by admin | Dec 6, 2023 | Santa Through History
This painting by Franz Xaver von Paumgartten, commissioned by an Austrian family in 1820, shows St. Nicholas with the family while Krampus, true to form, stands silently behind him. The evil helpers of St. Nicholas–Klaubauf, Cert, Houseker, Hans Trapp,...
by admin | Dec 6, 2023 | Uncategorized
In the Story of Belsnickle, Part I, I explained how Belsnickle could be the American version of the German gift-giver Pelsnickel, a seasonal activity patterned after guising, mumming and caroling, or a person (a “Belsnickler”) engaged in the seasonal fun of...
by admin | Dec 6, 2023 | Santa Through History, Uncategorized
For those of you to whom the title of this post sounds vaguely familiar, it’s a variation of “How Can You Be in Two Places at Once Where You’re Not Anywhere at All,” the title of a 1969 album by an improvisational comedy troupe, The Firesign Theatre. It fits St....
by admin | Dec 6, 2023 | Santa Through History
Rodney Dangerfield was an American stand-up comedian who began telling jokes in 1938 at age 17, quit the business in the 1950s to become an aluminum siding salesman (seriously), and returned to comedy in the 1970s where he finally hit it big on the late-night talk...
