Yule Lads

Icelandic Christmas folklore depicts mountain-dwelling characters and monsters who come to town during Christmas. The stories are directed at children and are used to scare them into good behavior. The folklore includes both mischievous pranksters who leave gifts during the night and monsters who eat disobedient children. The figures are depicted as living together as a family in a cave and include: Grýla, a giantess with an appetite for the flesh of mischievous children, whom she cooks in a large pot. Her husband Leppalúði is lazy and mostly stays at home in their cave. The Yule Cat is a huge and vicious cat who lurks about the snowy countryside during Christmas time (Yule) and eats people who have not received any new clothes to wear before Christmas Eve. The Yule Lads are the sons of Grýla and Leppalúði. They are a group of 13 mischievous pranksters who steal from or harass the population and all have descriptive names that convey their favorite way of harassing. They come to town one by one during the last 13 nights before Yule. They leave small gifts in shoes that children have placed on window sills, but if the child has been disobedient they instead leave a rotten potato in the shoe. These Christmas-related folktales first appeared around the 17th century and displayed some variation based on region and age. In modern times these characters have taken on slightly more benevolent roles.