In most of the world, Christmas has one gift-bringer. In Iceland it has thirteen, and none of them is entirely well behaved. From the night of 12 December, one jólasveinn (Yule Lad) comes down from the mountains each night to leave a small gift in a shoe, or a rotten potato if the child has misbehaved. They have names like Spoon-Licker, Door-Slammer and Sausage-Swiper, and their mother is a man-eating ogress. Their pet is a cat the size of a house.
This is the Icelandic Christmas cast, and it is one of the strangest, funniest and most useful pieces of Nordic folklore. If you know the nisse and tomte from the rest of Scandinavia, prepare for something wilder.
Who Are the Yule Lads (Jólasveinar)?
The Yule Lads are the sons of Grýla and Leppalúði. They live in the mountains and come to town in the thirteen nights before Christmas Eve. Each arrives on his own night, causes a particular kind of mischief, and then, once Christmas has passed, leaves again one by one, the last departing on 6 January.
The Lads were not always friendly. In the oldest sources they are troll-like pranksters who steal food and frighten children. Over the nineteenth and twentieth centuries they were softened into the gift-givers of today. The names we use now were largely fixed in the twentieth century, helped along by a popular 1932 poem collection, Jólin koma, by Jóhannes úr Kötlum. Earlier folklore collections, such as Jón Árnason’s 1862 volume, list slightly different names and an unsettled number.
The Thirteen Yule Lads and Their Arrival Dates
The order below is the modern, widely used one. Each name describes the Lad’s speciality.
- Stekkjastaur (Sheep-Cote Clod), 12 December. Harasses the farmers’ sheep, though his stiff legs make it difficult.
- Giljagaur (Gully Gawk), 13 December. Hides in gullies and sneaks into the cowshed to steal milk foam.
- Stúfur (Stubby), 14 December. Very short, and fond of snatching pans to eat the crust left in them.
- Þvörusleikir (Spoon-Licker), 15 December. Licks wooden spoons, and is famously thin.
- Pottaskefill (Pot-Scraper), 16 December. Waits for children to finish eating, then scrapes the leftovers from the pots.
- Askasleikir (Bowl-Licker), 17 December. Hides under beds and grabs the askur, the lidded bowls once used as plates.
- Hurðaskellir (Door-Slammer), 18 December. Slams doors in the night so nobody can sleep.
- Skyrgámur (Skyr-Gobbler), 19 December. Raids the pantry for skyr.
- Bjúgnakrækir (Sausage-Swiper), 20 December. Steals sausages hung in the rafters to smoke.
- Gluggagægir (Window-Peeper), 21 December. Peers through windows looking for something to take.
- Gáttaþefur (Doorway-Sniffer), 22 December. Has a huge nose and follows the smell of baking, especially laufabrauð, the thin, patterned leaf bread.
- Ketkrókur (Meat-Hook), 23 December. Uses a hook to snag smoked lamb from the kitchen. This is the night of Þorláksmessa, traditionally celebrated with fermented skate.
- Kertasníkir (Candle-Stealer), 24 December. The last to arrive, and the one who follows children to steal their candles. In the past, candles were a precious gift.
Notice how much of this list is about food. The Yule Lads are a map of the Icelandic larder: dairy, lamb, smoked sausages and baking. They reflect a farming society where Christmas food was precious, and where a visitor in the pantry was a real worry.
Grýla and Leppalúði: The Parents
The Lads’ mother is Grýla, a mountain ogress who appears in Icelandic sources as early as the Middle Ages. She is no gentle matriarch. Grýla comes down at Christmas with a sack to collect naughty children, which she then boils in a stew. She is said to have had several husbands, and the current one, Leppalúði, is a lazy, passive figure who seems to stay at home.
Parents used Grýla as a way to keep children in line, and the fear was real enough that in 1746 a Danish decree banned frightening children with her and the Lads. Over time, Grýla became a more comic and sympathetic figure. Today she appears in children’s books, school plays and Christmas markets, and in Reykjavík she is a mascot of the season.
