Speaker 1: Welcome to Stuff to Blow Your Mind, a production of iHeartRadio. Hi,
Speaker 1: my name is Robert Lamman. This is the Monster Fact,
Speaker 1: a short form series from Stuff to Blow Your Mind,
Speaker 1: focusing on mythical creatures, ideas, and monsters and time. Today
Speaker 1: is New Year's Eve, of course, or as it's known
Speaker 1: in many Western Christian traditions, Saint Sylvester's Day or the
Speaker 1: Feast of Saint Sylvester, or simply Sylvester the day's namesake.
Speaker 1: Pope Sylvester the First was an historic fourth century individual
Speaker 1: and Bishop of Rome, but much legend was later attributed
Speaker 1: to him during the Middle Ages, including the idea that
Speaker 1: he converted Emperor Constantine and cured him of leprosy, as
Speaker 1: Alexander Reinsteiner discusses in an excellent post for the Switzerland
Speaker 1: National Museum's blog titled Sylvester Klaus. Both beautiful and ugly
Speaker 1: residents of the Swiss Canton of Upinstel also rode in
Speaker 1: celebrate Saint Sylvester's Day with a mummers parade. The costume
Speaker 1: marchers in this parade are the Klausa, and they come
Speaker 1: in three different varieties. First, there are the beautiful Klausa
Speaker 1: with costumes consisting of traditional breeches or skirts, doll like masks,
Speaker 1: and elaborate glass be decorated headdresses, some of which resemble
Speaker 1: dioramas of traditional alpine life. They're really spectacular. Throw in
Speaker 1: some giant bells for good measure and you're ready to go. Next,
Speaker 1: we have their opposite, the monstrous ugly Klausa, featuring fearsome
Speaker 1: monster masks and bodies made of hay, straw, moss or
Speaker 1: fir tree trimmings, snarling wild faces, and elements of the
Speaker 1: wilderness itself made manifest in this humanoid form. Again, throw
Speaker 1: in some giant bells and you're good to go. Finally,
Speaker 1: we have the pretty ugly Klausum. By pretty ugly, they
Speaker 1: don't mean fairly ugly or even more ugly, but rather
Speaker 1: a little bit of the beautiful and a little bit
Speaker 1: of the ugly. So while they may boast bodies of
Speaker 1: moss or straw, their masks are typically more neutral stoic.
Speaker 1: Even also giant bells, and with all Klausa bells of
Speaker 1: any size. Really the bells are key, you see, because
Speaker 1: the Klausa, grouped by tight make their way around town
Speaker 1: and announce their presence at a given house by jumping
Speaker 1: around and ringing their many bells. When the occupants of
Speaker 1: the house open the door, the klauso wish them a
Speaker 1: great new year ahead and accept gifts of cash and drink,
Speaker 1: the ladder of which they take through long straws due
Speaker 1: to their elaborate masks, then onto the next house. Now,
Speaker 1: some of you might be wondering about the Klaus and
Speaker 1: klausum as that suggests there is a connection here to
Speaker 1: Christmas traditions. As Reichsteiner explains, the practice ultimately stems from
Speaker 1: pre Christian pagan traditions, but then comes to coalesce around
Speaker 1: Christmas during the Christian era, at least until a moral
Speaker 1: mandate issued by the Protestant Reformed Church in sixteen sixty
Speaker 1: three banned activities surrounding Saint Nicholas. Rather than stopping these
Speaker 1: traditions outright, they apparently shifted to the new year and
Speaker 1: a new Saint, though they focus less on the actual
Speaker 1: saint and more on archaic of folksy traditions so less
Speaker 1: overtly Catholic imagery, and Reinsteiner writes that by the early
Speaker 1: nineteenth century these customs had fully shifted. He also points
Speaker 1: out the Traditions such as these, involving bells and mild
Speaker 1: noises to drive out the old year and bring in
Speaker 1: a freshman, can be found throughout the world, including for instance,
Speaker 1: in Chinese traditions, which we've discussed on the show before.
Speaker 1: Do check Reinsteiner's blog post for more information about the
Speaker 1: Sylvester Klausa. He has some excellent photographs on there as well.
Speaker 1: I also recommend the beautifully illustrated book Festival Folk, An
Speaker 1: Atlass of Carnival Customs and Costumes by Rob Flowers, which
Speaker 1: includes a few pages on the Sylvestia Klausa, in addition
Speaker 1: to various international mask and costume traditions. So, whether you're
Speaker 1: celebrating Saint Sylvester's Day today, or you're waiting for old
Speaker 1: New Year's Eve on January thirteenth, or you're saying to
Speaker 1: heck with it, I'm just gonna wait on Lunar New
Speaker 1: Year fair enough. Whenever you plan to leap into twenty
Speaker 1: twenty six, I just want to issh you a great
Speaker 1: new year ahead, full of life, happiness, curiosity, and maybe
Speaker 1: a few monsters. Tune in for additional episodes of The
Speaker 1: Monster Fact, The Artifact or Animalius stupendium each week. As always,
Speaker 1: you can email us at contact that's Stuff to Blow
Speaker 1: Your Mind dot com. Stuff to Blow Your Mind is
Speaker 1: production of iHeartRadio. For more podcasts from my heart Radio,
Speaker 1: visit the iHeartRadio app Apple Podcasts wherever you listen to
Speaker 1: your favorite shows.