Some traditions just don’t translate well from one culture to another. You take these guys in Germany. They go from house to house at Christmas, ringing cowbells and making frightening noises, and I’ll tell you, nobody’s going to mistake them for Snoopy or Hello Kitty.
The photo captions say they bring ”punishment for the idle.” I thought that was the job of the local unemployment compensation office, and I’m not sure I would want a bunch of guys who look like they found a back door out of hell to be the ones deciding if the children in my town have been busy enough lately.
Maybe you should give your kids a look at this slideshow, and see whether ”visions of sugar-plums” dance in their heads.
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Man dressed as Saint Nicholas and people in Bavarian attire known as “Buttenmandl” and “Krampusse” march in German town of Maria Gern, December 24, 2007. They bring luck to the good and punishment for the idle. REUTERS/ Michael Dalder
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Franco Zefferelli had told him he had to update his image, but His Holiness still wasn’t sure that a tour with Lordi was the best way to do it.
- Posted by CharleneIt’s “The Omen” meets “The Seventh Seal!” We’ll make a fortune!
- Posted by John C AbellKris Kringel meets the Howling
- Posted by Lady WeaselBut isn’t The Omen your all-time least favorite movie on earth? Or was that Omen II or III or VIII?
- Posted by Robert BaslerBob, I’m hurt. You know it’s “Ordinary People.” Beats out “Police Academy VI” by a hair.
- Posted by John C AbellNo, I’m sure there was some thing about a press screening of one of the Omen movies….
- Posted by Robert BaslerI think it’s an adequate comparison. The Macy’s Thanksgiving day parade coverage was ugly.
- Posted by J Faber“Buttenmandl” and “Krampusse” are Christmas imps? There goes my seventh German 101 final in a row. See you in the Spring, Hair Shmitdh.
- Posted by Shawn HendricksI know who the top guy is. You can take off your mask! I’d recognize your comb-over anywhere, “the Donald.”
- Posted by Shawn HendricksCertain members of the American clergy may have made pathetic sexual choices but those Germans are just plain FREAKY!
- Posted by Shawn HendricksDidn’t those guys win the MTV Europe Video Awards last year?
- Posted by Shawn HendricksRunning through the snow
With monsters to my rear
O’er the drifts I flee
Gib’rin all the way.
Pocket change makes noise
Quickly, throw it high.
Terrified, I run away
From bacchelors in disguise.
Oh, Buttenmandl Krampusse
Chase me all the way,
‘Monsters’ who want me to die
- Posted by Shawn HendricksNick laughing all the way.