Like the huldufólk, Grýla belongs to a world where the Icelandic landscape is inhabited by beings who are not quite human, and not entirely imaginary either.
The Yule Cat (Jólakötturinn)
The family’s pet is Jólakötturinn, the Yule Cat, an enormous, savage cat that roams the snow at Christmas. Its rule is simple: anyone who has not received a new piece of clothing before Christmas Eve is at risk of being eaten.
Folklorists generally explain the legend in economic terms. Wool processing was the main work of Icelandic farms in autumn, and farm workers who finished their share on time were rewarded with new clothes. The lazy ones got nothing, and the Cat. It is a story about work, reward and fear, wrapped in a monster.
That is why it is traditional in Iceland to give clothes at Christmas, and why the phrase “to go into the Yule Cat” (að fara í jólaköttinn) means to be left without new clothes for the holiday. Iceland’s 1932 poem by Jóhannes úr Kötlum, which includes a famous verse about the Cat, did much to cement its place in popular culture.
How Icelanders Celebrate Today
The modern tradition is much gentler than the folklore. From 11 December, children put a shoe on the windowsill each night. If they have behaved, the Lad of the evening leaves a small gift, such as sweets, a toy or fruit. If not, they get a potato. Many families give one small present a night rather than a big one, which stretches out the anticipation.
Each Lad also appears in person. Shopping centres, museums and the National Museum of Iceland host the thirteen in costume, and the Lads sing, tell stories and pose for photographs. In the 1980s the Lads’ look was largely standardised into a Santa-like red suit, though many Icelanders still prefer the older, wool-clad image.
Christmas then runs on until 6 January, the thirteenth day, when the last Lad returns to the mountains. Icelandic Christmas is deliberately long: bonfires, “Yule Book Flood” (jólabókaflóð), the tradition of giving and reading new books on Christmas Eve, and plenty of seasonal food all play their part. For the midwinter food side of Icelandic life, see our guide to Þorramatur.
How the Yule Lads Compare With Scandinavia’s Other Christmas Figures
- Sweden and Denmark: The tomte or nisse is a single household guardian who wants his porridge with butter.
- Sweden: Lucia brings light and saffron buns on 13 December, one day after the first Yule Lad arrives.
- Iceland: A whole family of thirteen troublemakers, an ogress and a monster cat. Nothing else in Scandinavia is quite like it.
What makes the Icelandic version special is how much the figures were shaped by a harsh, isolated farming life: hunger, wool, cold and fear of what lives in the mountains.
Visiting Iceland at Christmas
If you are in Reykjavík in December, you can see the Lads for yourself. Check the National Museum of Iceland’s schedule, where one Lad visits each day from 12 December, and look for Grýla and the Yule Cat in the city centre. Our Reykjavík city guide covers the rest, from museums to swimming pools. Pair it with a glass of glögg if you want to match the mood.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many Yule Lads are there?
Thirteen. One arrives each night from 12 December to 24 December, and they leave one at a time between 25 December and 6 January.
What do Icelandic children get from the Yule Lads?
Good children find a small gift in the shoe they leave on the windowsill. Naughty children traditionally find a rotten potato.
What is the Yule Cat?
A giant cat from Icelandic folklore that eats anyone who has not received new clothes before Christmas Eve. It is the pet of Grýla and her family.
Is Grýla real?
Grýla is a figure of folklore: an ogress who appears in Icelandic writing from the Middle Ages. She is not a historical person, though she remains a living part of Icelandic Christmas culture.
Final Thoughts
Iceland’s Yule Lads, Grýla and the Yule Cat are a reminder that Christmas has never been one thing. Behind the tinsel is an older world of winter fear, hungry mountains and stories used to teach children to behave and to finish the wool. In Iceland, those stories have survived, got friendlier, and become a proper festival. Leave a shoe on the windowsill, and see who visits.
