Where I come from, the Krampus usually is a mere companion to the Nikolaus, on the other hand, the so called
Perchten can be hands on and one might leave such a Perchtenlauf (when they parade through a town) with quite a bruise. Usually it's drunk as fuck simpletons hailing from rural areas who wear those masks, and those people will literally hunt you down and dole out a beating that leaves you on the ground for a couple minutes. They don't go after children though, which is quite nice. But if one of them has set his eyes on you, you better run, 'cause that bunch of twigs ("Rute") really hurts like hell. In my younger days, some of the Perchten also whipped out a chain from time to time, just for good measure. Nowadays, it's not quite as brutal anymore. Boring!
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