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Sinterklaas & Frau Perchta
33 Plays10 months ago
Merry Christmas, all you naughty boys & girls! This week, it’s a little ho-ho-horror for the holidays with a double feature of Christmas creatures!
Felicia unwraps the first present with the legend of Sinterklaas, or Sint-Nicolaas - a mythical figure based on the patron saint of children, Saint Nicholas. If it wasn’t obvious, Sinterklaas is one of the sources for the classic Santa Claus mythology and has mainly been celebrated in the Netherlands as far back as the early 19th century. Felicia actually has some of her own personal experience with the story from attending the Sinterklaas Festival Day in Rhinebeck, NY. Though things turn sinister as she explores some of the more offensive origins of the figure and festival.
Next, Lauren stuffs your stocking with another Christmas icon - Frau Perchta aka the Christmas witch! This 10th century German winter goddess has a beaked nose made of iron and stalks humans to make sure they have completed their spinning of flax and/or other domestic chores by Twelfth Night. And you thought your family’s holiday traditions were boring! Other versions of the legend even feature an army of lost souls, including the Krampus-like demonic-looking Perchten. Her story may sound similar to other dark Christmas mythologies - after all, she knows who has been bad or good…but her way of dealing with naughty people is much more vicious than a lump of coal. Deck the halls with disembowelment!
Listen to hear more about both of these Christmas creatures and how they tie-into our modern mythology.
PS: As always, thank you for listening and supporting our show throughout 2023. Have a safe & scary New Year’s evil and we’ll see you with lots more sinister stories in 2024!
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Transcript
Apologies and Catching Up
00:00:11
Speaker
Welcome to the Sinister Sisters podcast. I'm Felicia. I'm Lauren. Best friends. And we like spooky stuff. Oh, yeah.
00:00:21
Speaker
Amazing. Well, I'm sorry, first off, that it has been since Thanksgiving that we have recorded an episode. Yikes. Is that true? Yes. Whoops. Sorry. I think it makes sense. The holiday seasons are crazy. Yeah. Actually, I went back and looked. We didn't even record anything like last November or Christmas or December at all. Oh, so you're saying this is growth?
00:00:50
Speaker
Yes. I'm saying we are coming to you hot with a Christmas special because this is going to come out on Christmas. Wow. All right. Because Christmas is Monday. Okay. Isn't that crazy to think about? I know. I feel like I should have changed my story, but it's okay. Wait. Now I'm like, wait, what is your story? Isn't it Christmas related? It's Christmas related. It just is a little dark in a different way than normal. We'll get to, we'll get to, we'll get there.
00:01:19
Speaker
We will get there.
Tribute to Cousin Sammy
00:01:21
Speaker
Well, I talked to Felicia about this and I wanted to start off our podcast this week with a little bit of remembrance for one of my sweet, sweet cousins. So this is also partially why we didn't end up recording earlier this month.
00:01:36
Speaker
But my cousin Sammy, who's my mom's cousin, passed away now like almost a month ago, which is crazy. Wow. But he was only, you know, he was in his fifties. He, you know, left us definitely far too soon. But he is, you know, he's always been one of my favorite cousins because he lived a very full life. He was like the smartest guy, the most hilarious, always like the most supportive family member ever.
00:02:04
Speaker
And we did, I should say, we did all get to get together. We all got to get together, that sounds weird, in Pittsburgh for his funeral and to like remember his life and all of it. And it was just, it was amazing. But I'm talking about him too, because he was a big fan of this podcast, which just like makes me want to cry all over again.
00:02:24
Speaker
So, he always used to like text me or Instagram DM me with like ideas or just talking about like what we had talked about that past week or just like funny things. And he was the one, I don't know if you remember this Felicia, but there was this week that I covered like a Pittsburgh story that one of them gave to me and I mispronounced Monongahela. Now I know how to say it. Well, how could you not mispronounce that?
00:02:51
Speaker
And when you see it spelled out, it's, uh, yeah, but it's Monongahela and he like had sent me like a voice message of him saying it being like, I can't believe you got this wrong. Monongahela. Oh, that's so sweet. When I visited in Pittsburgh, I got to go to that area and like every, like my whole family lives right there. So I was like, this is ridiculous. What was the story? It was the one about the, um, the plane that like flew into the river and the people. Okay.
00:03:20
Speaker
Like, yeah. Now I'm like, did the people get lost? You know, that episode is over, so we don't have to know anymore.
