The Icelandic Yule Lads & Family

Most countries where Christmas is celebrated have their own version of a benevolent person, creature, or thing, that gives children treats around Christmastime. Italy has a Christmas witch, Spain has a present-pooping log, and America and the UK have, of course, Santa Claus. Icelandic Christmas, however, takes things a little bit further; we have thirteen Yule lads, each with their own definitive character. They live in a cave in an undisclosed location in the mountains with their mother, the formidable Grýla, her wimpy husband, Leppalúði, and the Christmas Cat.

Grýla is an Icelandic troll who eats naughty children. She lives in a cave and always has a pot of boiling water at the ready, should she hear of some exceptionally naughty children. Grýla also travels with a large sack for convenient transport of the children she catches. (it should be noted that Icelandic trolls are different from the Norwegian ones and nothing like the internet ones either. Think large and mountain-like.)

Grýla’s third husband is not known for anything much, except for being really lazy. He doesn’t travel like the rest of his family, just sits around the cave waiting for Grýla to bring him food. His name has become synonymous with being extremely ugly and/or poorly dressed.

Due to his affinity for sheep milk, Stekkjastaur spends most of his time among the humans breaking into the sheep pens and trying to suckle the ewes. He is resilient in his efforts despite his disability, his two peg legs that make crawling into the sheep pens challenging.

Another fan of dairy products, Giljagaur is a bit more patient and cunning in his attempts at milk theft. He doesn’t try to go straight to the cow’s udders but waits until the farm workers are distracted before he swoops in and slurps the froth off the fresh milk.

Stúfur is named for his height – or lack thereof. For some reason, he considers burnt bits of food that get stuck to the pan a particular delicacy and goes so far as to raid kitchens for dirty pans to get his hands on the good stuff.

Þvörusleikir is extremely tall and skinny, which might have had some influence on his love for wooden spoons. He waits patiently for the work to be finished in the kitchen before he, quick as a flash, grabs the dirty spoons and licks them.

Waking up is never pleasant, and being woken by a loud noise such as a door slamming is even less so. For some reason, Hurðaskellir thinks this is hilarious and goes through town slamming doors for his own amusement.

For the uninitiated, skyr (pron. skeer) is a dairy product, halfway between cheese and yoghurt. It’s fat-free, high in protein, and delicious! That should explain both Skyrgámur’s size (he’s said to be the size of a bull) and his habit of eating other people’s skyr.

Many of the yule lads like to steal food but they’re picky about what they want to take. Bjúga is a salty, smoked Icelandic sausage, a favourite of Bjúgnakrækir. He loves them so much, he doesn’t mind crawling through soot and smoke to get them.

Again, the name really says it all. However, it’s important to note that his intentions, although not honourable, are mostly food-related. He only peeps in windows in order to locate food he could possibly steal.

Gáttaþefur was from birth blessed with a huge nose, heightened olfactory senses, as well as the ability to never catch a cold. He is, as so many other Icelanders, partial to laufabrauð, and uses his abnormally large nose to sniff out its hiding places.

It’s obvious that some of the Yule Lads are more industrious and clever than others. Ketkrókur, for example, travels around with a long stick with a hook at the end, perfect for sticking it down chimneys in order to steal meat, preferably hangikjöt (smoked lamb).

One of the few Yule Lads not constantly occupied with food, Kertasníkir instead enjoys stealing candles, preferably from children. This seems especially mean when you know that in the old days every kid usually got a nice candle at Christmas and sometimes not much else.