The First Ever Krampuslauf Krampus Parade Was Held In Philadelphia, PA On December 10, 2011

The first ever and first annual Krampuslauf was held in and around Liberty Lands Park in the Northern Liberties section of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on December 10, 2011. I gave a brief explanation of who Krampus is a few days ago (Link: http://michaeltheresearcher.blogspot.com/2011/12/nikolaustag-featuring-old-bishop.html). I was hoping some kind of Krampus event would happen here in the U.S.A. for years now. I did dress up as Krampus, with a mask I purchased in Salzburg, at family parties in years past. That was the closest I ever got to some kind of acknowledgement of Krampus in this country. That all changed yesterday.

I wondered how this was going to turn out. Of course, I was hoping it would be a success. It, in fact, was a success - a great success. The Krampuslauf brought out a nice crowd of interested people. Furthermore, many of these people went to certain lengths to make their own costumes, masks and props. The organizers did a fine job putting this together. They brought a very unique event to Philadelphia and it was a real treat for the local community. Truly outstanding. I am really looking forward to next year's event. I know it will be bigger and better.

Here is a video showing the Krampuslauf:

If the video does not work or embed properly, here is the url: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TqezJxPc9PE


I did not have time to take pictures during the parade so I made five screenshots from the video above ...











These photographs show the gathering after the parade ...















By the fire was a pot of some very good cider:


Here is a board with holes cut out of it to allow kids to put their faces inside (I thought this was a fabulous addition):




I had to get in on it:


Here are two figurines I purchased in Germany in 2003 (the people absolutely loved these):






Here are two buttons from the event:

Earthmover Transforming Action Figure From The M.A.R.S. Converters Toy Line

This is my fourth review for a MARS Converters transformable action figure. The toy's name is Earthmover. He transforms into a work truck/plowing vehicle. I bought this at Walgreens in October or November. Earthmover, Bio-Mixer and Spot Explorer have been difficult-to-impossible to find. I saw the aforementioned three at a Walgreens in, if I remember correctly, January of this year. I went back to the store later and they were all gone. Earthmover is now being distributed regularly in Walgreens and Walmart. He appears to be in the same case as Accelerator and Drifter so Earthmover has replaced Valve Charger. Earthmover stands on his own with no problems. A little bit bizarre, but he's alright. The company that released it is Hap-P-Kid/Cybotronix.

Once again, here is the M.A.R.S. Converters experience showing the step-by-step process: taking the figure out of the box and transforming it ...



Photographs of the toy ...

Nikolaustag Featuring The Old Bishop Nikolaus And His Companion Krampus/Knecht Ruprecht

Today is Nikolaustag (Saint Nicholas Day). This is the day when the Bishop (Nikolaus was never truly canonized as a Saint) delivers presents to the good kids in Germany, Austria, other countries in Europe and some parts of Pennsylvania. What happens to the bad kids? The answer is below ...

Nick's helper deals with the bad ones. He has many names: Krampus, Knecht Ruprecht, Klaubauf, Hans Muff, Hans Trapp, Ruhklas, Schmutzli, Aschenmann, Bartl, Nickel, Boozenickel, Belsnickle, Pelznickel and Pelzmärtel among others. He either looks like a horrible old man or a devil. Krampus beats the bad kids with switches (branches) and throws them into a sack or bucket and takes them away. My Mother went to a Bavarian all-girl school in Augsburg in the mid-to-late 1940s and she remembers when Knecht Ruprecht came into the classroom and took a naughty girl away, kicking and screaming the entire time. In December of 2004, in the mountain town of Tannheimer Tal in Austria, I myself was face-to-face with Krampus. As for today, I have not seen either one stop by my house yet, but given my track record this year, I think Krampus is going to be paying a visit!

The parade featuring the Coming Of Krampus takes place on December 5, but I am combining both events in this entry.

Below are links so you can see what this fellow looks like ...

http://s4.hubimg.com/u/2151567_f520.jpg

http://search.yahoo.com/search;_ylt=A0geu43jDhxLYcoAaapXNyoA?p=Krampus&fr2=sb-top&fr=ytff-yff35&sao=0

http://search.yahoo.com/search;_ylt=A0oGkk4qEBxLyNAAVF5XNyoA?fr2=sg-gac&sado=1&p=Knecht+Ruprecht&fr=ytff-yff35&pqstr=knec&gprid=bI1dslkSSk6ogXf7M_0z6A&sac=1&sao=1

This link here, which has an arrow at the bottom right, will give you a lot of historic information: http://www.weihnachtsmuseum.com/e/gaben.asp?spr=e&a=10

Krampus, in his different forms, is discussed here: http://www.weihnachtsmuseum.com/e/gaben06.asp?spr=e&a=10

Here are two pieces of paper, depicting Nikolaus and Krampus, that were once on top of Lebkuchen I purchased in Salzburg in 2003 or 2004 (you will note the children and the bucket):





By the way, just from searching on the internet, I discovered that people have organized a Krampus Parade (Krampuslauf) in Philadelphia!!! The date is set for December 10, 2011 from 4:00 to 5:00 at Liberty Lands Park! The information can be found at these links ...

http://www.nlna.org/liberty-lands-calendar.html
http://krampuslaufphiladelphia.com

I am very excited. As far as I know, this will be the first ever parade for Krampus in this area.

Battle For Saint Vith World War II Reenactment Held At Fort Mifflin On December 3, 2011

Once again, Fort Mifflin in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania hosted the annual Battle For Saint Vith World War II Reenactment. The Living Historians present set up some displays in various rooms and there were two battles (at 11:00 AM and 3:00 PM). The footage posted in this blog entry is from the second battle.

I did my best to get as much footage as I could while handling the camcorder and camera, but the battle itself was just a few minutes long, and shorter than usual (to me at least), so I only have a few photographs and some brief video footage. Heck, I didn't even have time to fix a wedgie.

















































Some casings I picked up after the battle: