Christmas devils with balls of fire invade Slovenian town at 'Krampus' festival

Part-goat, part-devil creatures roared through the streets of Goricane, in Slovenia, on Saturday night (November 17) sending shivers down the spines of young children for the traditional Krampus parade.

Krampus - or parkelj in Slovenian - was created hundreds of years ago in the Austrian alpine region to punish naughty children. As the devilish counterpart to St Nicholas, Krampus gives misbehaving children lumps of coal instead of the traditional christmas presents for those who have been good all year round.

Organisers said the central European folklore festival of ugly creatures dragging balls of fire and whips of goat hairs attracts more and more people, and participants, from neighbouring countries Austria, Croatia and Italy, as well as Germany.

(Production: Borut Zivulovic, Lewis Macdonald)