This is a big drunk Bavarian party where their sick and twisted idea of St. Nick is this guy who looks more like the pope, and he leads a large pack of scary looking demons (who are actually drunk Bavarian neanderthals in disguise, and I'm not sure what's scarier) into town. They carry really painful whips made of tree switches and proceed to beat the sins out of anybody they catch, men, women, children, even poodles, so that they are good enough for St. Nick to bless them on Christmas day. It is a savage, brutal festival, and it is some of the most fun I've ever had in my life. It would never fly in the States, because Americans are whiny sue-happy milquetoasts when it comes to real fun.