Krampus in Hallstatt

There is a Christmas ritual in Austria called something like Krampus, where mostly little children dress in devilish garb, run around town ringing cowbells and switching the legs with real cane switches of anyone they meet.

That happened to me on Dec. 1st when we arrived at Hallstatt, a beautiful Austrian town on the way to Vienna.

The little brat, or one of them, did it again about 20 min later, and I gave the little brat a thorough verbal thrashing.

“It” stood stock still, no doubt paralyzed with shock that an old woman was giving it a harsh lecture in very loud English.

Ok…traditions are one thing, but to (more or less) assault tourists is another. This happened to others in the square. Makes one wonder about the parents of these little brats.