Not So Merry Christmas

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We all think of Christmas as a joyous and merry occasion where you get gifts from a fat man dressed in red known as Santa. We cut cakes ,put up a Christmas tree, etc etc. One thing that we have all heard about is the naughty list as that it was the main tool used by our parents to blackmail us into doing chores like cleaning up the room. Well the normal perception of people(especially kids) is that if you're on the naughty list then you won't get a gift. 

This, however, is not the case in  Finland. In Finland being in the naughty list means being tortured by Santa, or as the Finnish prefer to call him , Krampus .There are 2 entities who take the spotlight during Christmas in Finland, namely, Krampus( The Santa that punishes kids in the naughty list) and Joulupukki (The Santa that does standard Santa stuff).
I'll be talking about Krampus today as he is infinitely more interesting than Joulupukki. Krampus is basically the total opposite of how we imagine Santa. For starters, he is really thin almost to the point of malnourishment, he has horns and he sports a long beard like Santa(the fat one). The myth basically says that if you had been a bad kid that year then Krampus would come and whip your posterior till it bleeds, Chop off a few fingers and toes and if you been a really really bad boy/girl he would kill you and add you to his collection of children's skulls beside his throne( sounds like fun!).

Krampus is sorta famous too. He has appeared in many Hollywood movies and if you're really behaving badly then your parents will use the Krampus card against you. Finnish kids must fear Christmas as much as the rest of the kids around the world look forward to it. Some countries like Austria believe that the legend of Krampus is so gruesome that it isn't suitable for kids, which just goes to show how terrifying he is.Of course this is all just a myth but one cant help but feel sorry for kids of Finland who who live with the fear of being killed on Christmas.
Then again its a good tool for parents and an awesome way of pranking Finnish kids. It's also a nice variation from the mainstream Santa that we all know(boy, with the way I'm insulting Santa I won't be getting any gifts this time around).That being said, you my dear reader have reached the end of my article. Merry Christmas to  you and thanks for bothering to read. Hopefully you aren't on the naughty list, who knows? maybe tomorrow you might find a few fingers and toes missing.

                                                                                                                    -Rtr Adithya Athreya

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