Happy Holidays 2025

I am not sure where 2025 went exactly, but here we on another December 6—or as the Germans call it: St. Nikolaus Tag (Saint Nicholas Day). Last December 6, I published my first-ever St. Nikolaus Tag card here on Bassic Sax. With it I provided a bit history about why German children traditionally leave their freshly-cleaned shoes by the front door. (It’s so that a man dressed in something similar to a Santa suit can leave treats in them for the next day. )

But from a country that read its children the original fairy tales¹ like Hansel & Gretel, and Little Red Riding Hood, it’s not surprising that St. Nikolaus would have a counterpoint. Krampus was one of St. Nikolaus’ companions who accompanies him during the night from December 5th to 6th.

Children growing up in southern German were told of this creature who would either: A) Punish bad children with the birch switches he carried, or B) Carry them away in the sack he carried. No, Krampus is not the devil, he has a pagan background. He is believed to be the son of Norse god Hel.

If you’d like to know more about Krampus, here is a great article written by a German woman living in the US. I just found her website this morning. Is is really interesting; appears very well researched; and covers a wide variety of topics.

This year I opted to make a Krampus card to kick off the holiday season. It connects me to my roots, and to all the great fairy tale books that my parents read my bedtime stories from, and that I still have stored in boxes. Some books belonged to my mom, while most were my dad’s. Some are in Fraktur, AKA Deutsche Schrift, while the newer ones that were bought for me are in post-war Futura.

However you celebrate this season, I hope you have a great one with your family and friends. And may all your saxophones be safe. Let’s hope you were good, and Krampus didn’t have to punish you by taking away your kids last night.