little miss icequeen
08-20-2007, 03:41 PM
Here in Iceland people don´t belive in Santa Claus. Instead we belive in 13 brothers, called the Yulelads (jólasveinar), that live up in the mountains in a big cave with their parents, Grýla (the mother) and Leppalúði (the father) and the Yuletide cat.
Christmas is called "jól" in icelandic, the same word as "yule", which is a winter festival that people would celebrate before christianity came to this part of the world. Don´t get me wrong, we celebrate christmas as a christian holiday but we just still use the old word for it.
Ok, back to the Yulelads; Grýla, their mother, is the biggest and meanest troll in Iceland. She is ancient and her name is even mentioned in Snorri Sturluson's thirteenth century Edda. She has about 80 children with 3 different husbands. The first husband went missing, the second one she ate and then she met Leppalúði and had with him the 13 Yulelads. Grýla is definitely the dominant member in the relationship and generally considered more terrifying while Leppalúði is basically just stupid and lazy. Grýla wanders down from the mountains in search of naughty children to put in her sack and takes them back to the cave where she makes a childrenstew and eats it.
Grýla is extremely ugly but people do not agree on how she looks. She is sometimes said to have hooves, horns and a tail.
The story about the Yulelads goes back to 1700something and back then they used to play tricks on people. They are 13 different personalities with 13 different names. For example Doorslammer, Sausages-stealer, Candlebeggar, Potscraper, Ladlelicker, Meathook and Bowl-licker.
Nowadays, kids put their shoe in the window and 13 nights before christmas the first one of the Yulelads arrive and gives them something sweet or a fruit in their shoe. But if they have been naughty they get a potato or a fishbone. The Yulelads always come in the same order and on the 24th, when we celebrate christmas, they are all in town. Then on the 25th the first one that came goes back to the mountains, on the 26th the second one goes and so on. On January 6. the last one leaves and then christmas is officially over.
It is not right to call those men Santas since they have nothing to do with St.Nicholas. They sometimes do borrow Santas dress though or at least his colors, red and white, because they try to look a little bit less scary.
The Yuletide cat is a black cat, sometimes fat and sometimes thin. He will get you if you don´t get any new clothes for christmas. So you hope for him to be thin becuase then you know that everybody have something new to wear.
On December 12. the Yulelads begin to come to town.
The first is Stekkjarstaur (Stifflegs), not the brightest one, who would try to drink the milk from the sheeps but had difficulties bending because of his stiff legs.
On December 13. Giljagaur (Gully Guy) arrives. The cows milk would be in wood buckets and he likes to get the cream froth on top of it.
The Lad who arrives on December 14. is Stúfur (Shorty), who, as his name implies, is on the small side. He is the first one to leave the mountains but he is the third one to arrive because of his short legs. He was also known as Pönnuskefill (pan-scraper), as he scraped scraps of food of the pans.
On December 15. Þvörusleikir (Spoon-licker or Ladle-licker) comes down from the mountains. He would steal the wooden spoon that had been used for stirring and lick it.
On December 16. Pottasleikir (Pot-licker) comes visiting. He tried to snatch pots that had not been washed, and lick the scraps from them.
Askasleikir (Bowl-licker) arrives on December 17. He hid under beds, and if someone put his wooden food-bowl on the floor, he grabbed it and licked it clean.
Hurðaskellir (Door-slammer) comes on December 18. He is an awfully noisy fellow, who is always slamming doors and keeping people awake.
The Lad who is expected on December 19. is called Skyrgámur (Curd Glutton), because he loves skyr (milk curd) so much that he sneaks into the pantry and gobbles up all the skyr from the tub there.
Bjúgnakrækir (Sausage Stealer) comes on December 20. He loves sausages of all kinds, and steals them whenever he can.
On December 21. Gluggagægir (Window Peeper) arrives. He is not as greedy as some of his brothers, but awfully nosy, peeping through windows and even stealing toys he likes the look of.
On December 22. Gáttaþefur (Door Sniffer) comes calling. He has a big nose, and he loves the smell of cakes being baked for Christmas. He often tries to snatch a cake or two for himself. December 22. was sometimes called hlakkandi (looking forward), because the children had started looking forward to Christmas.
On 23. December, St. Þorlákur´s Day, Ketkrókur (Meat Hook) arrives. He adores all meat. In olden days he would lower a hook down the kitchen chimney and pull up a leg of lamb hanging from a rafter, or a bit of smoked lamb from a pan, as smoked lamb was traditionally cooked on St. Þorlákur's Day (a lot of people still do that, including my family).
Kertasníkir (Candle Beggar) comes on Christmas Eve, December 24. In olden times, candle light was the brightest light available. Candles were so rare and precious that it was a treat for children to be given a candle at Christmas. And poor Candle Beggar wanted one too. Back then the candles were also made of animal fat so skinny Candle Beggar could eat the candles to keep himself warm on his travels back to the mountains.