00:03:33
Speaker
I really have no idea. I was going to look it up, but I'm like, it's over. Anyway, he was the best. We also have this massive family group text. It's actually hilarious. It's like 40 people. How far are you? 40 people? Do people say things? 40 people.
00:03:52
Speaker
Well, that's what I was going to say. It's so sad because he was like the one that like really kept it going. So we've all kind of like, I know it's really sad, but we've all kind of taken on, not me. I don't know why I included myself in that, but other people who are amazing in the family have taken on different like parts of what he used to do. So like one of the cousins now does like a, my cousin Jean,
00:04:14
Speaker
does this like custom connections game like people send like pumpkin spice crazy items that they find because he used to do that where it'd be like pumpkin spiced cucumber or something whatever
00:04:28
Speaker
It's very, very sweet. And our family's always been really close, but he was just like the most incredible. And he's kind of unique because he was single his whole life. So he was just like the best like, you know, parental figure to so many of my cousins at different points, like the best uncle to his nieces and nephews. Like he did so much just like helping his family out.
Sammy's Influence and Legacy
00:04:52
Speaker
Like really, he was like, he checked in on my great aunt all the time. Like I think a lot of people are going to really feel
00:04:57
Speaker
That part really hard and obviously everybody's gonna miss him But they had this they what I wanted to say is they had this slideshow at the memorial like all pictures of him Which was really sad and really beautiful, but there are so many pictures of him He's like a bigger dude for a lot of his life. I just like him covered in kids like like five or six
00:05:17
Speaker
Different generations, different times. When I was little, there's pictures of me with it on top of it. The next generation was little. It's just so- He was just very loved. He was very loved. He was just one of those people that was always at every family event. I think he came and saw Cinderella and Peter Pan. He's just that kind of guy. Lauren's mentioning her high school productions.
00:05:48
Speaker
I have the quickest side story because I just have to share it. I don't even think she listens to the podcast, but my little cousin, Sammy was one of three. He had two brothers and one of his brothers has a 14-year-old now. But when I did Peter Pan, she was like, I don't know, two. And so she ended up coming to see it.
00:06:11
Speaker
And her mom had always told me she wore out the DVD. We gave her a DVD of the performance, and she watched all the time. But now that she's 14, I went up to her at the funeral, and I was like, I'm so, so sorry for your loss. I said, I don't know if you remember me, but I'm Lauren. You came and saw me in Peter Pan. I don't know. And she was like, I was Peter Pan.
00:06:37
Speaker
I mean, get ready. So she goes, Oh my God, Lauren, of course. And I was like, I heard like you do theater and like, it's so cool that you got into it after all of that. And she was like, I love that DVD. And I was like, I just thought it was so sweet that you were just, you know, rewatching like my high school theaters, Peter Pan, like you could have been watching like Kathy Rigby or whatever. And she goes, wait, that was your high school theater production? And I said, yes. And she was like, I've been telling everybody that you were on Broadway in Peter Pan.
00:07:11
Speaker
I was like, Jaden, I did cast Hamilton. It's easily confused. I cast Hamilton, but I was not. Information gets blurred together when you're young. Exactly. And she's like, I've been telling everybody that you were Peter Pan on Broadway and that I saw
Living Fully in 2024
00:07:33
Speaker
you in Peter Pan on Broadway.
00:07:37
Speaker
That is the best thing. I can't tell you how much I needed that today. That was the most amazing miscommunication story ever. But it was so sweet because I was like, you know, I'm so sorry. Like, I feel like I crushed your dreams. And she was like, no, it's okay. Like, I'll just like pretend in my mind that I didn't find this out.
00:08:02
Speaker
Wow. That was so funny. I love that. But then she was showing me her theater videos and she was like Brooke Windham and Legally Blonde, like the jumper thing. Oh, amazing. I know. So good. She's so sweet. But I should just like, it's kind of the end of my Sammy little thing. You know, he, I of course, like, I'm so glad to have known him. So glad to have had him in my life.
00:08:26
Speaker
And everyone just kept saying at the memorial, my favorite thing was everyone kept saying he was always the person, and maybe because he was single, but he was always the person that would go on the trip, eat the awesome meal, buy the new thing that you want. And so I feel like that's going to be my energy. Going into 2024 is living life fully and taking care of the people around you.
