Santa’s Little Helpers

While we’ve all heard of Santa Claus' elves in the North Pole, his other "helpers/partners" from other European legends seem far more interesting.

In the Netherlands, Sinterklaas' helper is Zwarte Piet (roughly translates as Black Pete). As the name suggests, he's a dark-skinned man who goes with Sinterklaas on his December visits to children. The good children are rewarded with fruits and gifts by Sinterklaas. Zwarte Piet would beat bad children with a birch rod, put them in a sack, and take them to Spain. Apparently, this was meant to feed off the fears of the common occurence of being abducted and sold by slave traders coming from the Islamic-ruled Iberian peninsula between the 8th and 15th centuries.

The Northern French / Southern Belgian variation is Père Fouettard (whipping father). He would accompany Père Noël (Father Christmas) on those Christmas visits. As the name suggests, Père Fouettard would deliver corporal punishment to misbehaving children using a whip. He was very much an anti-Santa, wearing dark robes, having unkempt hair and beard, and carrying a wicker backpack used to carry bad children away.

My favourite of these "punishers" would have to be Krampus. Krampus was a creature from pre-Christian, European Alpine legends that eventually got co-opted as Saint Nicholas' counterpart. He was either black or dark brown, hairy, horned, had long sharp fangs and cloven hoofs. He carried a whip or a bundle of birch branches that would be used to beat bad children. He also used a sack or a basket to carry off these kids so he could either drown them, eat them, or take them to hell.
Later versions would be a bit tamer. While Saint Nicholas dispensed gifts to the good kids, Krampus would simply scare the bad kids, give them coal and beat them.

So this Christmas, forget about that Elf on a Shelf to control your kids' behaviour. Tell your kids about these "Santa helpers", and maybe you'll get better results