He's a sort of "anti-Claus" from the Palatinate region of Germany, along the Rhine (boy Germans really do a lot bad Christmas dudes!); it is, these days, mostly a figure found in so called "Pennsylvania Dutch" communities--who are not Dutch at all, but German in ancestry. It also is a figure found in Indiana amongst southern German immigrant families. There are several variations of his name--but they all relate to being a kind bad version of Saint Nicholas. This guy is a mixed bag--literally--with a nice bag of candy in one hand and a nasty homemade bale of switches in the other. Well, we all know that he's going to give those kids who have been good the candy. But those naughty kids, yeah, they get the switch! See postcard below, to see how far they are willing to go to get a "good switching" in! These days, a dude dressed up as Belsnickel, shows up at schools, churches and other gatherings with kids--the switch--thankfully, is only used to bang on furniture and wave and wiggle about. All the kids assembled get the candy. Some Germans equate him with Krampus; and we all know how nasty he is!! This dude has even got his own Wikipedia page!
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