The Anti-Santa: Krampus! the evil beast.

Forget about the Elf on the Shelf !!! instead of having a gossipy elf at home, you should get Krampus! 

Your children don’t listen to you during the Christmas holidays and the elf story is not working anymore? Then tell them the story of the European demon and I assure you that you will have good children ( until Christmas day at least ).

Krampus, a half-goat, half-demon and beast who literally beats and scare  kids into being nice on Christmas.

: Bearing horns, dark hair, and fangs, the anti-St. Nicholas comes with a chain and bells that he lashes and sticks meant to hit naughty children; then the bad kids go down with him to the underworld.

His name derived from the German word krampen ( claw ), is said to be the son of Hel in Norse mythology. The legend is part of a centuries-old Christmas tradition in Germany, where Christmas celebrations begin in early December.

Krampus was created to be the counterpart St. Nicholas, who rewarded children with sweets for their good behavior. In contrast, Krampus would crush "wicked" “bad” “naughty” children and take them away to his lair.

The night before December 6 ( Krampus Night ) Krampus shows up in towns, sometimes with Santa and sometimes alone and he makes sure that every naughty boy or girl gets a rod of wood or metal inside the shoe or boot they'd left out the night before outside their door. Santa will make sure that the good kids get a special present on their shoes.

In modern times, countries like Austria, Germany, Hungary, Slovenia, and the Czech Republic gave a new spin on the tradition which now involves men dressed as devils, who take over the streets for a Krampus Run where people are chased through the streets by the "devils." Drunk, grown men dressed as the beast? Yep, sounds equally scary as meeting Krampus.

Krampuslauf:❝ A Krampuslauf is a run of celebrants dressed as the beast, often fueled by alcohol. It is customary to offer a Krampus schnapps, a strong distilled fruit brandy.[1] These runs may include perchten, similarly wild pagan spirits of Germanic folklore and sometimes female in representation, although the perchten are properly associated with the period between winter solstice and 6 January.❞  (Wikipedia)

The demon’s masks, look like rams faces and ram's horns, which are made with effort. After many years of tradition and also depending on the district where the demons go, the masks sometimes have different sizes and materials. Each Krampus has a thick skin (mainly sheep) and the bells worn on their backs are made of steel. Roles or clamps, the bells are called, can be heard from a distance and this means that the Krampus is near. This unique sound, along with loud roars (Screaming Demon) is in these two days in the Gastein area (Austria) what gives this place a strange and mystical atmosphere.

Countries like Austria are attempting to commercialize the harsh persona of Krampus by selling chocolates, figurines, and collectible horns. So there are already complaints that Krampus is becoming too commercialized. Oh well, as long as there is money in this world, everything will be commercialized at one point to the other.