The Yuletide-lads, Yule Lads
Are figures from Icelandic folklore who in modern times have become the Icelandic version of Santa Claus. Back in the day on their number and depictions varied greatly depending on location, with each individual Lad ranging from mere pranksters to homicidal monsters who eat children.
Leaving the family to starve or freeze if you were a bad child.
Then the Christians came, after the King of Norway decreed everyone should be Christian and sent missionaries to convert the island. The yule lads merged with Christian traditions, and diluted them. The Christians were none too taken with the idea of thieving trolls roaming the mountains. In 1746, a public decree was issued prohibiting parents from scaring their kids with stories of the Yule Lads. they ruin everything don't they, do not even get me stared on India.
In 1932, the poem "Jólasveinarnir" was published as a part of the popular poetry book "Jólin Koma" ("Christmas is Coming") by Icelandic poet Jóhannes úr Kötlum. The poem reintroduced Icelandic society to Icelandic Yuletide folklore and established what is now considered the canonical thirteen Yuletide-lads, their personalities and connection to other folkloric characters.
They put rewards or punishments into shoes placed by children in window sills during the last thirteen nights before Christmas Eve.Every night, one Yuletide lad visits each child, leaving gifts or rotting potatoes, depending on the child’s behavior throughout the year.
The Yuletide-lads are traditionally said to be the sons of the mountain-dwelling trolls Grýla and Leppalúði. They would trek from the mountains to scare Icelandic children who misbehaved before Christmas. Additionally, the Yuletide-lads are often depicted with the Yule Cat, a beast that, according to folklore, eats children who don't receive new clothes for Christmas. So I hope everyone gets a pair of socks for Christmas
