The folklore varies considerably, as folklore does. Generally speaking, any child born during the Twelve Days of Christmas were believed cursed for daring to be born at the same time as Jesus Christ. If special measures were not taken, such as wrapping the babe in garlic and scorching their toes in a fire (!), the cursed would transform into a callicantzaros after death.
The callicantzari appear as with human and animal features, such as claws, glowing eyes, shaggy fur and large ears. Their size may vary, as some are imps who ride on chicken steeds. They are typically conflated with other vampires, werewolves, fairies, goblins, and similar creatures.
Supposedly the callicantzari cannot visit Earth except during the Twelve Days of Christmas, and even then their activities are confined to the night. Most of the year they in a netherworld beneath the earth and saw at the World Tree. During the Twelve Days of Christmas, they cease their toil and visit Earth to make mischief. They wreak all sorts of havoc similar to other fairies like pucks and gremlins and poltergeists, such as spoiling food, extinguishing hearth fires, moving furniture, and riding people to exhaustion. Some of them can be quite violent, viciously butchering its mortal family and then anyone else it comes across. When the holiday ends, they return to their netherworld to discover that the World Tree regenerated while they were gone and start their work all over again.
Sometimes the callicantzari may abduct women to their netherworld and beget children on them, which are callicantzari like their father. In contrast to their violent murders and abductions, the callicantzari see to their parental duties when they are not sawing the world tree or terrorizing mortals.
Given their often goatish appearance and their connection to Christmas, they are comparable to the stories of Krampus.
More information may be found in the plentiful research links below.
Beautiful centaurs in gaming
Callicantzari have appeared rarely in fantasy gaming, and bear similarities to beastmen.In earlier editions D&D once tried to use it a category for various monsters. Dragon #158 stated: "Callicantzari (singular: callicantzaros) is a name most often used to describe centaurs, but it may also be used in naming forlarren, hybsil, korreds, satyrs, lamia, and wemics." An undead monster by the name appeared in Dragon #138 and was later converted to 3.x.
The callicantzaros appears in Bastion Press' Out for Blood, a diverse bestiary of vampires based on folklore. It takes cues from the folklore, being a mutated freak born on a holiday who becomes a vampire after death. They are stated to be abandoned by their parents to the wilderness and miraculous survive as feral children.
In terms of being children born cursed with animal features, the callicantzari are similar to the Broo of RuneQuest's Glorantha setting and the Beastmen of Warhammer Fantasy (who were based on the former). They are sometimes born to normal parents and abandoned in the wilds, but are also known to abduct victims for reproduction.
Research links
- http://archive.spectator.co.uk/article/20th-august-1910/17/the-callicantzari
- http://encyclopedia2.thefreedictionary.com/Kallikantzari
- http://greekerthanthegreeks.blogspot.com/2014/12/greek-christmas-customs-traditions.html
- http://thedemoniacal.blogspot.com/2009/06/callicantzaros.html
- http://vampireunderworld.com/greek-and-roman-vampires/callicantzaros/
- https://web.archive.org/web/20180817003053/http://vampmyth.com/122/67/990562.html
- https://web.archive.org/web/20170327112707/http://vampmyth.com/122/75/990738.html
- http://www.daimonologia.org/2015/12/kallikantzaroi-christmas-goblins-of.html
- http://www.sacred-texts.com/goth/vkk/vkk05.htm
- http://www.unicorngarden.com/vamp3.htm
- https://archive.org/details/EncyclopediaOfVampireMythologypdf/page/n49
- https://archive.org/details/EncyclopediaOfVampireMythologypdf/page/n89
- https://archive.org/stream/TheWerewolfInLoreAndLegend/The+Werewolf+in+Lore+and+Legend_djvu.txt
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kallikantzaros
- https://everything2.com/title/Callicantzaros
- https://teresawilde.wordpress.com/2009/09/19/the-greeks-sure-love-their-vampires-part-2-callicantzaros/
- https://www.deliriumsrealm.com/callicantzaros/
- https://www.jstor.org/stable/261531?seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents
- https://www.pearsecom.co.uk/sarahjane/54unbapt.htm
- https://theghostdiaries.com/the-5-most-terrifying-krampus-legends-from-around-the-world/
- http://taliesinttlg.blogspot.com/2019/04/the-field-guide-to-evil-review.html
- https://beastiology.wordpress.com/tag/callicantzari/
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