Krampus took over Southtown and San Antonio’s King William neighborhood last night for the city’s first ever Krampus parade.
Scores of horned demons marched down King William, some on stilts, with lanterns or whips, along with a few familiar Santa’s, before a massive crowd of thousands of curious onlookers. Joining them were witches, curanderos and more classic depictions of St. Nicholas.
Krampus is depicted as a half-man, half-goat creature that punishes children by beating them with sticks or even whisking them off to Hell for misbehaving.
And don’t worry—no naughty children were punished, despite the Germanic legend of Krampus being the polar opposite of St. Nicholas.
Rick Frederick is one of the many participants of the parade. He took a moment to appreciate San Antonio’s diverse culture.
“I love that San Antonio is vibrant and filled with Día de Los Muertos, Fiesta, that we celebrate our cultures, and this is part of the German culture that’s celebrated around the world,” he said.
Germanic roots can be found through San Antonio’s history, like the King William neighborhood itself, which is named after Wilhelm I, an emperor of Germany.
Frederick drew upon the original depictions of St. Nicholas that varied in appearance before the 1930s when he became the man dressed in red and white seen around the world today.
“And it is an idea of Christmas, and Santa, and being good or bad, that we had before Coca-Cola took over and rebranded to make it all about a fat white man.”
Coca-Cola, on its website, admits to being one of the driving factors, if not the main one, in creating Santa’s image.
A handful of evangelical protesters followed the crowds with some carrying crosses and others with megaphones denouncing the parade, but it caused little interruption.
Tony Rios was one protestor; he was dressed like Jesus carrying a large cross. He says he showed up to support children.
“They’re saying that they’re going to hell if they’ve been mean this year. Like Santa Claus, who are they to judge the kids, and who are us to judge them too, I’m just here for the kids to tell them that they’re not going to hell.”
The parade was initially promoted as a smaller event inside Southtown and the King William Neighborhood Association.
Shannon Stevens is a participant who wanted to join in on the festivities.
“Who knew that we were going to have such a big crowd for what we thought was a little neighborhood event? But King William has a habit of doing that,” she said. “We turned the little King William Fair into something bigger and better and hopefully the Krampus parade will catch on and be the same sort of thing.”
Although the parade was already getting attention from those familiar with Krampusnacht, which is celebrated on Dec. 5th across the world, the calls for the parade to be cancelled by pastors seemed to have pushed attendance even higher.
“It would not be this big without them, but also, I think that if anybody wants to turn out and pray for us, thanks, that’s great,” Stevens added. “We appreciate it.”
