Especially during Advent, you can find a danger, which will be waiting for you on every single corner. Then be careful if you have a kid.
The danger named Grýla, Leppalúði, Jólasveinar, and Jólakötturinn – this is one big cannibal family with several members: 16.
Probably you are a bit scared when I’m writing about cannibalism. Yes, that was in history a reason how to scare kids to behave well and to do not be taken away by this crazy family. This giving a chill went through some regulation during 1746, but also nowadays a lot of families are using it.
Grýla is the boss of the family. It is a big ogre, who is fat from eating a lot of naughty kids, who were taken from their families to her place, where they are cooked in her big kettle and eaten. This tasty food loves also Leppalúði, who is the father in this family. If you are expecting a huge ogre, I do not want to make you sad, but is believed, that he is thinner than Grýla and he is whole day sitting in his armchair. It is a lazy guy and you cannot often move with him. But if Grýla tells him to do something, then he goes and does. So really we can say that the main boss is Grýla.
The first mention about Grýla was in the 15th Century by writing. After a few centuries later she was connected with Christmas when also her sons appeared. In Icelandic, we call them Jólasveinar and we also call them Santa Clauses.
We have now 13 Jólasveinar, but in history, we can find numbers like 8,22 but also over 70. In the year 1862 the collector of the tales Jón Árnason decided to publish a version in which we have 13 Santa Clauses, and each of them has a different name, that name is based on what they are doing. In the past, they have been also cannibals, but in the 19th Century with a bit of exaggeration, they perfected and changed to louts who steal. They are coming down from the mountains in December, 13 days before Christmas. Some of the coastal areas believe that they are coming from the ocean.
Nowadays tradition says, that when the kids leave one shoe from their pain on the window, during the night the Santa shows up and leave them there something sweet or if they have been bad behaving during the year, they can leave them a rotten potato. 24th of December all of them are coming back to the mountains, one by one, where they are waiting for another Christmas holiday.
And how about Jólakötturinn? Jólakötturinn (Christmass Cat) is not just a regular cat. From the beginning of the article, I told you, that you should look after kids, but this member of the family does not care how old you are. Fresh flesh tastes good no matter if it is from a young or old piece.
And why all of you should beware? That is because this cat goes for those who did not receive any piece of clothes. Yes, you read well. I remember times when my classmates were arguing for underwear, socks, a cap which they found under the Christmas tree. In Iceland, you would be so happy about this. Not just because of the cold which is sometimes talking to your soul, but also because it can save you from this creature. It is enough to get even one sock, the one, which is not in a pair to save you from a bad fate.
If you are planning to go to Iceland 24th of December, surely I would buy something for your partner/kid maybe a cap?
