Merry Christmas, Happy New Year, Good Yule, Happy Hannukah, Happy Kwanzaa, and Happy Holidays! We’re glad you’re here with us on the other side of the Long Night (i.e., the Winter Solstice). For this year’s Christmas episode, we’re talking about spooky, or just plain quirky, Christmas traditions primarily from across the pond. Listen to hear about the origins of Krampus, the villainization of Frau Perchta, the terrifying Gryla the Giantess and her mischievous sons, and, finally, an oddly adorable pooping log from Spain.
Listen on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, Google Podcasts, Amazon Music, Pandora, or iHeartRadio.
Here are our sources from this episode:
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Companions_of_Saint_Nicholas
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christmas_gift-bringer
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Household_deity
- https://www.pagankids.org/post/historyofyule
- https://nerdist.com/article/yule-curious-past-and-present-day-importance/
- https://www.huffpost.com/entry/winter-solstice-pagan-yule_n_585970abe4b03904470af4c5
- https://spookylittlehalloween.com/2022/11/29/spooky-christmas-traditions/
- https://www.smithsonianmag.com/travel/krampus-could-come-you-holiday-season-180957438/
- https://www.livescience.com/who-is-krampus
- https://news.usc.edu/90213/have-you-been-naughty-then-beware-krampus-is-coming/
- https://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2017/12/22/572569325/caga-ti-a-catalan-log-that-poops-nougats-at-christmas
- https://guidetoiceland.is/history-culture/the-icelandic-yule-lads-and-gryla
- https://www.vice.com/en/article/43989p/perchta-christmas-goddess-demon-woman
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perchta