St.Nicholas' Day

Today -the 6th December- is celebrated as St.Nicholas' Day in Austria. Traditionally, children place shoes or boots outside the door and those are filled with mandarins, peanuts, chocolate and other goodies by the St.Nicholases going around in the neighbourhood. But for little children it can also be a fearful day for St.Nicholas is traditionally accompanied by Krampus (often associated with the Servant Ruprecht). That frightening entity is said to be abducting disobedient children and punishing them.

On Wikipedia I found the following snippet about the event:
In some of the Ruprecht traditions the children would be summoned to the door to perform tricks, such as a dance or singing a song to impress upon Santa and Ruprecht that they were indeed good children. Those who performed badly would be beaten soundly by Servant Ruprecht, and those who performed well were given a gift or some treats. Those who performed badly enough or had committed other misdeeds throughout the year were put into Ruprecht's sack and taken away, variously to Ruprecht’s home in the Black Forest, or to be tossed into a river. In other versions the children must be asleep, and would either awake to find their shoes filled with sweets, coal, or in some cases a stick. Over time, other customs developed: parents giving kids who misbehaved a stick instead of treats and saying that it was a warning from Nikolaus that "unless you improve by Christmas day, Nikolaus' black servant Ruprecht will come and beat you with the stick and you won't get any Christmas gifts." Often there would be variations idiosyncratic to individual families.
In parts of Austria, Krampusse, whom local tradition says are Nikolaus's helpers (typically children of poor families), roamed the streets and sledding hills during the festival. They wore black rags and masks, dragging chains behind them, and occasionally hurling them towards children in their way. These Krampusläufe (Krampus runs) still exist, although perhaps less violent than in the past.

You've been bad last year? Better beware...