00:08:50
Speaker
and trying to be a little bit more like that. But anyway, he's the best. And so now I'm going to shift really quickly.
A Healing Haunted House Visit
00:08:58
Speaker
My other little side story very quickly is that my cousin, Brian, who is his little brother, and he's just like, he's his family podcast. It's really in the co-walls. The co-walls is like that side.
00:09:13
Speaker
So my cousin Brian is also a huge fan of the podcast. He is like a big softie. He like had us all like crying at the funeral. He's like such a good dude. I mean, really like the three brothers are just like, I can't even describe how different all of them are. Like they are so different, but somehow like just all hilarious and all just like these like stand up guys. But so Brian says he listens to the podcast every week and he always says with us,
00:09:40
Speaker
He always goes, have some sweet, sweet nightmares. Bye. That is so sweet.
00:09:50
Speaker
That is so sweet. The idea of anybody doing that with us just makes, like, warms my cold, dead heart. That's so nice. I know. And I was like, we're such a mess. Like, it's amazing that we even say the same thing every day. I mean, it's truly, I mean, the research that I am about to perform for you today is hilariously skinny.
00:10:17
Speaker
It's gonna be great. And that's why I'm just beefing it up. But really, okay, I promise I'm almost done. So at Sammy's funeral, Brian came up to me and was like, like, literally, I looked at him, I had tears in my eyes, we're hugging, like sweet moment. And he's like, do you want to go to a haunted house tonight? And I was like,
00:10:32
Speaker
What the, like, what the heck? Your brother just passed away. Like, is that, and he's like, I think it'd be really good for us. And I was like, okay. And apparently like, so we went to this haunted house. I'm going to do a topic. Like I'm going to do an episode. This was in late November, right? It was early. Yeah. Like early December. It was a Christmas haunted house. Oh, okay. Santa themed.
00:10:55
Speaker
But it's called Demon House and it's in Monongahela and it's a five-minute drive away from Tom Savini's makeup school in Pittsburgh. It's just like a legit haunted house but there's a true crime story around like the mansion that it's
00:11:15
Speaker
takes place in. So I'm going to talk about it in January, but I just thought it was like so funny that like a bunch of, and it was like, I don't know, we ended up getting like 10, 12 people there to this haunted house and like, including the two brothers whose brother had just passed away. Like it was just, it was very cathartic. It was really sweet. And then to the last little tidbit to my other, so Brian's daughter is I think 13 or 14 too.
00:11:43
Speaker
And she was like, are you going to the haunted house tonight? And I was like, yeah, I'm going to the haunted house. And somebody leaned over and was like, I hope you don't cry again, Sadie. And she was like, I don't know. And I was like, you cried last time? She was like, yeah. And I was like, but you want to go back? And she was like, yeah. And I was like, but what if you cry again? And she was like, if I get scared, I'll cry, but I'll keep going. And I was just like, that also is amazing. That's just such a good life motto. It's like, if I cry,
00:12:12
Speaker
I'll cry and then I'll keep going. I felt so good.
00:12:17
Speaker
That's what I tell my, so I'm a theater teacher, and that's what I tell my students, or I'll be like, they'll be like, I'm so scared, Ms. Lobo, I'm freaking out. I'm so scared. I'm like, of course you are. And you'll do it anyway. Yes. Like, okay, okay. It's incredible. That, I think that is a good, that is a good life motto to have. Yeah, I'll cry, and I'll just keep going.
00:12:43
Speaker
I'll just keep going. I'd like to cry all through a haunted house and then to want to go back. I'm like, I don't think I have that. Yeah, but that that is amazing. I mean, that was just like really nice to hear all that.
00:13:00
Speaker
He was the specialist person and I had the most wonderful weekend with my family. Obviously, I wish it was under different circumstances, but it was so good to see everybody. It was one of those times where I was just like, dang, I'm so glad that flights exist. I used points. I was just so glad I could get there. Anyway, that's a little bit about my cousin Sammy and my family. They all were like, we're all going to listen to the podcast. I felt like I needed to do a little tribute.
00:13:28
Speaker
Well, I'm so glad you did because I mean, an incredible person like that deserves to be honored by their family and and and I'm not family and I still feel like I got so much out of that story of just hearing about who he was and what kind of person he was. So thank you for doing that. Yeah, of course, of course. All right. Um, do you want to jump in?
