Every comic book hero worth his salt has an archenemy. Batman has the Joker, James Bond has Dr. No, Luke Skywalker has Darth Vader, and Santa Claus has Krampus. Wait a minute, Santa has an archenemy?      Krampus is one of those quirky survivals of a pagan tradition that preceded Christianity Much like Santa himself. Or Jesus Oops, did I say Jesus? Never mind. Santa Claus is a Christianization of a handful of traditional winter...

In 1614 a British expedition landed in the area known today as Plymouth MA.  When they left they took 24 Indians as slaves and left smallpox, syphilis and gonorrhea behind.  That plague swept the so-called “tribes of New England”, and destroyed some of the villages totally. Mid winter of 1620 the Americas saw the landing of the Pilgrims.  The new 1620 settlers were not farmers so their crops failed miserably.  Were it not...