Goddess Jólasveinarnir

The Jólasveinarnir, Yuletide Lads of Iceland

Submitted by: swampy

“Jólasveinarnir walk around
with a golden cane in hand.
Their mother sweeps the ground
and spanks them with a wand.
Upon a chair stands my jar.
Nine nights before Yule
I’ll come to the village.”
(traditional Icelandic folksong translated by Melkorka Helgadóttir)

The legend of the Jólasveinarnir, or The Yuletide Lads of Iceland, actually starts out with the tale of Grýla and Leppalúõi. Grýla and Leppalúõi are a husband and wife set of Trolls that live in Iceland. The couple arebloodthirsty child-eaters and live in a dark and dank cave way up in the mountains. Like all other trolls, they can only leave their cave after dark to hunt – for if they are exposed to sunlight they will instantly turn to stone. The dominant member in the relationship is Grýla, who definitely is a femmi-nazi-troll. According to some sources, Grýla had another husband before Leppalýõi whose name was Boli. Boli, and later Leppalúõi, were both bedridden (poisoned perhaps by their wife?) and Grýla is forced to go around the countryside begging to support her husbands. Since begging rarely works (people just don’t seem to be generous to Trolls), Grýla instead steals children to eat. Since the stories all say that she mostly steals children who have been “naughty”, Grýla has always been a very popular means of making children behave in Iceland. There are numerous legends and stories about Grýla and her exploits, but in them she never really gets her hands on many children, for most of them either have been very well behaved throughout the year or manage to escape.

The Jólasveinarnir or The Yuletide Lads of Iceland are the troll sons of Grýla and Leppalúõi – and there either are nine of them or twelve of them…. they seem to never stand still long enough to be counted. Grýla cooks delicious foods for herself and her husband Leppalúõi, but is so greedy that she never feeds her many sons. Because of this, the Jólasveinarnir are always hungry and are forced to roam around stealing food from homes.

The Jólasveinarnir, who still live in Grýla’s cave, descend upon Icelandic households, one at a time, beginning either nine or thirteen days before Yule. By the time Yule arrives, all of the Jólasveinarnir are in the house. While they are in “visiting”, the Jólasveinarnir make all sorts of mischief: they steal candles and sausage, and they love to trash all the pretty Yule decorations. Generally they wreck havoc and drive the house-owner nutso, until they leave the house. The Jólasveinarnir start departing, one at a time, for their cave-home on Yule, with the last one departing on Þrettándinn (Twelfth Night). When they go, they stuff those children of the house who have been naughty during the year into a big sack and steal them (and I assume they take the snotty kids home to their mother, Grýla, who makes the kids into a scrumptious meal!) .

Thirteen of the most commonly accepted names of the Jólasveinarnir are:

Stekkjastaur – Gimpy
Giljagaur – Gully Imp
Bjálfansbarniõ – Idiot Child
Svartiljótur – Blackugly
Pottasleikir – Pot Licker
Flotgleypir – Fat Gobbler
Hurõaskellir – Door Slammer
Faldafeykir – Skirt Blower
Bjúgnakrækir – Sausage Snatcher
Gluggagægir – Window Peeper
Gáttaþefur – Doorway Sniffer
Ketkrókur – Meat Hooker
Kertasníkir – Candle Beggar

When they first appeared, the Jólasveinarnir had many of the attributes of their bloodthirsty parents, but soon the stories about them started to get milder and fwuffier. In modern times the Jólasveinarnir seem to be portrayed as playful imps whose main interest is in getting their hands on some of the seasonal food and other goodies, or lurking about trying to do some minor mischief. In other words, they have turned the baby-snatchers into fwuffy bunny elves. Today in Iceland, the parents of children tell tales of how nice the Jólasveinarnir are… in fact the Jólasveinarnir are said to leave little presents for the children in shoes that the children have placed on the windowsill the night before. If the children have been naughty, all that the Jólasveinarnir do is to leave a potato or some other reminder that good behavior is better. The old tales said that the clothing of the Jólasveinarnir was the filthy rags of the common troll, then this was cleaned up in later tales so that the Jólasveinarnir were said to be wearing the ordinary, every-day wear of the common Icelander. In this century, it is now said that the Jólasveinarnir wear the traditional red suits of St. Nick or Santa Claus.

Frankly, I like the Jólasveinarnir much better as child-stealing trolls than as happy imps. ;-P