Perchtenlauf or Krampus
Perchten or Krampus/Krampal are scary hairy animal-like creatures that are decorated with cowbells to make as much noise as possible. Back in the day, they would go through the village at the beginning of winter, accompanied by Santa Claus, to chase the evil spirits out of town. These days, they come with whips made of thin branches or rough hair, which they use to beat "the evil" out of people or to punish them. Larger Perchtenlaufs are fenced in, but smaller ones usually aren't. So the Perchten run through the people and then just pick out the ones they want to beat. :)This may sound very violent, and it actually is, but you know what to expect when you want to go to one. In some sort of way, Perchten are just scary armed furries who may be drunk, so there is no reason to worry :,)
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