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The Yule Lads (Icelandic: jólasveinarnir or jólasveinar) are figures from Icelandic folklore who in modern times have become the Icelandic version of Santa Claus. Their number has varied throughout the ages, but currently they are considered to be thirteen. They put rewards or punishments into shoes placed by children in window sills during the last thirteen nights before Christmas Eve. Every night, one Yuletide lad visits each child, leaving gifts or rotting potatoes, depending on the child’s behavior throughout the year.

Their mother is the troll-woman Grýla, who lives in the mountains and sends her sons to fetch human flesh for their Yule tide meal, her sons, though, prefer to cause mischief and steal small things instead. One by one, all thirteen come down to the towns and homesteads of people, the last arriving on Christmas eve; the first of them leaves on Christmas day, and the last goes on January 6th. In addition, there is the Jólakötturinn, the Christmas Cat, a fierce black beast who eats children who didn't get new clothes for Christmas. The cat may be the most dangerous of the lot...

The Jólasveinar are:

Stekkjarstaur => Sheep-Cote Clod
Giljagaur => Gully Gawk
Stúfur => Stubby
Þvörusleikir => Spoon-Licker
Pottaskefill => Pot-Scraper
Askasleikir => Bowl-Licker
Hurðaskellir => Door-Slammer
Skyrgámur => Skyr-Gobbler
Bjúgnakrækir => Sausage-Swiper
Gluggagægir => Window-Peeper
Gáttaþefur => Doorway-Sniffer
Ketkrókur => Meat-Hook
Kertasníkir => Candle-Stealer

And this year, they are coming to Miliways...



The Jólasveinar are from Icelandic folklore, and are in the public domain. They appear here solely for the purpose of role-playing in milliways_bar, from which no profit whatsoever is being made. The mun behind the curtain is yakalskovich The lovely introductory video was made by my sister, whose Icelandic cooking blog you find at islandfankochbuch.blogspot.de (in German) or yummy-iceland.blogspot.de (in English).