Stekkjastaur - 12. desember

The yulelads are 13 and they have a mother named Grýla and a father named Leppalúði, the family has a pet (cat) named Jólaköttur. Grýla and Leppalúði are kind of trolls, very ugly. Grýla is said to come and pick up the naughty children put them in her sack and take them to her cave in the mountains, even cook them and have for dinner. If children didn´t get some new clothes didn´t have to be more than new socks the Jólaköttur would eat them.
All the yulelads were naughty and children and even the grown ups were afraid of them.

It is in the 20th century that they begin to act like santa claus and give children gifts and wear red clothes. The children put their shoe out in the window and during the night the yulelad comes and puts something in it, it is a very small gift, not wrapped up, often the last yulelad who comes in the morning of the 24th brings something bigger to the children something they can play with to shorten the waiting for the big night (24th) Aðfangadagskvöld when we open all the presents. If the children have been naughty during the year the yulelads only put potato in the shoe so chldren try to be very nice at least in December to avoid getting the potato.

On the 25th the first yulelad goes back to the cave and one each day until the 6th of January when the last yulelad goes "home" and there they stay until the 12th of December...

This is the first of the yulelads, his name is Stekkjastaur which means that he is as stiff as a stick. He tries to sneak into the house to the ewes because he wants to drink their milk.

My yulelads were hand made by an elderly lady who lives in the western side of Iceland, they are beautifully made and I don´t regret buying them although they did cost a lot.

So stay tuned to see all our 13 yulelads...

Some links if you would like to read more about Icelandic christmas and the yulelads.

Draugasetrið
Wikipedia
Jólasveinar Jóhannesar úr Kötlum þýddir á ensku
Íslensk jól