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Picture of the Pennsylvania Dutch version of the Belsnickel, taken in the 1950s at an event near Philadelphia.

Belsnickel (also Belschnickel, Belznickle, Belznickel, Pelznikel, Pelznickel, from pelzen (or belzen, German for to wallop or to drub^[1]) and Nickel being a hypocorism of the given name Nikolaus) is a fur-clad Christmas gift-bringer figure in the folklore of Palatinate region of southwestern Germany along the Rhine, the Saarland, and the Odenwald region of Baden-Württemberg. The figure is also preserved in Pennsylvania Dutch communities.

Belsnickel is a man wearing fur which covers his entire body, and he sometimes wears a mask with a long tongue. He is related to other companions of Saint Nicholas in the folklore of German-speaking Europe. But unlike these figures, Belsnickel does not accompany Saint Nicholas, he rather visits alone and combines both the scary or threatening and the benign aspect which in other traditions are divided between the Saint Nicholas and the companion figure.

Challenge: Belsnickle does not sport a mask with a long tongue. While he may wear a mask when youths from Nova Scotia to Appalachia used to "belsnickle" in costume, he remains a more St. Nicholas appearing figure.

Krampus and Belsnickle are two separate Christmas characters. Krampus is a wild, horned demon akin to the devil. His name translates to “claw”. Belsnickle never had a tongue that hangs out, only Krampus. “In Germany, there is a strange old gnome called Belsnickle or Pelsnickle meaning ‘Nicholas dressed in fur,’” from "Christmas Around the House," by Florence H. Pettit (she connects the Pelz with fur in stead of the German verb "pelzen" or "belzen").

There are two versions of Belsnickle, the rural and the urban characters. Both are described in the book, Christmas in Pennsylvania: a folk cultural study, by Alfred L. Shoemaker and Don Yoder.

Krampus is a black devil who according to Austrian legend comes to check up on children on St. Nicholas Day on December 6. Threatening to carry them away to the underworld. Chain wearing, pointed red tongue, clanking in the night. Krampus served as Santa’s forerunner, or St. Nicholas in the Old World, who was to scare kids straight. His claws meant he could grab children and stuff them in his sack to take back to hell. However, since Krampus was an assistant to St. Nicholas, that meant that “evil bows before good” and the gentle saint “had the power to send him back to hell”, according to Austrian ethnologist Ulrike Kammerhofer-Aggermann quoted in National Geographic magazine.

Belnsickle, on the other hand, dressed in furs and was very human, save for his short stature. He may have been a fur trapper, a hermit, or a very tall elf or tomten as the little people were called in the Scandinavian countries. His folk tale was passed down to generations of Germans who immigrated to America, primarily to Pennsylvania (the Pennsylvania Dutch/Deutsche).

See also[link]

• Black Peter
• Le Père Fouettard

External links[link]

• http://www.registerguard.com/web/opinion/27354004-47/belznickle-christmas-rural-santa-visit.html.csp