Gleðileg jól!
Christmas is called "jól" in icelandic, the same word as "yule", which is a winter festival that people would celebrate before christianity came to this part of the world. Don´t get me wrong, we celebrate christmas as a christian holiday but we just still use the old word for it.
Ok, back to the Yulelads; Grýla, their mother, is the biggest and meanest troll in Iceland. She is ancient and her name is even mentioned in Snorri Sturluson's thirteenth century Edda. She has about 80 children with 3 different husbands. The first husband went missing, the second one she ate and then she met Leppalúði and had with him the 13 Yulelads. Grýla is definitely the dominant member in the relationship and generally considered more terrifying while Leppalúði is basically just stupid and lazy. Grýla wanders down from the mountains in search of naughty children to put in her sack and takes them back to the cave where she makes a childrenstew and eats it.
Grýla is extremely ugly but people do not agree on how she looks. She is sometimes said to have hooves, horns and a tail.
The story about the Yulelads goes back to 1700something and back then they used to play tricks on people. They are 13 different personalities with 13 different names. For example Doorslammer, Sausages-stealer, Candlebeggar, Potscraper, Ladlelicker, Meathook and Bowl-licker.
Nowadays, kids put their shoe in the window and 13 nights before christmas the first one of the Yulelads arrive and gives them something sweet or a fruit in their shoe. But if they have been naughty they get a potato or a fishbone. The Yulelads always come in the same order and on the 24th, when we celebrate christmas, they are all in town. Then on the 25th the first one that came goes back to the mountains, on the 26th the second one goes and so on. On January 6. the last one leaves and then christmas is officially over.
It is not right to call those men Santas since they have nothing to do with St.Nicholas. They sometimes do borrow Santas dress though or at least his colors, red and white, because they try to look a little bit less scary.
The Yuletide cat is a black cat, sometimes fat and sometimes thin. He will get you if you don´t get any new clothes for christmas. So you hope for him to be thin becuase then you know that everybody have something new to wear.
On December 12. the Yulelads begin to come to town.
The first is Stekkjarstaur (Stifflegs), not the brightest one, who would try to drink the milk from the sheeps but had difficulties bending because of his stiff legs.
On December 13. Giljagaur (Gully Guy) arrives. The cows milk would be in wood buckets and he likes to get the cream froth on top of it.
The Lad who arrives on December 14. is Stúfur (Shorty), who, as his name implies, is on the small side. He is the first one to leave the mountains but he is the third one to arrive because of his short legs. He was also known as Pönnuskefill (pan-scraper), as he scraped scraps of food of the pans.
On December 15. Þvörusleikir (Spoon-licker or Ladle-licker) comes down from the mountains. He would steal the wooden spoon that had been used for stirring and lick it.
On December 16. Pottasleikir (Pot-licker) comes visiting. He tried to snatch pots that had not been washed, and lick the scraps from them.
Askasleikir (Bowl-licker) arrives on December 17. He hid under beds, and if someone put his wooden food-bowl on the floor, he grabbed it and licked it clean.
Hurðaskellir (Door-slammer) comes on December 18. He is an awfully noisy fellow, who is always slamming doors and keeping people awake.
The Lad who is expected on December 19. is called Skyrgámur (Curd Glutton), because he loves skyr (milk curd) so much that he sneaks into the pantry and gobbles up all the skyr from the tub there.
Bjúgnakrækir (Sausage Stealer) comes on December 20. He loves sausages of all kinds, and steals them whenever he can.
On December 21. Gluggagægir (Window Peeper) arrives. He is not as greedy as some of his brothers, but awfully nosy, peeping through windows and even stealing toys he likes the look of.
On December 22. Gáttaþefur (Door Sniffer) comes calling. He has a big nose, and he loves the smell of cakes being baked for Christmas. He often tries to snatch a cake or two for himself. December 22. was sometimes called hlakkandi (looking forward), because the children had started looking forward to Christmas.
On 23. December, St. Þorlákur´s Day, Ketkrókur (Meat Hook) arrives. He adores all meat. In olden days he would lower a hook down the kitchen chimney and pull up a leg of lamb hanging from a rafter, or a bit of smoked lamb from a pan, as smoked lamb was traditionally cooked on St. Þorlákur's Day (a lot of people still do that, including my family).
Kertasníkir (Candle Beggar) comes on Christmas Eve, December 24. In olden times, candle light was the brightest light available. Candles were so rare and precious that it was a treat for children to be given a candle at Christmas. And poor Candle Beggar wanted one too. Back then the candles were also made of animal fat so skinny Candle Beggar could eat the candles to keep himself warm on his travels back to the mountains.
Gleðileg jól!