The Austrian National Library has merit.

 Österreichische Nationalbibliothek by Feemail.

Merry Christmas from Austria!

He’s incredibly ugly. He carries a stick to frighten naughty childen in the Yuletide season. And as if all that weren’t bad enough, his name is Krampusz (from the old German krampen: “claw”).

Meet Austria’s resident seven-foot tall Christmas mascot. Krampusz looks a little bit like Pan’s rougher cousin after a bacchanalian bender. As explained by Der Spiegel, starting on December 5, the longstanding tradition was for folks to dress up as Krampusz and then go around the neighborhood knocking on doors. If children answered, the faux-Krampuszs would brandish switches, ring cowbells, and basically make the kids REALLY look forward to the arrival of Saint Nicholas.

This frightening routine was well-established before the Inquisition, which began in the 13th century. The threat of torture and execution was enough to get the Austrians to lay off the Krampusz fun/heresy for a few centuries, but the hairy fellow made a comeback in the 1600s, and he's stuck around ever since.

The town of Schladming is the epicenter of the Krampusz society. It holds a parade with over a thousand Krampuszs that includes lots of revelry and cowbells (yes!). As they say in Austria: Krampusz gerne Partei. ("Krampusz likes to party.") Check a Krampusz enthusiasts' site (auf Deutsch) here. (And if you hear cowbells on the 5th, don't answer your door.)

When Houses Attack

My canon aside, I know no more about architecture than the next interested layperson. (Hey, did you see that? I wrote “My canon aside.” I promise not to do that again.)


But I do have a soft spot for novelty architecture. We don’t have that many “Gee whiz!” buildings in the Pacific Northwest (left, Portland's Jug, below, Tacoma’s ramshackle Bob’s Java Jive), but luckily there are sites like Unusual Architecture.com.

For instance, the so-called "House Attack" from Vienna Austria (top, photo by Dom Dada) does the trick. While Unusual Architecture could be better annotated, the photo credits (and/or the Flickr groups the photos are in) usually lead to more brass tacks information on the buildings.
Above, the non-Photoshopped Crooked House of Sopot, Poland. (Photo by brocha.) Buildings with designs as freakish and original as these virtually force the onlooker to point at them while saying something clever like, “Look!” (Also acceptable: "Dude, that's so weird" and "I probably shouldn't have eaten that whole kielbasa.")

While it may not literally tower over these other buildings, Kansas City Library’s design is impossible to top. Photo by Jonathan Moreau. (Also of interest: Unusual Life.)