Rhinebeck Birthday and Sinterklaas Festival
00:13:51
Speaker
I shall. I shall. Okay. So this week, my story is Christmas themed. So a few weeks ago, actually it was for my birthday now that I think about it. I typically for my birthday now, I don't really ask for stuff from Travis, my fiance. I usually just am like, let's go for a weekend trip upstate.
00:14:16
Speaker
And that's really just because I get really sick of living in the city and in Brooklyn, and I need a little nature slash a little small town joy slash etc. space. And so we were trying to figure out where to go and
00:14:34
Speaker
We had come across Rhine Beck for a couple of reasons. One, I had a student that I had taught over the summer who was from there and told me it was like the most magical place. And then I think like Travis's sister mentioned it to him. And so we started looking up Rhine Beck and we also want to like move out of the city at some point. We don't know when, but in our future, after we're married probably, definitely, but I don't know when after that.
00:14:59
Speaker
And so we've kind of been looking at towns and blah, blah, blah. And so we start looking at Ryan Beck and we are immediately both like, whoa, this is like such a good option for us.
00:15:09
Speaker
It's got like an indie movie theater and two community theaters that look really excellent and like nice restaurants. And like, it looks adorable and it looks like Gilmore Girls. And so, we were like, okay, we're gonna go. So we went and on the way, or like, no, the night before Travis is, I think he has a text from his sister and he's like, oh my God, on Saturday, there's this big like Christmas festival happening in Rhinebeck. And I was like, no way. And so we looked it up.
00:15:39
Speaker
And it was called Sinterklaas. I didn't know this backstory. Yeah. So we started looking at pictures and I was like, wow, this looks so magical and beautiful. And we didn't really know what it was necessarily because it looked like it wasn't just like Christmas. It was clearly something different. And we weren't sure exactly what it is, but it was like
00:16:04
Speaker
It looked kind of like mystical magical witchy Christmas. And I was like, okay. Sounds good. Yeah. So we go and you know, throughout the day, like tons of people are there and like, like thousands and thousands of people like come into the downtown small town of Rhinebeck to do this festival every year, which is like
00:16:27
Speaker
Really just a parade. Like, I think they have some things happening during the daytime, but mostly it's the parade that happens at night. And there's all these performers and they have all these like giant, beautiful light up hand puppets of like, like ants and bumblebees and other animals. And then they have, you know, since her class walking.
00:16:51
Speaker
which is kind of the Norwegian Santa Claus. And there's a horse, and it was just very magical and beautiful. It sounds so magical. Yeah, everyone's got these stars. Everyone has these stars. And all these kids were running around holding these sticks they had decorated. In school, you just decorate a stick. There's all these traditions, and we were like, what is this thing? We still couldn't really figure it out.
00:17:17
Speaker
Like we knew it was holiday themed, but it almost felt a little secular. Like it felt a little like not Chris. It was like, I was like, is this like a Wiccan thing? Like I was like, what is this festival? So we experienced it. We loved every second of it. It was so beautiful. And on the way.
00:17:37
Speaker
Oh, no. On the way home today, I was like, oh, well, so yesterday on the way home, because we were supposed to record this yesterday, but I left my mic at home. I mean, it's cool. And so I was trying to find like some other like podcasts or YouTube videos that I could listen to on the way home just to get like basic info. And I couldn't really find anything. And I was like, oh, so I call Travis and I'm telling him I can't find anything.
00:18:02
Speaker
And so he just pulls up the Wikipedia article and starts reading it to me while I'm driving home. That's so sweet. It's so sweet. He's helping you memorize. He's helping me. And then he starts reading. And it starts to take a turn.
Controversy of Black Pete
00:18:19
Speaker
And I was like, wait a minute. Is this the same thing we went to? And he was like, yeah. And I was like, OK. So I'm going to start with some basics. And then I'll tell you the turn.
00:18:31
Speaker
So on this center class Hudson Valley website, so it's the full website that they have for this event every year. And it's always like the first weekend in December. And it says here, what's center class? It says, every year brings new events and characters to dazzle our community, honor our children, and bring light to this darkest time of year.
00:18:59
Speaker
The center cost festivities draw on the Hudson Valley's Dutch heritage, but with some modern day twists. Children are the focus, becoming kings and queens for the day, turning the switches of the original story into royal scepters. And I said, switches? Switches? Interesting.
