Krampus in popular culture

Krampus, the "Christmas Devil" of Austrian and Bavarian folklore, has entered the popular culture of North America;[1] Christian Jacobs notes that "thanks to the Internet and YouTube,[note 1] [Krampus] is now very much on America's Christmas radar.

"[2] Tanya Basu interprets this as part of a "growing movement of anti-Christmas celebrations": a "bah, humbug" rejection of – or novel alternative to – mainstream festivities.

[1] Brian Joines of Image Comics suspects that the reason Krampus (specifically, as well as dark aspects of Christmas in general) has not been historically popularized in America is a social artifact resulting from "the nature of how we view Christmas in this country, both as a big day for kids and as the birth of a big religious figurehead".

[3] In some North American depictions, Krampus is an antihero who seeks to prevent children from becoming spoiled by rampant consumerism flowing from the economics of Christmas.

Informational notes Citations