The 13 Icelandic Yule Lads: names, dates and folklore
Iceland doesn't have one Santa Claus - it has thirteen, and they are trolls. The Yule Lads (jólasveinar) come down from the mountains one per night over the thirteen nights before Christmas: the first arrives on 12 December and the last on Christmas Eve. Children leave a shoe in the window each evening and find a small gift in it the next morning - or a potato, if they've misbehaved.
Arrival and departure dates
- Stekkjarstaur (Sheep-Cote Clod) - arrives 12 December, leaves 25 December
- Giljagaur (Gully Gawk) - arrives 13 December, leaves 26 December
- Stúfur (Stubby) - arrives 14 December, leaves 27 December
- Þvörusleikir (Spoon-Licker) - arrives 15 December, leaves 28 December
- Pottasleikir (Pot-Licker) - arrives 16 December, leaves 29 December
- Askasleikir (Bowl-Licker) - arrives 17 December, leaves 30 December
- Hurðaskellir (Door-Slammer) - arrives 18 December, leaves 31 December
- Skyrgámur (Skyr-Gobbler) - arrives 19 December, leaves 1 January
- Bjúgnakrækir (Sausage-Swiper) - arrives 20 December, leaves 2 January
- Gluggagægir (Window-Peeper) - arrives 21 December, leaves 3 January
- Gáttaþefur (Doorway-Sniffer) - arrives 22 December, leaves 4 January
- Ketkrókur (Meat-Hook) - arrives 23 December, leaves 5 January
- Kertasníkir (Candle-Beggar) - arrives 24 December, leaves 6 January
They head back to the mountains in the same order they came, one per day from Christmas Day. The last one leaves on Twelfth Night, 6 January - the official end of the Icelandic Christmas season, marked with bonfires and fireworks.
Grýla, Leppalúði and the Christmas Cat
The Lads are the sons of Grýla, a fearsome mountain troll who - according to folklore - collects badly behaved children in her sack, and her layabout husband Leppalúði. The household also keeps the jólaköttur, the Christmas Cat, said to eat anyone who doesn't receive at least one new piece of clothing before Christmas. Icelanders still say someone “went to the Christmas Cat” if they get no new clothes for the holidays.
From menaces to gift-givers
Originally the Lads were pranksters and petty thieves - the names say it all: the Spoon-Licker licked wooden spoons, the Sausage-Swiper stole sausages, the Window-Peeper peered through windows looking for things to take. The shoe-in-the-window gift tradition settled in during the 20th century, and the red Santa suit is an even later import. The canonical thirteen, with their fixed arrival dates, were cemented by Jóhannes úr Kötlum's beloved 1932 poem “Jólasveinarnir”.
Planning a December trip? See when Christmas Eve, Christmas Day and St. Thorlak's Day fall in the calendar - and check what's open over the holidays.