00:19:22
Speaker
children make scepters and crowds for themselves. And oh, and it can't. Oh, the creator. I don't know. Basically, it's supposed to be like a thing that's not about like wanting or having presence. But they do tie a wish to their branch. So they wish one for their community, one for their family and one for the world.
00:19:43
Speaker
And they tie those wishes to their branches and then they bring them to the festival. So that was nice. And then I think they had all these like beautiful ants, like like the bug puppet things. And we also saw like ants like kind of around town too. And we were like, what's the ant have to do with it? Apparently nothing.
00:20:01
Speaker
So I think they pick a different animal every year that's like honored at the festival. And the one you went to the dance. Yeah. And so this year was ants. So it says, it says, the cat is out of the bag. No, the honored animal is not the cat. It is the ants.
00:20:18
Speaker
ants are a group of individuals who work together for the community to make their world a better place. So yeah, but so basically they so that was the ant thing. So there was like giant ants. And I was like, what's that? It's they just pick a different animal every year. And, and then they also host these like giant puppet making workshops, where they build these amazing puppets that will post pictures of I mean, they're astounding.
00:20:43
Speaker
And yeah, so that's like kind of the Rhinebeck version of this. And then you'll dig deeper. So, Cinta Claus is once again like the Dutch Santa Claus, basically. And the Feast of Cinta Claus, which is basically is on the name day of St. Nicholas, who was an actual saint. It was a Greek bishop.
00:21:12
Speaker
that was around from the year 270 to 343. So that's Wikipedia.
00:21:19
Speaker
Amazing. Yeah, and so and he, you know, he was set to have this like, you know, white hair, big, big full beard, but was also kind of like a serious looking dude, like kind of a serious man. And then he wore red. So he had like a cape and a white bishop thing, but instead of white, it was red. And yeah, and so that kind of like depiction of St. Nicholas is how we eventually got like our Americanized Santa Claus.
00:21:49
Speaker
Oh, I was listening to this one guy on YouTube. And he also had mentioned that Santa Claus, as we know it today, was sort of invented in New York. And that's because New York, which I guess was like, yeah, New York had like a very strong Dutch population. So I thought that was interesting as well. But anyways, that is
00:22:12
Speaker
So yeah, so they celebrate this on the 6th of December. St. Nicholas Eve is December 5th, so not, you know, the December 25th that we're used to. And he traditionally rides a white horse. And the Netherlands, the horse is called the Amerigo. And so we actually did see a horse in the festival that was like controlled by like three different puppeteers.
00:22:41
Speaker
And that was really cool. And then like it would like come over to each side of the parade and like you got kind of like almost touch it. And it was like very lifelike, very lifelike. So that was really cool. And then he carries a big red book, which says, which is like basically the good or bad or a good or naughty list of all the children. So that's Centerclaws. So Centerclaws has an assistant. And this is where it's gonna take a turn.
00:23:09
Speaker
The assistant's name is, I'm going to say this wrong, Duarte Pete, which is known as Black Pete. So in the Netherlands, this helper of centercloths is from Spain, but is black. And it's typically in the Netherlands shown in black phase.
00:23:33
Speaker
And I said, uh oh, so of course. Not good. Not good. So Google some images. And yeah, so in their center class celebrations for years and years and years and years, they had people in blackface playing this other character. So it was like center class and black Pete. And most and the other ones is mostly white people. So mostly white people did this blackface.
00:24:01
Speaker
And once like, I think it's like the, I think it really took until I'm sure, I'm sure there was controversy before, but in like the 2010s, all these articles started coming out, basically kind of being like, how is, how is the Netherlands still getting away with this festival? And
00:24:25
Speaker
And many people in the Netherlands didn't see it as racist. They saw it as a character. And many other people, and other people in the Netherlands too, as generations turn over, young people are usually like, hey, older generation.
00:24:44
Speaker
That's probably not cool. Not so good. Not so cool. And it's really, it's like also traditional. I don't, traditional is probably not the right word, but it's like the blackface that was part of vaudeville. So it's kind of this like, you also have like the red lipstick and like a wig. Like it's just like so horribly offensive.
00:25:07
Speaker
And yeah, and so this is this is really gone on for years and then they had tried to make some less racist looking versions. Oh, no. And and none of them were less racist looking. I mean, they all look racist like it's just like.
