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A so-called demonic portal opened in Southtown last year. OK, not really. But there was a parade with lots of horned figures, and it’s ready to come back for a second time.
In 2024, San Antonio held its first Krampus parade, a tradition seen throughout the rest the world on December 5th. There were 18 krewes — small organizations that help set up parades — that created parade entries with 150 marchers. But this year it’s expected to double with 31 krewes and more than 300 people, demons, and more otherworldly creatures flooding the streets of Southtown.
Krampus, according to central European legends, is the anti-Santa Claus, or more accurately, the opposite of St. Nicholas. Instead of presents or coal, the horned and hooved creature arrives to punish misbehaving children or even take them away.
Harald Uwe Kern, the director of the school within Ballet San Antonio, is originally from Austria. He says part of the tradition is to give children a small fright.
“In Vienna, people dressed up, and so relatives or friends of the family would dress up as Nicholas and Krampus, and they would actually, you could hear the chains in front of the apartment door, and you got scared, and then you're like, ‘oh my god, oh my god. It takes me because I was bad.'"
Krampus parades are held across the globe. The first gathering in San Antonio was small at the Beethoven Männerchor in 2023 with about 50 to 60 people. However, the call for a larger parade was made in 2024.
The hype for the parade was exacerbated by religious groups calling for it to be cancelled due to a perceived demonic nature. But that didn’t stop an estimated 10,000 people from attending in the historic King William neighborhood.
Bob Crittenden is the grand marshal and lead organizer of the Krampus parade in San Antonio. He said the calls to cancel it only make it bigger.
“It started with some local fundamentalists declaring from the steps of City Hall that we would open a portal to another dimension,” said Crittenden. “Now the absurdity of this claim was embraced by the San Antonio community. In fact, I remember reading comments that said ‘I wasn't going to go to this parade until I heard there was a portal. Now I'm definitely going.’"
Among the krewes are several named groups including Bewitching Brujas, a local dancing witch troupe; Eishaus von der Ostseite, an eastside icehouse that will include a lighted horseless carriage; Roosevelt Park Rough Riders Krewe, a stilt-walking punk rock group; and Zahn Gott Krewe, who are dental practitioners that will be swinging oversized pliers to “extract” naughty teeth.
The Krampus Parade will begin setup at 6:30 at the Beethoven Männerchor with the kickoff at 7:30 PM on Friday.
