Eighteen days in, time for an odd Christmas tradition.
In Iceland, children put out shoes for thirteen successive nights prior to Christmas Day. If they have been good, they are rewarded with a small gift, not from Santa Claus, but from the Yule Lads (Jólasveinar).
Though this appears to be a very good deal for Icelandic children, the thirteen Santa’s come with gifts, and a whole lot of mischief. Each of the Yule Lads has his own particular area of mayhem from licking unwashed bowls, pots, and spoons to stealing sausages, meat, and candles. There are even Door-sniffer and Window-peeper, who do just that.
Traditionally these figures were seen as ominous and parents frightened children into good behavior with frightening stories. However in the eighteenth century a law was passed banning the telling of frightening stories of the Yule Lads. Since this time, the more sinister side of the Lads has been played down and they are seen as figures of fun, kind of a mixture of the seven dwarves and elf on a shelf.
Since the celebration of Christmas is so loosely grounded in hard facts, traditions of all kinds grow up around its celebration, usually blending religious and secular mythologies. The Yule Boys…cool name for a band, but they would have to be The Yule Boyz…give us thirteen more faces of Christmas.
I read a few articles for this, and they all used this chart to outline the YBs
