Krampus

Another tradition that they do here at the beginning of December (on December 5th) is the Krampus. A Krampus is the scary creature that travels along with St Nicholas and punishes kids, whereas St Nicholas gives gives gifts and brings good.
The Krampus in Bad Mitterndorf where we went with some friends dress in a big black outfit that covers there whole upper body. Then they have a scary looking carved wooden mask. In their hand they carry a group of sticks/twigs which are bundled together. When the Krampus come around to you the tell you Pieten (pray) and if you pray you are let go but if not they take their broom thing and flog your butt or your legs. (Many times the Krampus will go up to people and
just grab them and start hitting them - usually people in their teens or our age, as there are a lot of Krampuses that age). Katy was protecting me with my busted leg and another girl that went with us who was pregnant, so she took a lot of hits (We were told the guys behind the masks like to go after good looking girls, so I think that might have had something to do with it as well.
In Bad Mitterndorf they also have another kind of Krampus.
These Krampus get dressed up in straw and look like a big broom. Hopefully you can see from the picture but the broom is about 15 feet tall. These guys carry around a whip and snap it in the air. They dont come after people like the other ones do, but look pretty cool when they are standing in a group snapping their whips.
The big group of the 2 types of Krampuses and St Nicholas (and the angel and devil that go with him) walk around town and stop at 4 different places and put on a show - The Mitterndorfer Nicholasspiel (The Mitterndorfer Nicholas show). They tell kids what is good - doing your homework, helping with the dishes and listening to your parents, and if you dont you then you will be in trouble). We were at one of the places where they did their show and it was
really interesting to see. Even though we couldnt understand it all (the people we were with did translate some if it for us) it was great to be there and to see it.