York. December 2012.
Companions of Saint Nicholas
The companions of Saint Nicholas are a group of closely related figures who accompany Saint Nicholas throughout the territories formerly in the Holy Roman Empire or the countries that it influenced culturally. These characters act as a foil to the benevolent Christmas gift-bringer, threatening to thrash or abduct disobedient children. Jacob Grimm associated this character with the pre-Christian house spirit which could be benevolent or malicious, but whose mischievous side was emphasized after Christianization. The association of the Christmas gift-bringer with elves has parallels in English and Scandinavian folklore, and is ultimately and remotely connected to the Christmas elf in modern American folklore.
Saint Nicholas and Krampus visit a Viennese home (1896 illustration).
The Hans Trapp character in a 1953 photograph taken in Wintzenheim, Alsace.
Knecht Ruprecht (on the left) and Saint Nicholas
A modern Krampus at the Perchtenlauf in Klagenfurt (2006)
