Well, here there are a few different traditions that mostly vary by valley.
There's the pre-Christmas season starting in early December with St. Nicholas and Krampus coming to visit children who behaved over the year or who were naughty. Nikolaus will bring presents and candy to the nice children and Krampus will take the naughty children into a bag and take them with him and punish them with his rod.
In most of Austria, young men dress up as Krampus and Nikolaus and gather at town squares and hold ralleys and whip the onlookers (you are advised to wear 2 pair of jeans if somehow possible).
Watch Christoph Waltz explain this concept to Jimmy Fallon and Americans:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VbkGuCozc9M
The 2014 Krampus run in my home town:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GtCRjnwqdlQ
Austria seems like a deeply disturbing place.
