What you’re in for at a Krampus run
A Krampus run is a parade where nobody waves. Groups of runners in carved wooden masks and full fur suits come down the street in a racket of cowbells and chains, and plenty of them carry a switch or a bundle of twigs that they aren’t shy about using on the odd shin. The masks can weigh about 10 kg and a full costume costs its wearer €1,800 to €2,500, so these are people who take their devilry very seriously.
Most parades mix in Perchten too, and the difference is worth knowing before you get growled at. The Krampus is St Nicholas’s sidekick, there to deal with the naughty children, and wears a mask with two horns. Perchten are older winter spirits whose job is to chase the winter away, with animal faces and anything from four to ten horns. They used to come out only in the twelve nights after 21 December, and Salzburg still holds its Perchten run on the 21st, the first of those nights, but these days the two mix happily all through December.
Planning a Krampus weekend
Saturday 5 December is Krampus night, and it’s the one to build a trip around. Salzburg has three runs that evening, Linzer Gasse at 17:00, Getreidegasse at 17:30 and the big one at the Christkindlmarkt at 19:00, so you can see two without breaking a sweat. Hallstatt lights up its market square with a fire show at 18:00 the same night, and over the border in South Tyrol, Vipiteno’s Tuifltog sets off at 18:00 too.
If you’re bringing small children, Munich is the gentler way in. Its run is on Sunday 13 December at 15:00, in daylight, and the organisers describe their Krampus as funny devils you’re allowed to touch. Hallstatt also has a children’s Krampus run on the evening before its big one, and Bolzano’s parade on Sunday 6 December goes straight through the market squares, where St Nicholas hands out sweets.
Early birds get the biggest runs with the smallest crowds. Graz moved its Krampuslauf all the way to Sunday 8 November this year because of building work, so it’s over before the Advent markets even open. Klagenfurt’s parade is on Saturday 21 November, Villach’s, with nearly 1,000 runners last year, on Friday 27 November, and Vienna’s Perchten run at the Prater on Sunday 29 November.
