Merry Krampus: Alternative Holiday Praxis in The
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MERRY KRAMPUS: ALTERNATIVE HOLIDAY PRAXIS IN THE CONTEMPORARY UNITED STATES by KIRK ANDREW PETERSON A THESIS Presented to the Folklore Program and the Graduate School of the University of Oregon in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts June 2019 THESIS APPROVAL PAGE Student: Kirk Andrew Peterson Title: Merry Krampus: Alternative Holiday Praxis in the Contemporary United States This thesis has been accepted and approved in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Master of Arts degree in the Folklore Program by: Daniel Wojcik Chairperson Doug Blandy Member and Janet Woodruff-Borden Vice Provost and Dean of the Graduate School Original approval signatures are on file with the University of Oregon Graduate School. Degree awarded June 2019 ii © 2019 Kirk Andrew Peterson This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs (United States) License. iii THESIS ABSTRACT Kirk Andrew Peterson Master of Arts Folklore Program June 2019 Title: Merry Krampus: Alternative Holiday Praxis in the Contemporary United States Since the early twenty-first century, individuals in the US have discovered the enduring winter tradition from Alpen Austria known as Krampusnacht. These events center around the figure of the Krampus, a beast-like, punishing “devil” that accompanies St. Nicholas on December 5, the eve of his feast day. By 2010, groups of people in US cities were staging their own Krampusnacht processions in downtown areas, referencing the European enactments while simultaneously innovating their embodiments to meaningfully interact with the Christmas season in the United States. Participation in these events increases annually and the Krampus figure’s presence online and in popular media is on the rise. This thesis explores how Krampus-associated traditional material is being practiced, altered, and transmitted across various fields of public culture in the US as a response to the perceived over-commodification of winter festival opportunity. iv CURRICULUM VITAE NAME OF AUTHOR: Kirk Andrew Peterson GRADUATE AND UNDERGRADUATE SCHOOLS ATTENDED: University of Oregon, Eugene Portland State University, Portland Savannah College of Art and Design, Savannah DEGREES AWARDED: Master of Arts, Folklore and Public Culture, University of Oregon Bachelor of Fine Arts, Film and Television, Savannah College of Art and Design AREAS OF SPECIAL INTEREST: Holidays and Festival Digital Culture Media Studies PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE: 2019 Online Course Development Assistant: Introduction to Folklore, University of Oregon 2018 Graduate Employee Discussion Leader: Introduction to Folklore, University of Oregon 2018 Graduate Employee Instructor of Record: College Composition II, University of Oregon 2017- 2018 Graduate Employee Instructor of Record: College Composition I, University of Oregon 2017 Graduate Employee Randall V. Mills Folklore Archives, University of Oregon v GRANTS, AWARDS, AND HONORS: 2018 Folklore and Public Culture Department Travel Grant, Krampus, the Santa We Deserve: The Digital Transmission and American Transformation of a European Festival Figure (Western States Folklore Society 2018 Meeting Presentation), University of Oregon 2017- 2018 Student Vice President, Western States Folklore Society 2017 Folklore and Public Culture Program Research Award, Merry Krampus: Alternative Holiday Praxis in the Contemporary United States, University of Oregon vi ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I would like to express sincere gratitude to Professors Daniel Wojcik and Doug Blandy for their assistance in the completion of this manuscript. Without their guidance, encouragement, and attentive feedback this work would not exist. Additionally, I would like to state my deep appreciation to the students and faculty of the University of Oregon Folklore and Public Culture Program for their consistent and enduring interest in and support of this research. The suggestions and discourse generated within the program community was integral in elevating the quality of my inquiry, and the enthusiasm of my peers and mentors helped to keep this project moving forward. I also extend my most heartfelt thanks to the members of the communities that so generously contributed their time and perspectives to this research. Finally, I must acknowledge the assistance of my partner and long-time collaborator, Nicole Baker. Without her insight, support, and untold hours of copy-editing, this manuscript would not have been possible. vii To my parents for their unwavering support and encouragement, and to my partner for her patience and always believing in my abilities. I am extremely lucky to have these people on my team. viii TABLE OF CONTENTS Chapter Page I. INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................... 1 II. TRACKING THE KRAMPUS: HISTORY AND PRACTICE ............................. 21 European Midwinter Beasts .................................................................................. 23 Masking Matters .................................................................................................... 26 Mamuthones, Issohadores, Survakari, and Kukeri ............................................... 29 Mamoiada, Sardinia ........................................................................................ 30 Bulgaria ............................................................................................................ 34 Back to the Krampus .............................................................................................. 36 Variation All the Way Down ................................................................................ 39 St. Nicholas Companions ....................................................................................... 43 Finding the International Krampus ....................................................................... 47 III. KRAMPUSNACHT: (RE)BORN IN THE USA .................................................. 50 Notes on Fieldwork ................................................................................................ 53 Krampus Lauf PDX: A New Ritual Case Study ................................................... 54 Krampus on the Ritual/Carnival Spectrum ........................................................... 69 IV. KRAMPUS CULTURE AS PRAXIS IN THE UNITED STATES: IDENTIFYING EMERGENT STRUCTURES .................................................................................... 75 Participant Voices & Shared Perspectives ............................................................ 78 Traditionality.......................................................................................................... 79 Creativity................................................................................................................ 86 ix Chapter Page Alternativity ........................................................................................................... 93 V. THE US KRAMPUS WRIT LARGE: MEDIATED TRANSMISSION AND MASS CULTURE REPRESENTATION ................................................................... 104 US Krampus (Digital) Culture .............................................................................. 105 Identifying the Fragment ....................................................................................... 118 Massifying the Krampus ....................................................................................... 120 REFERENCES CITED ................................................................................................ 134 x LIST OF FIGURES Figure Page 3.1 Krampus Lauf PDX participants stop to take a group picture before heading out from Sewallcrest Park. ........................................................................................... 62 3.2 A Krampus Lauf PDX processioner interacts with a shop employee on Hawthorne Blvd.. ...................................................................................................................... 66 3.3 Krampus Lauf PDX procession on Hawthorne Blvd. ............................................ 70 4.1 Monica Sears as Julbok (L) with a Krampus masker. ........................................... 82 4.2 Author in costume at Krampus Lauf PDX. ............................................................ 89 4.3 Author in costume at Eugene Krampus Krawl ...................................................... 89 5.1 Krampus meme referencing the pagan origins of Christmas. ................................ 115 5.2 Krampus meme featuring Santa Claus. .................................................................. 116 5.3 Krampuskarten featuring a naughty child punished by Krampus. ........................ 122 5.4 Krampus punishes an infantilized Donald Trump ................................................. 131 xi CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION This thesis represents the culmination of a lifelong interest in the symbols and traditional materials associated with seasonal holiday expressions in the United States (US). As a young child growing up in a depressed, post-steel town in Pennsylvania’s Allegheny Mountains in the 1980s, I vividly recall how the holidays seemed to hold an inexplicable transformative and energizing power over a community that defined itself by its hardships. Johnstown, Pennsylvania was a major hub of steel production in the period directly following World War II and the local plant, Bethlehem Steel, employed a large portion of the population. By the early 1980s the plant was closed,