He’s an Alpine folklore figure. And there’s only one of him. Butin Norway, unaccountably, they had a whole Krampus parade. Very strange.

Norway, is everything okay? pic.twitter.com/b54WSoDgQ3

— @amuse (@amuse) November 27, 2024

In Austria, when St. Nicholas arrives with gifts for good children, he is accompanied by Krampus, a hairy, horned and cloven-hoofed monster equipped with enormous fangs who carries a bundle of birch twigs to beat up on naughty children. Krampus was banned by the fascists in the 1930s for being too negative a symbol.

In the postcard above, a relatively benign version of Krampus is carrying unwary infants right away.

Wikipedia article.

Krampus: Santa’s Sadistic Sidekick