Christmas In Iceland
Christmas is celebrated on Dec. 24th by going to church, then opening gifts, and special time with the family playing games or cards.
The Folklore abounds for this holiday. They have not ONE Santa but there are 13 to be found! Yes, Iceland has 13 Santa Clauses, called Yule Lads (and family). Christmas season starts when the first Yule Lad comes to town (13 days before Christmas Eve), and finishes when the last one leaves town (Twelfth Night). (These Yule Lads are part of a family tied into the Christmas Cat and Gryla mentioned below).
There is this cat folklore tale. It is a bit foggy to me though I have heard it twice. The cat belongs to some ugly (and horrible) old woman named Gryla who lives far away in the mountains and eats children. There is a display of this Christmas Cat quite prominent downtown. Here's where it gets unclear - If children are naughty by not being nicely dressed for church on Christmas they risk two things. 1) they will only get a potato for Christmas and 2) if they really don't look good or misbehave the Christmas Cat will take them home to the ugly woman and she will eat them! I guess this is the fashion police for Iceland!
While we have heard Christmas music playing, some is even religious. We only saw ONE nativity scene. I have yet to see Christ depicted anywhere. We are not asking as we are the guests of this country but we shall keep our eyes and ears open!
When we left the Sweet Pig Pub we saw a small ice rink with several young people enjoying a time to skate. Apparently the city has several of these small rinks around town during the Christmas season. I am still personally surprised there is no snow on the ground! We were MUCH colder visiting the Great Lakes/Chicago area when Steven graduated from Navy boot camp! We are told the snow doesn't stay because the earth is so warm from the geothermal activity beneath.
The Folklore abounds for this holiday. They have not ONE Santa but there are 13 to be found! Yes, Iceland has 13 Santa Clauses, called Yule Lads (and family). Christmas season starts when the first Yule Lad comes to town (13 days before Christmas Eve), and finishes when the last one leaves town (Twelfth Night). (These Yule Lads are part of a family tied into the Christmas Cat and Gryla mentioned below).
There is this cat folklore tale. It is a bit foggy to me though I have heard it twice. The cat belongs to some ugly (and horrible) old woman named Gryla who lives far away in the mountains and eats children. There is a display of this Christmas Cat quite prominent downtown. Here's where it gets unclear - If children are naughty by not being nicely dressed for church on Christmas they risk two things. 1) they will only get a potato for Christmas and 2) if they really don't look good or misbehave the Christmas Cat will take them home to the ugly woman and she will eat them! I guess this is the fashion police for Iceland!
Reykjavik, as well as other towns around the country are lit up with endless amounts of Christmas lights and advent lights. We have noticed that the majority of lights around are white. Most people with decorations in their windows have either an outline of lights or a simple wreath or ball of white lights. However, the decorations in our hotel are quite colorful.
While we have heard Christmas music playing, some is even religious. We only saw ONE nativity scene. I have yet to see Christ depicted anywhere. We are not asking as we are the guests of this country but we shall keep our eyes and ears open!
When we left the Sweet Pig Pub we saw a small ice rink with several young people enjoying a time to skate. Apparently the city has several of these small rinks around town during the Christmas season. I am still personally surprised there is no snow on the ground! We were MUCH colder visiting the Great Lakes/Chicago area when Steven graduated from Navy boot camp! We are told the snow doesn't stay because the earth is so warm from the geothermal activity beneath.
Comments
Post a Comment