The wild hoard of horned & masked figures who run through the streets of Austria during the Perchtenlauf or Frau Perch festival at New Year are the Schiechpercht. Like the satyrs of ancient Greece, or their more recent successors, the Callicantzari, the
alpine Schiechpercht are the wild beasts of misrule. They are covered with long hair & are fearsome, fanged, masked with 2 great horns, & rush through the streets with birch twigs in their hands to cleanse
the earth, both at the end of the year
as well as during the Shrovetide carnival.
Caption this Meme
