Krampus Book — Weekend Events

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FRIDAY!

krampus-signing

Krampus signs photos at Dark Delicacies.

KRAMPUS BOOK SIGNING at DARK DELICACIES
Friday, November 18, 2016
Krampus visits at Dark Delicacies, North Hollywood. Al Ridenour signs copies of The Krampus and the Old, Dark Christmas.  6-9pm.

Al Ridenour will be signing The Krampus and the Old, Dark Christmas, a compendium of Krampus lore, history, and contemporary practice.  Krampus himself will be in attendance for photo ops and frights courtesy of Seven Hells.

SATURDAY!

book-event-header1KRAMPUS BOOK PARTY at SOAP PLANT WACKO
Saturday, Nov. 19th, 7-10pm
4633 Hollywood Blvd, Los Angeles
BOOK-SIGNING, SLIDE AND VIDEO TALK, COSTUMED DEVILRY, AUDIENCE KRAMPUS KWIZ, AND MOLTEN LEAD FORTUNE-TELLING.  SPECIAL MUSICAL SET TALEA.

FREE EVENT!

Last appearing at the Soap Plant Wacko at the 2012 publication party for Tales of the San Francisco Cacophony Society, a national group of guerilla artists and pranksters in which he played a leading role, author Al Ridenour returns tonight as Krampus researcher par excellence with his new book The Krampus and the Old, Dark Christmas.

In this new incarnation, Ridenour has obsessively translated his way through countless 19th-century compendiums of folk tales and superstitions, medieval witchcraft documents, and rhymed folk plays, networked with contemporary Krampus groups and mask-carvers, corresponded with Austrian anthropologists and museums, and traveled to the Alps to be properly smacked by whips and tossed into snowbanks by rampaging devils. He’s even sweated inside his own handcrafted suit as part of LA’s annual Krampus festival, which he helped found in 2013 and now directs. With the publication of The Krampus and the Old, Dark Christmas, Ridenour offers a summation of these explorations in one entertainingly written lavishly illustrated volume examining not only the Krampus but related folklore of Alpine witches, ghosts, spectral armies, diabolical hunstmen, and murderous saints.

Ridenour’s lively, often comic presentation includes slides, video clips, costumes, an audience-participation Krampus Kwiz with prizes (and punishments) and a demonstration of Bleigiessen, and ancient European form of fortune-telling using molten lead and associated with the “old, dark Christmas” of his book.

A special musical set will be provided by TALEA, offering a unique mix of ambient/electronic soundscapes, tribal percussion, ambient and abrasive guitar, along with spoken word and operatic vocals.

“The Definitive Book on Krampus” says Dangerous Minds

Dangerous Minds calls the new Krampus folklore book by KLA’s Al Ridenour, a “must have” and “the definitive work on Krampus,” and “really can’t recommend this highly enough.”

They write:

EVERYTHING YOU ALWAYS WANTED TO KNOW ABOUT THE KRAMPUS BUT WERE AFRAID TO ASK
Last year here at Dangerous Minds we declared that Krampus had hit the American mainstream, and just a couple of weeks ago we told you “fuck the elf on the shelf, here’s Krampus in the corner.” As we begin to see the department stores trot out their Christmas wares, we are reminded that Krampustime will soon be upon us.

If you’re looking for a Krampusnacht gift for someone special, we have a suggestion:

Feral House has just published the definitive work on Krampus and assorted other dark pagan Yuletide terrors. The exhaustively-researched The Krampus and the Old, Dark Christmas: Roots and Rebirth of the Folkloric Devil by Al Ridenour explores the origins of the Krampus myth, its recent popularization in the United States, the various celebrations and traditions associated with the creature, as well as similar European Christmas beasts.

Krampus, for anyone out of the loop, is a horned, anthropomorphic, demon-like creature who, according to Alpine folklore, is a companion to Saint Nicholas. He acts as the yin to Santa’s yang—punishing the naughty children while Saint Nicholas rewards the good. Krampus provides the dark balance to Saint Nicholas’ light. Traditionally, Krampus is thought to beat naughty children with sticks. Children that have been extra bad are treated more severely: they are stuffed into bags and thrown into the river. It’s really quite a brilliant legend: if your kids are misbehaving, scare the shit out of themwith the threat of being flogged and tortured by the Christmas devil!

The Krampus and the Old, Dark Christmas: Roots and Rebirth of the Folkloric Devil is jam-packed with information on the history and meaning of the Krampus as well as scads of photos and art prints. The dozens of photos of celebrants of myriad regional-variant Yuletide festivals in bizarre and terrifying costumes is worth the price of admission alone. Award-winning designer Sean Tejaratchi has laid everything out gorgeously, augmenting Ridenour’s thoughtful analysis. I really can’t recommend this highly enough. If you have any interest in the subject, this book is simply a must-have.

Review for Krampus Book by Bookgasm

Bookgasm calls the new book by KLA’S Al Ridenour “a veritable visual feast.”  And given all the feasting, thankfully, they also remark that the text is “easy to digest.”

They write:

It only took several hundred years, but that anti-Santa demon known as the Krampus finally has become an American celebrity, thanks to movies like A Christmas Horror Story, Night of the Krampus, Krampus: The Reckoning, Krampus: The Christmas Devil and just plain ol’ Krampus. Exactly from where did this unconventional leading man come? That’s the global-spanning goal — cleared! — of performance artist Al Ridenour in The Krampus and the Old, Dark Christmas: Roots and Rebirth of the Folkloric Devil. Using the baby-consuming creature’s recent cinematic surge as a launching pad, Ridenour explores the horrific goat-man’s European origins, town-to-town traditions (Buttnmandl, anyone?), stage appearances and more, all pithy and neatly arranged under subheads for easy-to-digest reading. Personally, I would have preferred more focus on the aspect of pure pop culture. One of the most appealing chapters introduces readers to the Krampus’ monstrous relatives, such as Pinecone Man. As is the modus operandi of outré publisher Feral House (whose recent volumes on Grand Guignol theater, sleazy sex novels of the 1960s and men’s adventure pulp magazines are all incredible), this trade paperback is a veritable visual feast of maps, photos and possbily insane vintage illustrations. So visual is The Krampus that it’s quite possible that functionally illiterate could spend time leafing through its pages and emerge satisfied, but why? They’d miss out on half the fun.  —Rod Lott

Get them at Amazon.