Nuuttipukki masks (1850-1895 & 1975)

Mari Lwyd and Nuuttipukki. We're a pretty good team, I think. Give us your booze.

Before Santa Claus became the gift giver, kids in Finland received gifts from Nuuttipukki horned goat-man monster. His legacy lives in Finland as Santa Claus in Finnish is called Joulupukki - Christmas Goat - and straw goats are traditional Christmas decorations. Traditional straw decorations and a horned Nuuttipukki Christmas monsters in Kuopion Korttelimuseo Museum, Kuopio, Finland.

Nuuttipukki, Part 1.

It's that time of year again... The Merry Macabre world of Mister Sam Shearon's CREEPY CHRISTMAS is now available as 40 different greeting card designs available across three packs with red envelopes! *Buying all three sets together saves you 13% *You'll also receive the extra exclusive card 'NISSE' when you purchase all three sets together! *ALL CARDS AND PRINTS ONLY AVAILABLE UNTIL DEC 5TH! See website for more detail and info on each creature and character! https://mistersamshearon.bigcartel.com/category/mister-sam-shearon-s-creepy-christmas *Store linked in bio! Turn on your notifications to see the upcoming posts of all 40 creatures and characters! Share and tag far and wide! ❄ #MisterSamShearon #creepychristmas #mistersamshearoncreepychristmas #creepy #christmas #winter #belsnickel #krampus #santa #snow #winterwonderland #nuuttipukki #deckthehalls #santaclaws #holiday #season #greetingcards #cards #christmastime (at Los Angeles, California) https://www.instagram.com/p/ClMdEeFSgNS/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

I just learned about Nuuttipukki. According to wikipedia he demands food, leftover alcoholic beverages, and will cause chaos in the house unless he receives salary from the host. <- that's tiny Cornpea Kä with horns!!

uhoh i think it wouldn't take a lot of alcohol for him to lose his little corn mind 😦 and i don't want to think about how much chaos he would then cause!

Ironically it's the terrifying deity who restores the balance from too much eggnog to "git back ta work!" in Finland.

I recently stumbled upon the Instagram/Tumblr account of "Mister Sam Shearon", a macabre photo-realistic artist who is known to have recently illustrated various books about monsters and supernatural beings from the folklore of various USA states.

He notably did for (two Christmases in a row apparently?) a series of creepy Christmas cards called "Merry Macabre"

Some are actual creepy folkloric creatures and legendary monsters from Christmas beliefs. Such as the Nuuttipukki...

... the Belsnickel...

... or the Schnabelperchten:

Other times he simply took regular Christmas figures and made them creepier, from the Ghosts of A Christmas Carol...

To "Santa Claws".

But the reason I make a post about this is because he also did his version of Andersen's Snow Queen, which you can check here if you want:

Vintage photos of Nuttipukki, the Finnish Yule Goat.

Joulukalenteri - luukku 21

Joulupukki

In Finnish Santa Claus is called Joulupukki, literally Christmas (male) goat. What's up with that?

The name joulupukki comes from an old tradition of young men dressing up in goat skin and horns after christmas and wandering from house to house asking for christmas leftovers like food or beer. This tradition is called nuuttipukki (the last day of joulu/yule time in the pagan calendar is called Nuutinpäivä) and they did not bring presents of any kind. The tradition of a present giving christmas figure from central Europe probably got mixed up with the traditional Finnish nuuttipukki with time, and the idea of an old man giving gifts became an important part of Finnish christmas traditions too. However, the name pukki (goat) never left.

The red look of Joulupukki is also considerably new. Up until 1960s at least, the most common Santa in Finland still had heavy elements from the look of nuuttipukki with a goat-skin-like clothes and toned down colour palette. Nowadays joulupukki is most often pretty similar to the red Coca-Cola Santa from USA with a sprinkle of tonttu tradition in it too.

Source: https://www.kirjastot.fi/kysy/mista-nimitys-joulupukki-on-tullut

”Hyvä Tuomas joulun tuopi, paha Nuutti pois sen viepi”

Kamera kiertää (12.1.1970)

fixing up my nuuttipukki costume for the dark market this weekend, fluffing up the shoulders with some intentionally badly spun yarn, touching up the paint on the mask, and trying to decide how many pounds of bells i can attach to the belt before i can't walk in it XD

Moor Lake by Nuuttipukki Via Flickr: Saaremaa, Estonia

Nuuttipukki, part II.

Nuuttipukki

NUUTTIPUKKI (Finland): These evil spirits go from door-to-door demanding left over Yule food, punishing those who don't provide. On St Knut's Day, 13th Jan., people dressed in furs and horns carry this tradition on by taking on the role of the nuuttipukki.