Five Things to Know for Krampusnacht
Who or what is Krampus? - we’ll give you the brief version: according to certain traditions, der Nikolaus (St. Nicholas) is sometimes accompanied by a “helper” to deal with the naughty kids while he reads stories and gives presents to the good kids: either Knecht Ruprecht or the feared goat-demon Krampus, who wears a basket to carry bad children away! But in parts of Europe – and more recently, even here in North America – there’s also a growing tradition of people dressing up in truly frightening Krampus costumes and forming a parade in the village to wreak havoc in the streets, scream like demons, rattle chains and bells, and generally cause non-violent mayhem: the Krampuslauf.
Is Krampusnacht kid-friendly? Not really. While we have told Krampus that he may NOT actually whip unartige children with a switch, stuff them in his basket and cart them off to Hades - not in view of our guests, at least - he can still be a bit intense for younger children.
Anything special about the menu that night? Yes! In addition to our usual hearty and delicious German fare, we will have special Krampuskarte items available, such as Naughty and Nice cake balls and Krampus bread (at our Magnolia Square Market German deli), and at the Willow Tree Schnitzel with blood-red beet gravy, Krampus Bier (11.5% strong Belgian Tripel!) Mini-Eisbeins with blood gravy, and the Krampus Bomb (Krampus ale with Schwartzhog herbal Schnapps)!
Can we dress up as Krampus? You are required to dress up like Krampus! No, not really, but it's highly encouraged - we need as many Krampuses as possible for our first ever Krampuslauf (Krampus Run) at 9 pm, when we'll all shriek and scream and run and generally act like idiots as Krampus laughs at us all while we parade from Magnolia Square to our friends over at West End Trading Company (don't worry, it's just a couple blocks.)
What sort of entertainment will you have? In addition to our own Jimmy and Eckhard traditional German music band from 7-10 pm, Krampus will be skulking about the Lodge and Biergarten 6-9 pm being generally ugly and menacing, but will also be taking photos and scolding the naughty "children."
And now we shall leave you with a few images of past shenanigans...(please note that these photos were taken before the current conditions - guests will be required to wear masks when not seated at a table) #krampusnacht #krampuslauf #hollerbachs #krampus #holidayevents
