Tag: Yule Lads

Where does the time go?

Gävle, Sweden, has already constructed its 40-foot Yule Goat. Krampus has hurled all the wicked children into hellfire. Black Peter has stirred the ire of Dutch protesters. The holidays are just flying by.

But, no time to be wistful. It’s December the 12th! Here come the Yule Lads!

Not the modern-day mob of affable, ersatz-Santas, mind you – the ones who reward the good with gifts and penalize the naughty with rotten potatoes – but rather the amoral pranksters and homicidal trolls who devour children.

Mostly the Lads bedevil and steal from Icelandic farmers. They descend from the mountains, staggering their arrivals and departures, beginning thirteen nights before Christmas.

Each has his own exasperating speciality, whether it be harassing sheep, stealing milk, eating crust out of pans, licking spoons, stealing leftovers, licking bowls, slamming doors, eating skyr (a kind of Icelandic yogurt), stealing sausages, peeping through windows, sniffing for bread, stealing meat with a hook, or eating candles.

For Tolkien fans, surely the Lads are the basis for the thirteen Dwarves [sic] who visit Bilbo Baggins, in the process eating him out of house and home and imperiling his dishes.

Their mother is the ogress Grýla, who seeks children to boil in her cauldron. If you happen to find yourself in her gnarled claws, remember, she has to release you if you repent!

The Yule Lads are frequently accompanied by the Yule Cat. The cat eats those who don’t receive new clothes before Christmas. This is tied in to the Icelandic work ethic. In the old days, if farm hands processed their autumn wool in a timely fashion, they were rewarded with new garments. If not, they received nothing, thereby leaving them vulnerable to the Yule Cat. Better sheer them sheep!

In 1746, the practice of parents tormenting their children with Christmas monster stories was officially banned. But it lives on here, with Classic Ross Amico!

To my knowledge, there has been no classical music written about the Yule Lads. As with Krampus, some enterprising composer could make a real killing. All you need is one Christmas hit, and then every year, you can just kick back and collect those sweet holiday royalties.

Here is a selection of Yule Lad songs I found on YouTube. You can see that the bar has been set awfully low. How “My Darling Clementine” got over there is anyone’s guess. Maybe Leif Erikson brought it back with him on his longship.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BJ4nSFe32ys

Get festive in the way only Icelanders can, with these “Icelandic Folk Dances” by Jón Leifs:

Björk sings about the Yule Cat (with thanks to a follower of the page who shared this with me a few years ago):

Remember – only 13 days of folklore and paganism until Christmas!