The 13 Yule Lads, Gryla, and the Yule Cat | Ep. 87

As we get closer to Christmas, we thought it would be fun to tackle Icelandic folklore – the 13 Yule Lads. Essentially, these are Icelandic “pranksters.”

They come to town one by one during the last 13 nights before Yule, and perform a particular task. Some weird and some weirder. We also discuss the terrifying troll, Gryla, and the big black Yule Cat.

But how believable is all of this Christmas fun? Listen now.

13 Yule Lads: The Iceland Christmas Trolls

You know Dasher, Dancer, Prancer and Vixen, Comet, Cupid, Donner, and Blitzen, but do you recall the most festive Icelandic Trolls of all.

What’s up Bizarros!  This week we dive into a different Christmas tradition that hails from Iceland.

We’re going to get into the mysterious thirteen trolls, the Yule Lads

Who are the Yule Lads?

Icelandic folklore says the Trolls lived in the mountains and only came down from them to look for food like fish and potatoes. Trolls are only able to survive in the darkness of night.

If Trolls were caught in the sunlight they would immediately turn to stone. A few of these unlucky trolls can be seen all over the country, the most famous of which are the Reynisdrangar rock formations on the south shore.

Legend has it that two trolls were trying to drag a three-mast ship to shore when the day broke and they were turned to stone.

The best-known, and perhaps most feared, troll in Icelandic folklore is Gryla.

Gryla is the mother of all thirteen Santa Clauses and she is known to eat naughty children, which is why all Icelandic children are exceptionally well-behaved in December during the festive season.

What are the Yule Lads?

The Yule Lads, are the 13 Santa Clauses of Iceland.

Their mother, Gryla is a monstrous creature that came to being somewhere in the 13th century.

Gryla has been described with eyes in the back of her head, ears that hang so long that they hit her in the nose, a matted beard, blackened teeth, and hooves.

A short poem describing Gryla gives us a look into the reason why she and her children are associated with our favorite time of year.

“Down comes Grýla from the outer fields / With forty tails / A bag on her back, a sword in her hand, / Coming to carve out the stomachs of the children / Who cry for meat during Lent”

She comes down from the mountains to make stew out of naughty kids.

She is the mother of the 13 Yule lads who come on the 13 nights before Christmas.

They all have different names and are associated with different things that happen in the house.

They also leave surprises and candy for good children and for the naughty kid they will leave a rotting potato in their shoes.

The 13 lads vary in levels of how much fear they cause.

• Sheep-Cote Clod: He tries to suckle ewes in farmer’s sheep sheds

• Gully Gawk: He steals foam from buckets of cow milk

• Stubby: He’s short and steals food from frying pans

• Spoon Licker: He licks spoons

• Pot Scraper, aka Pot Licker: He steals unwashed pots and licks them clean 

• Bowl Licker: He steals bowls of food from under the bed (Icelanders used to sometimes store bowls of food under their beds.)

• Door Slammer: He stomps around and slams doors, keeping everyone awake 

• Skyr Gobbler: He eats up all the Icelandic yogurt (skyr)

• Sausage Swiper: He loves stolen sausages 

• Window Peeper: He likes to creep outside windows and sometimes steal the stuff he sees inside

• Door Sniffer: He has a huge nose and an insatiable appetite for stolen baked goods

• Meat Hook: He snatches up any meat left out, especially smoked lamb

• Candle Beggar: He steals candles, which used to be sought-after items in Iceland

All of the trolls have poems about them, but we will highlight three of them.

Giljagaur – Gully Gawk

The second was Gully Gawk, gray his head, and mien.

He snuck into the cow barn from his craggy ravine. Hiding in the stalls,

he would steal the milk, while the milkmaid gave the cowherd a meaningful smile.

Þvörusleikir – Spoon-Licker

The fourth was Spoon Licker; like spindle he was thin.

He felt himself in clover

when the cook wasn’t in.

Then stepping up, he grappled the stirring spoon with glee,

holding it with both hands for it was slippery.

Gáttaþefur – Doorway Sniffer

The eleventh was Door Sniffer, a doltish lad and gross.

He never got a cold, yet had a huge, sensitive nose.

He caught the scent of lace bread while leagues away still

and ran toward it weightless

as wind over dale and hill.

Much like the Grimm Fairy Tales, the folklore of the Yule Lads was much different than what we know today.

Jón Árnason is the earliest documentation of the Trolls, but it wasn’t focused on the thirteen lads who come to visit the towns in the winter months.

In this printed version of the folklore, the story is focused on their mother Grýla, and her husbands Boli and Leppalúði and their many offspring.

The offspring that the story covers would later become the Yule Lads, but they were described much differently than they are today.  Rather than the cartoonish depictions that they embody now, their appearance in the earlier versions is much more garish.

The trolls were said to appear “split-up to the neck,” with clawed hands, and round feet without any toes.  There was also a varying number of them.  In the popular yule song “Einn og Átta” it means one and eight, or nine total.  Other sources however say that there was as many as twenty, and as few as seven.  But when digging into these sources the descriptions become vague, or contradictory. 

It wasn’t until 1932 when the poet Jóhannes Bjarni Jónasson wrote the children’s poetry book “Jólin Koma” (Yuletide comes), where he describes the Yule Lads as being the thirteen sons of Grýla and Leppalúði, who arrive one after the other, thirteen days before Yule, then depart in the same order, having enacted their pranks and petty crimes around town.

It is this book that has created the modern tradition of the Yule Lads and is considered to be the best source.  As the stories were passed down for generations via word of mouth the only names that remained the same from the older 18th-century tales are “Giljagaur” (Gully Gawk) and Stekkjarstaur (Sheep-Cote Clod).

So as one can see, the Yule Lads had much different origins than the current versions that are known today.

But the Yule Lads aren’t the only mysterious creatures that visit the Icelandic towns leading up to Christmas.  There is also a Yule Cat.

What Is The Yule Cat?

The Yule Cat is a story about a fearsome, enormous black cat that roams the snowy countryside eating people who are not wearing a new piece of clothing.

While this was considered an ancient tradition, written accounts have only been located as far back as the 19th century.

Allegedly the threat of being eaten by the Yule Cat was used by farmers as an incentive for their workers to finish processing the autumn wool before Christmas.

Those who did the work were rewarded with new clothes, but those who didn’t would get nothing, and be hunted by the monstrous cat.

The cat has alternatively been described as merely eating the food of ones without new clothes during Christmas dinners. The perception of the Yule Cat as a man-eating beast was made popular by poems of Jóhannes úr Kötlum as with the rest of the folklore.

What Do You Think About This Different Christmas Tradition?

What do you think Bizarros?  As these trolls are hunting for naughty kids would you get candy or a rotting potato?

Would the Yule Cat feast on you for wearing the same clothes you’ve been wearing since 2008? Or would you be like Ralphie, sporting Aunt Clara’s bunny suit, and be safe from becoming a meal for the cat?

Tonight as you get ready for bed, maybe keep an eye out for the mischievous Yule Lads.