Grýla at her work
The basic concept of Icelandic Christmas tradition is the same than in other western world. Little children are scared into obedience by combination of reward and punishment. But in Iceland, the methods are on a whole different level.
On December 12th, the Yuletide Lads crawl from their cave and start a journey, one per night, towards the population. These thirteen descendents of trolls each have a different fetish (mostly about stealing food) that they perform meanwhile monitoring children’s behavior and making them frightened. A well-behaving child is rewarded daily with small gifts while naughty ones get punished with a raw potato. Each Yuletide Lad stays in town for two weeks latest retrieving on 6th of January.
The ultimate prize for misbehaving brats is to get boiled alive by Grýla – a monstrous ogress and the mother of the Yuletide Lads. Icelandic children are also taught to appreciate soft presents: any child without new clothes on Christmas eve are also eaten – this time by Grýla’s gigantic cat!
Hmmm… I wonder why Iceland is so sparsely populated country?
P.S. Wouldn’t it be cool to export Grýla as a development aid to some overpopulated third-world nation?
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