Bavarian monsters scare away winter blues

Strange monsters could be seen roaming the Bavarian countryside, wearing grotesque masks and bulky, shaggy costumes.

As the shortest day of the year approaches, the "Perchten" monsters are unleashed to ward off winter's darkness and reawaken nature with loud stamping and chanting and flaming torches.

In Saturday's procession near the upper Bavarian town of Kirchseeon, the monsters were joined by "Schoen Perchten", which look more like people.

According to Kirchseeon's Perchten society, they symbolise light and the coming year, playing drums and clad in helmets with musical and fertility symbols or defensive talisman like pentagrams.

Another common costume is a mask depicting the two-faced goddess Perchta, with one side a devil and the other the longed-for sun.

They might look terrifying, but the leader of Kirchseeon's Perchten society assured that they bring luck, and are nothing like the scary half-demon, half-goat Krampus, who accompanies Saint Nicholas to punish - and sometimes even kidnap - naughty children.

Perchten parades are a centuries-old tradition across the Alpine regions of southern Germany and Austria.

(Source: Reuters)

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