Krampus, a terrifying companion to St Nicholas, is seen in an age-old Austrian procession to mark the start of Advent. In Hungary, there are two key Christmas figures: there is Mikulás (St. Nick) and Krampusz. St. Nick is a nice-ish tall thin guy who dresses in either red or white and gives out candies or presents. He also has a sidekick named Krampusz who punishes bad children by beating them or taking them away. It's interesting to see that Hungarians have not done away with punishing badness completely as has been done in North America. Also, it's still possible to suggest in public that a bad child might get beaten (or taken away) which, as we know, is not possible here.
Wikipedia, that great source of speculation, has a page on the Companions of Saint Nicholas all of whom appear to pre-date eastern Alpine Christianity.
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