00:25:23
Speaker
You can't there. There's a quote in one of these articles. It's one in The Guardian that somebody says you can't reach a compromise of racism. Like there's no making it better. Yeah. Like you can't make it slightly less racist and still get away with it. Like it just is racist. Like there's not like a compromise you had there. Pictures are so bad. It's so bad. And honestly, I can't post them on the Instagram because
00:25:51
Speaker
I just don't feel comfortable sharing those images. No, because it's I mean, it's yeah, it's just horribly racist. Okay, so Black Pete, so he, let's see his his name first appeared as like this, actually, he didn't have a name at first in this book called gosh,
00:26:14
Speaker
Centercloths in Zen Knights, which is St. Nicholas and his servant, which was published in 1850 by an Amsterdam schoolteacher. But apparently the tradition of Centercloths having this assistant goes even further back. Black Pete is seen with
00:26:34
Speaker
colorful dress in the 16th century, noble attire. He's got like a lace collar and a feathered cap. He's typically carrying a bag that could taste candy for children, which he tosses around, which people did toss candy out of bags at this Rhinebeck festival, but nobody goes in blackface. I will tell you that for sure. Good. Good. I will also say Rhinebeck is also extraordinarily white. So that was like another layer to it after I looked at this up where it was like, it's like almost like a double yikes.
00:27:01
Speaker
Um, cause I'm very, I'm just very curious if the people they are under like nobody of this part of the history or not. Like maybe they do, maybe they don't. I don't, I truly don't know. But anyways, so yes. So, okay. So he has the candy bags and then he, oh, he also carries a birch rod and it's basically like a, a chimney sweeps broom.
00:27:28
Speaker
made of willow branches, and he used it to spank children that were naughty. So that's kind of the, and we're the Rhinebeck. The switches? The switches that they now call scepter.
00:27:43
Speaker
The kids get to play king and queen for a day instead of racist servant person. I don't know. It's so bad. It's so bad. I don't even know how to talk about it in a way that's not bad. It's so interesting. I know. It's just crazy that it's so prominently part of this festival that is not really about that at all, but it's just a main character.
00:28:07
Speaker
Absolutely. It's just yeah, absolutely. And yeah, and so I guess I don't know that I mean, that's most of the stuff I found about it. And I guess how I want to end this is it's this interesting thing because so many things I feel like that we still celebrate like traditions we still use and celebrate even in America.
00:28:31
Speaker
that have such dark histories, like even like Thanksgiving, right? Yes, totally. And it kind of like begs the question, is it better to change a tradition? Or is it better to like, you know, in modern day language, cancel it and leave it behind?
00:28:52
Speaker
is such a tricky thing because I mean, the Rhinebeck version and I think also somewhat, I mean, I don't know personally because I've not been to the Netherlands, but I do wonder if like they've also like changed and tried to update the festival. And it seems like Rhinebeck definitely has like there's some language on their website that like alludes to it having different meanings and original stories.
00:29:21
Speaker
But they're changing it and modernizing it. And I don't know. I don't know if that is OK or not. Yeah, I got the same thing kind of with Thanksgiving, where I'm like, is this? We're still celebrating it. And I enjoy it. And we talk about, at least in schools now, at least the schools I've worked in, there is discussion about,
00:29:48
Speaker
the the truth about you know how Native American people were treated and like Thanksgiving kind of having this dark under tone in it and so I'm like I'm like oh I wonder if like the kids in Rhinebeck where this festival is so prominent or having those kind of similar conversations where it's like yes there is dark histories here but we're kind of changing what it's about
00:30:15
Speaker
and keeping some of the tradition alive. I have no idea. So I don't know. It's a tricky thing. But I do agree. Nobody in the Netherlands or here should be going around and black faced for any kind of anything. So I mean, that's obvious to me. But yeah, but it's like, does that mean to cancel the whole thing? Or does it just need to change over time?
00:30:38
Speaker
I don't know. And that's always like such a, yeah, a tricky thing. Cause then it's like, probably if we go back, I don't know. There are a lot of holidays that I think have dark histories in some way. And it is, yeah, it is like, yeah, should we cancel it? Should we just come up with a new name and have the same sort of festival, but it's a brand new thing or what? It's very interesting. Or just change the parts that we, that no longer work in our society. Yeah. Yeah. Or offensive now or offensive. Yeah.
00:31:08
Speaker
Interesting. And his costume is so distinct. He's got a good look. Yeah. Mm-hmm. You mean center class? Mm-hmm. Yeah. Yeah, yeah. Center class. Lauren's eyes went wide.
