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Icelanders don’t mess around, you don’t even have to do anything naughty to get your name on the Yule Cat menu.

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Play this while you read to get in the mood - it's performed by Björk!

As a child many of us hated getting new clothes for Christmas instead of more toys. I know I felt that way. Screw practicality, I didn’t want socks, I wanted more Legos! In Iceland it is a whole ‘nother story though, kids practically beg for new clothes.

That’s because the hungry Yule Cat (Jólakötturinn) will hunt anyone who isn’t sporting fresh threads.

Legend has it that a huge, hungry cat comes down from the mountains during Christmas for its yearly meal. Yep, it only gets a chance to eat once a year so you can imagine how hungry it is. The only way to save yourself from being the latest resident of the evil kitty’s tum-tum is to be gifted a new article of clothing, so you better be loved enough to get some. It brings a whole new meaning to that ill-fitting, itchy sweater you got from your aunt.

The origin of the Yule Cat is lost to history but is thought to be a story created to make people work hard. Women of the old days would work feverishly to produce enough clothing to protect their loved ones from the teeth of the Yule Cat. Unlanded men would also work hard so to be gifted a new article of clothing from their masters.

The Yule Cat is thought to be the pet of the ogre Grýla.

Grýla and Leppalúöl Photo Credit: David Stanley via Wikimedia

Grýla lives in a cave up in the mountains with her third husband, Leppalúöl, since she ate the first two. They both come down from their home around Christmas time to search for naughty children to throw in a sack and take back for their next meal. She loves to boil them up and have them as a stew. It is said there is never a shortage of food for Grýla, but if the child repents their bad behavior she will let them go.

She is the mother of the 13 Yule Lads, mischievous boys all dressed up like a cross between Where's Waldo and Santa. They will leave gifts or candy in the shoes of good children who place a shoe on the windowsill, if you have been naughty however, they will leave a rotten apple or potato instead.

When they aren’t doing that they are getting into mischief, usually based off eating food. With names such as Spoon-Licker, Pot-Scraper, Bowl-Licker, Sausage-Swiper, or Skyr(yogurt)-gobbler you can guess what they go around doing.

They all arrive on different days, with the first to arrive being Sheep-Cote Clod on December 12th. He goes around harassing sheep, but is impaired by his stiff peg-legs. Now it doesn’t say exactly what type of sheep harassment he is doing but my guess is that those legs aren’t the only stiff thing on his body.

And this is the benign version of these creatures! They used to be much, much scarier but way back in 1746 the King of Iceland banned the telling of those tales because children were so scared that they wouldn’t leave their homes.

So go ahead and give your children socks this year. When they whine and complain you can tell them the tale of the people-eating Christmas Cat. The prowling giant cat that wanted to make them its next yum-yums.

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Sources:

• Grýla and The Yule Lads: Iceland’s Terrifying Christmas Tradition
• The Legend of the Yule Cat
• The People-Eating Yule Cat is the Best Icelandic Christmas Nightmare
• Yule Cat
• Grýla
• Yule Lads
• Pictures: 1 2 3 4

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