Perchten Hexentanz (The Perchten Witch Dance)

I've been looking for inspiration for more characters in my May Parade series of sculptures. I already knew about Krampusnacht and, indeed, the night of the Krampus has just passed us by. But today I discovered the Austrian Perchten Haxentanz and it's amazing!

Perchta or Berchta ('Bertha'), also commonly known as Percht and other variations, was once known as a goddess in Alpine paganism in the Upper German and also Austrian and Slovenian regions of the Alps. Perchta is often identified as stemming from the same Germanic goddess as Holda and other female figures of Germanic folklore. 

According to Jacob Grimm and Lotte Motz, Perchta is Holda's southern cousin or equivalent, as they both share the role of 'guardian of the beasts' and appear during the Twelve Days of Christmas, when they oversee spinning. Grimm says Perchta was known precisely in those Upper German regions where Holda leaves off, in Swabia, in Alsace, in Switzerland, in Bavaria and Austria'. 

Perchtenlaufen (Parade of the Perchten) is a folk custom that involves two groups of locals marching to drums and horns and fighting against one another using wooden canes and sticks. Both groups are masked, one as 'beautiful' and the other as 'ugly'. People masquerade as a devilish figure known as Percht, a two-legged humanoid goat with a giraffe-like neck, wearing animal furs.

It makes Morris Dancing look a trifle tame doesn't it?

It does make we want to create a sculpt loosley based on the costumes though ...