00:31:25
Speaker
No, Sinterklaas has a good look. Yeah. The crimped beard I was reacting to. Oh, and I'll say this again, the festival that we went to ride back, it really felt so like earthy and witchy. Like there was so much about it that really felt very, I wish I could think of a word better than witchy, but that's just kind of how it felt to me. Like it, so that was interesting to me. So I don't know if that's just also like part of how they've changed it over time or not, but
00:31:54
Speaker
Yeah. Oh, well, very interesting center gloss.
Frau Perchta: The Christmas Witch
00:32:10
Speaker
I'm kind of doing something a little similar. I'm covering Frau Perchta, who's not as famous as Krampus, but is a similar kind of evil Christmas monster, I guess, witch is really what she is. She is a staple in southern Germany and Austria.
00:32:32
Speaker
Obviously, we don't talk about her as much in the US, but she is also known as Berchta or Bertha and has also been called, this I'm really going to mess up, Spins to Benfrow or Spinning Room Lady. Spinning Room Lady.
00:32:52
Speaker
Spinning room lady. Her name also, or I guess that probably like another translation is the bright one, but she's often shown as having a beaked nose made of iron, dressed in rags, sometimes carrying a cane and kind of looking just like an old woman.
00:33:10
Speaker
She also carries a long knife under her skirt, which I think we should just all be doing at this point. Honestly. Just right in like a garter. Or in the boot. That's so cool. In the boot. That's so cool. In the boot. But she, in many descriptions, this is hysterical. She has one large foot that is sometimes called a goose foot or a swan foot.
00:33:37
Speaker
Oh. And it's just like a sign of her being a higher nature. Is it bigger than the other foot?
00:33:44
Speaker
Yes. Oh. Like one big foot, one normal foot. Weird. Okay. Yes. And some people believe that it indicated that she was like a shapeshifter, having magic. She's also pretty similar to the Scandinavian goddess Frigga. And the focus for both of them is about like spinning or the spinning, you know, like a spinning wheel and the cleanliness of your home. I know this is kind of similar to other stories we've heard.
00:34:12
Speaker
So in some versions, it's like spinning wheel cleanliness. Some versions, it's more almost like Sam from Trick or Treat, where it's like making sure local customs are kept. Oh, yeah. Yeah, which I think is cool. And oh, and her Bigfoot too is like representative of like, you know, I mean,
00:34:32
Speaker
I was about to act like you had ever sat at a spinning wheel or that I had, but there's like a pedal, like a sewing machine almost. So the big. I've seen Sleeping Beauty. I've seen Sleeping Beauty yet. Exactly. Exactly.
00:34:47
Speaker
Legend has it that you had to get your flax spun, all of your flax spun by the 12th night of Christmas, which is January 6th, for when Christmas season was over. And you also had to leave out a bowl of porridge for her. And also kind of similar to Santa, she would also know which children of the household had behaved well and worked hard all year.
00:35:14
Speaker
And so if you did these things, if your flax was spun, if your house was clean, you left a bowl of porridge out, if you were good all year, then you might have a silver coin.
00:35:25
Speaker
in your shoe or in a pail when you woke up. Similar to, I don't know, did you ever do St. Nicholas? That was like a thing sort of in our Catholic tradition weirdly of like leaving your shoes out. Yeah. Yeah. We did that in my house because we're Latino, but the January 6th, but we call it Three Kings. The Three Kings come and leave presents for the baby Jesus. Yeah. Yes. Exactly. So what is the punishment if you haven't done those things?
00:35:51
Speaker
So there are tales in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland of her trampling and even setting fire to your like not finished threads basically. And if your house is a mess or if you didn't leave out the porridge,
00:36:05
Speaker
It will extend beyond your spinning room. So she might come into your bedroom and get ready for this. Disembowel you and replace your guts with rocks and straw. Oh, so she's pissed. I think it's hilarious that we told these stories to children.
00:36:29
Speaker
Yeah, yeah, she's gonna cut it's like if your room's not clean, and you forget the porridge, she's gonna disembowel you. And then you have to explain to the child what the child what that means. Yeah, yeah, she's gonna rock your insides out. I mean, it's so it's so crazy. But also, if a child was found to be a liar, Frau Perchta would scrape out his eyes with glass.
