Showing posts with label Belsnickel. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Belsnickel. Show all posts
Tuesday, December 5, 2017
Tuesday, December 23, 2014
New World Witchery's "Yule Cheer!" Podcast
New World Witchery's second 2014 holiday show includes a mini-documentary on the Krampuslauf Philadelphia parade, including the Urglaawe perspective.
The various comments on the participatory nature of Krampuslauf Philadelphia are also notable and significant because the meaning and purpose of the 'Lauf go beyond entertainment.
Give this a listen, folks!
Sunday, November 23, 2014
Krampuslauf Philadelphia
Krampuslauf Philadelphia is a family-friendly, community-based, and community-oriented event held annually in Liberty Lands Park and open to all.
Community Preparation Workshop, December 7
Krampuslauf preparations are already underway, but the first official Krampuslauf event is the community workshop at iMPeRFeCT Gallery in Germantown on Sunday, December 7 from 12:00-4:00 PM. This workshop features Tucson artist Mykl Wells, who brings his artwork to Philly to help to inspire the 'Laufers as they engage in their own craft work. The workshop provides an opportunity for the community to come together to make lanterns, decorations, and costumes or costume elements for the parade.
As a clumsy person who is not good with crafts, I can attest to learning a lot a these workshops. They are a lot of fun! Over the course of the last year, I have learned how to make the lanterns and how to make masks.
Banner for the Heathen Contingent
At the workshop, members of the Heathen Contingent for Krampuslauf Philadelphia will also assemble a banner constructed of patches representing the various Heathen traditions. Heathens from all over the country (and farther!) have been invited to send a patch to get added to the banner. Each year, more patches will be added to it, thus creating a living banner. The Pennsylvania Heathens blog has all the details, so folks are invited to send a patch in.
Costumes for Krampuslauf Philadelphia
Krampuslauf Philadelphia brings together Alpine, Deitsch (Pennsylvania German), Celtic, and other Yuletide traditions that reflect the darker aspects of life and our ability to surmount them. It is a reflection of the Parade of Spirits, or the Wild Hunt, so the costumes feature the representation of the powerful German goddess Berchta and Her entourage of scary masks of the Alpine tradition, gloomy face paint, the soot-covered visage of the Deitsch Belsnickel and the call of Treier Eckhart, Manx Phynoderee and Buggane, and many others. If you do not know what to do, then just make your face up or put on your scariest costume!
Krampuslauf: The Parade of Spirits
Saturday, December 13, 2014
Liberty Lands Park, Philadelphia
3:00 PM (assembly time)
4:30 PM (parade begins)
Official Website: http://krampuslaufphiladelphia.com
Donations
Krampuslauf Philadelphia: The Parade of Spirits is a community-oriented event. In order to increase our connection to the regional community, we are adding a new, totally voluntary feature. We invite those who are able to bring a donation to the Mazzoni Center Food Bank and/or to Forgotten Cats. These charities are beneficiaries of Philadelphia Pagan Pride Day's donations, and they have each expressed that our donations have been very helpful to their missions.
The Mazzoni Center Food Bank provides access to healthy and balanced meals for people who are living with HIV/AIDS in the Philadelphia metropolitan area. They are always in need of canned and packaged food items.
Forgotten Cats is an organization that provides humane Trap/Neuter/Release services to control the feral cat population. They are in need of cat food donations, linens, wet kitten food, and even old newspapers (please, though, not wet or gross newspaper donations).
We will have containers in Liberty Lands Park at the time of Krampuslauf for those who would like to donate an item.
Krampuslauf Philadelphia is on Saturday, December 13, 2014. Folks will start gathering and getting their costumes set around 3:00, and the Parade of Spirits starts at 4:30.
Note: This event is not organized by Delaware Valley Pagan Network, nor it is a Pagan-specific event.
Wednesday, December 12, 2012
Lessons of der Belsnickel
It is now mid-December, and the Yuletide is coming upon us quickly. The first observance in the Deitscherei that is directly related to the Yuletide is the coming of der Belsnickel.
Typically, Belsnickel is viewed through the post-conversion lens of St. Nicholas, much like Santa Claus is. The translation of the name itself, "fur Nick" or "Nicholas in furs," reflects that image. However, is St. Nicholas really the character from whom either Belsnickel or Santa Claus comes?
The case against St. Nicholas is fairly simple. There is no reindeer in Anatolia; the North Pole, Elves, Yuletide, and the sleigh ride through the skies with "Mrs. Claus" (a.k.a. Holle) with all sorts of other spirits present (read: Wild Hunt), and numerous other references give the major clues to the true origin of both entities.As has been pointed out on other Heathen, including Urglaawe, sites, an argument can be made that the Heathen origins of Belsnickel/Krampus and Santa Claus reflect two aspects of the same deity (Wudan, Wodan, Wotan, Odin).
The classic features of der Belsnickel are still visible in some areas of the Deitscherei today, but, in most places, they have shaped him into a more innocuous figure than in prior generations. Typically, Belsnickel appeared anytime in mid-December (not just at the Church-appointed St. Nicholas Day, the date of which may be part of the reason that St. Nicholas was chosen as the saint to diminish the god). He would arrive, looking haggard, dirty, frightening, and dressed in pelts. Whether he had horns or not seemed to depend on locality; those that I remember did not, but plenty of other people in the region relate the presence of horns.
Belsnickel would ask arcane riddles, many of which actually had a simple answer. He actually allowed a fair amount of time for an answer. In fact, I remember him encouraging children to work together in order to solve certain riddles. However, each child was ultimately responsible to provide an answer for the riddles on his or her own. If the child answered incorrectly, or not at all, he or she had to vie for a horse chestnut against other children who did to answer correctly. There was always one less horse chestnut than there were children. As the children were trying to grab a chestnut, Belsnickel would take swats at their hands with a switch. Whichever child ended up with no horse chestnut took a whack on the butt from the switch.
The other children had proven their worthiness in "battle" by winning a horse chestnut and were prepared for Santa Claus' gifts, and while the whack on the butt was certainly terrifying for the victim, it also resulted in the complete exoneration of the child from any wrongdoing, including not being able to answer the riddle. I suspect, however, that in the distant past, that the representation of the whipping had more negative implications.
Wudan, as der Belsnickel, is the shady Seeker, who rewards wisdsom and punishes ignorance. He also presents the dark side of life and teaches us to use our intelligence and skill to deal with it. Wudan, as Santa Claus, reveals His Wish-Granter aspect. Here he projects the joys of life, the concept of generosity, and the social gains to be made through gift exchange. These aspects represent a balance and an understanding of life in a variety of contexts that can help a community face the dangers of life while also recognizing and actualizing love, joy, etc.
The intense hyper-marketing of Santa Claus and the marginalization of Belsnickel remove an opportunity for life lessons to be taught at a young age. The Consumer Culture Christmas has created a bubble around children in an attempt to shield them from the realities of life. Everything has to be "perfect," and the dark side of real life is allowed only in the context of video games, where violence is simultaneously bred and undone by restarting the game. This bubble, ultimately, does the children a disservice.
Our children see acts of violence everywhere, especially in their games. The answer in those games to solving and avoiding violent issues, however, is always more violence. Using ones wit or coming together as a community for mutual benefit is, as far as I know, generally absent from computer games. On the one hand, we have a bubble shielding children from outside violence. On the other hand, we have the violence -- and a skewed way of responding to challenges -- taking a special, invitation-only place within the home.
Our ancestors were often much wiser than we think. Fairy tales and replications of deity actions often served as lessons for the children in how to deal with real life. These are lessons that are projected by Belsnickel, or the Krampus, today.
Typically, Belsnickel is viewed through the post-conversion lens of St. Nicholas, much like Santa Claus is. The translation of the name itself, "fur Nick" or "Nicholas in furs," reflects that image. However, is St. Nicholas really the character from whom either Belsnickel or Santa Claus comes?
The case against St. Nicholas is fairly simple. There is no reindeer in Anatolia; the North Pole, Elves, Yuletide, and the sleigh ride through the skies with "Mrs. Claus" (a.k.a. Holle) with all sorts of other spirits present (read: Wild Hunt), and numerous other references give the major clues to the true origin of both entities.As has been pointed out on other Heathen, including Urglaawe, sites, an argument can be made that the Heathen origins of Belsnickel/Krampus and Santa Claus reflect two aspects of the same deity (Wudan, Wodan, Wotan, Odin).
The classic features of der Belsnickel are still visible in some areas of the Deitscherei today, but, in most places, they have shaped him into a more innocuous figure than in prior generations. Typically, Belsnickel appeared anytime in mid-December (not just at the Church-appointed St. Nicholas Day, the date of which may be part of the reason that St. Nicholas was chosen as the saint to diminish the god). He would arrive, looking haggard, dirty, frightening, and dressed in pelts. Whether he had horns or not seemed to depend on locality; those that I remember did not, but plenty of other people in the region relate the presence of horns.
Belsnickel would ask arcane riddles, many of which actually had a simple answer. He actually allowed a fair amount of time for an answer. In fact, I remember him encouraging children to work together in order to solve certain riddles. However, each child was ultimately responsible to provide an answer for the riddles on his or her own. If the child answered incorrectly, or not at all, he or she had to vie for a horse chestnut against other children who did to answer correctly. There was always one less horse chestnut than there were children. As the children were trying to grab a chestnut, Belsnickel would take swats at their hands with a switch. Whichever child ended up with no horse chestnut took a whack on the butt from the switch.
The other children had proven their worthiness in "battle" by winning a horse chestnut and were prepared for Santa Claus' gifts, and while the whack on the butt was certainly terrifying for the victim, it also resulted in the complete exoneration of the child from any wrongdoing, including not being able to answer the riddle. I suspect, however, that in the distant past, that the representation of the whipping had more negative implications.
Wudan, as der Belsnickel, is the shady Seeker, who rewards wisdsom and punishes ignorance. He also presents the dark side of life and teaches us to use our intelligence and skill to deal with it. Wudan, as Santa Claus, reveals His Wish-Granter aspect. Here he projects the joys of life, the concept of generosity, and the social gains to be made through gift exchange. These aspects represent a balance and an understanding of life in a variety of contexts that can help a community face the dangers of life while also recognizing and actualizing love, joy, etc.
The intense hyper-marketing of Santa Claus and the marginalization of Belsnickel remove an opportunity for life lessons to be taught at a young age. The Consumer Culture Christmas has created a bubble around children in an attempt to shield them from the realities of life. Everything has to be "perfect," and the dark side of real life is allowed only in the context of video games, where violence is simultaneously bred and undone by restarting the game. This bubble, ultimately, does the children a disservice.
Our children see acts of violence everywhere, especially in their games. The answer in those games to solving and avoiding violent issues, however, is always more violence. Using ones wit or coming together as a community for mutual benefit is, as far as I know, generally absent from computer games. On the one hand, we have a bubble shielding children from outside violence. On the other hand, we have the violence -- and a skewed way of responding to challenges -- taking a special, invitation-only place within the home.
Our ancestors were often much wiser than we think. Fairy tales and replications of deity actions often served as lessons for the children in how to deal with real life. These are lessons that are projected by Belsnickel, or the Krampus, today.
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