00:36:53
Speaker
That's so brutal. It's very dark. Or she might even throw a child in her sack and cart them away with their legs dangling outside of the bag as a warning to other children about what could happen to you. They must have earned it. Yeah, exactly. So moral of the story, don't mess with her. There is one story where she intrudes on a wedding reception that she wasn't invited to, very similar to Maleficent and Sleeping Beauty, just as you clocked already.
00:37:24
Speaker
So she like curses the bride and groom and the whole wedding party by transforming them into wolves, which I just love. Wait, so is this? Oh, is this is this so related to Sleeping Beauty?
00:37:38
Speaker
I don't know that it's the basis of, I think Sleeping Beauty existed separately, but it might be inspired. Yeah, I think it could be inspired by her. I guess that is kind of a, again, I don't know, now I'm just speaking out of turn. I don't know the historical correctness of any of this, but I feel like that's what happens in Hercules too. Hades isn't invited to the baptisms versus Hercules or the birth or whatever.
00:38:05
Speaker
So maybe, I don't know, it could definitely be inspired. The spinning wheel feels like it has to be related. Or maybe it's just what part of the world did you say this is?
00:38:15
Speaker
Austria and Germany. Maybe it's just similar parts of the world, so it's just a lot of crossover. They all just be spinning. They'd be spinning. Other legends equate her with the legend of the wild hunt, which is very cool, like a very cool legend thing where basically she flies through the night sky attended by an army of lost souls.
00:38:42
Speaker
And it's like her army of servants pretty much looks like Krampus, like it's just like this crazy witch leading this group of Krampus looking things. And so it's interesting because the way, like Krampus and Frau Perchta do kind of exist in the same stories sort of. So Krampus is Saint Nicholas Eve and Perchta is more towards epiphany time as we kind of talked about. And they're also known as Birkdal Knights or Knocking Knights.
00:39:11
Speaker
And also among her army are the souls of unbaptized children. So just imagine flying evil children. Okay, I'm not gonna lie. This lady sounds kind of cool. Honestly, shall we change this to the Frau Perch to podcast? Yes, yes.
00:39:36
Speaker
She is very cool. One of her other names is Hall, and that's like a winter goddess, which makes sense, you know, kind of related to the epiphany. And like the star of Bethlehem, the Hall translates to shining or bright.
00:39:54
Speaker
It does exist in some stories where there's the evil or ugly Perchta, and then the pretty Perchta version where she's a beautiful goddess. There are lots of stories where she exists in both of those forms. First off, there are Perchtan ceremonies that take place, like celebrating her sort of, that are mostly held for Taurus. It doesn't seem like it's
00:40:20
Speaker
as much like part of the real tradition or culture anymore. It seems more tourist focused, but she's often mistaken to be Krampus' wife, but it's not true.
Frau Perchta in Modern Media
00:40:32
Speaker
She's got her own stuff going on clearly. She's like, we just dated, okay? It was one time. I'm sorry, I'm so annoying right now. No, I love it. But if you want to learn more about her, she does appear in the horror film Mother Krampus.
00:40:50
Speaker
Wait, hold on. It's based on the myth of Frau Perchta, a witch that comes on the 12 days of Christmas taking a child each night. Oh, this is like a, yeah. Interesting. Taking a child each night. It was so funny. Beautiful. Heart forming. Hallmark. It has 3.2 out of 10 on IMDb, but there is a sequel. Nice.
00:41:16
Speaker
You can learn more there, but that's pretty much Frau Perchda. I thought she was another cool, yeah. I was trying to see if we had done- Oh, it is cool. I haven't heard of that. I know we didn't do Christmas episodes last year because I was trying to find witchy Christmas things. I was like, there's no way we haven't done her, but we hadn't. Yeah, no, that's awesome. I've never heard of her. She sounds like a badass. Yeah, I'm going to find some pics. I'll find some good pics for the Instagram.
00:41:43
Speaker
Yeah, with her one big foot. And her fleet of flying. Well, thank you all for listening. We hope you have the merriest Christmas. Yeah, it's funny because I'm like, jeez, like this is both of our stories were so
00:42:09
Speaker
like dark. And then I'm like, Oh, right. I guess that's just what the podcast is. And we just have to be talking about Christmas so that it makes sense. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Minister things. Minister Christmas. Okay, y'all. We hope you have some sweet, sweet nightmares. Bye. Did you say it with us? Brian, did you say it? Okay, bye.