Tradition
• Christmas has been celebrated in Iceland for many centuries
• It is to celebrate the birth of Jesus
• It is also called “The festival of light”because in Iceland it is always very, verydark in this time of year ( shortest day of the year being 21th of December) and people tried to have more light during the Christmas festival.
Before Christmas
• There is a tradition to eat a specially
prepared meal on the evening of 23rd of
December
• This meal is fermented skate, it is fish that
has been laid in a special liquid and it
smells very bad but tastes very good!
Celebration
• Icelanders begin the festivities by
celebrating on the evening of Dec. 24th,
the family gathers at six o´clock to listen to
or going to a mass
• At around seven o´clock we have a good
meal
• After the meal we open the Christmas
presents
Gastronomy
• The traditional meal for Christmas in
Iceland is “hangikjöt”, smoked lamb meat
• It is served with potatos, red cabbage,
peas, bechamel sauce and “laufabrauð”
• “Laufabrauð” are very thin wheatcakes
that are decorated by cutting fine pattern
into them and then deep fried
Christmas day
• On Christmas day the families gather to dine
together or meet for coffee/chocolate and
homemade cookies which are baked in
December. Many families bake many types of
cookies and make sweets, it is very nice and the
children participate a lot in this
• 26th of Dec. is a national holiday in Iceland too,
it is called “Second day of Christmas”
Other things for Christmas...
• We send a lot of Christmas cards to our
relatives and friends
• We give a lot of Christmas presents!
• In Iceland there are published a lot of
books in the weeks before Christmas, we
call it “book flood or book avelance” and
many people give books for presents
Christmas in Mýri...
• The children make cookies and sweets in
December
• They prepare theater or songs related to
Christmas
• Each class then invites the parents, siblings,
grandparents to a celebration from 15 – 17 one
day in December, where they preform and
afterwards we all sit together and enjoy what
they have prepared
Christmas in Mýri
• On last day of Christmas we have a
“Christmas dance” in our assembly room
• We dance around a Christmas tree and
sing Christmas songs and carols
• Two parents, dressed as Santa Claus
come and celebrate with us and give the
children mandarins and cookies
The Icelandic Yule Lads
and their parents• The Icelandic Yule Lads are
13.
• They live in the mountains withtheir parents, Grýla and Leppalúði.
• They come from the mountainsfrom 12th to 24th of Desember, one each day.
• They give good children a small present during the night while everyone is asleep.
• They put the presents in a shoe that the children have placed in the window.
Grýla and Leppalúði
• The parents of The Yule Ladslive in the mountains and are not very nice.
• Grýla is the dominant memberin their relationship.
• Grýla chases children whobehave badly and makesdinner out of them for her and her husband.
• In the old days Grýla was oftenused to frighten children tobehave well: “If you do not behave Grýla will come and get you!” And still somewhat today!
The Christmas CatJólakötturinn
• This cat is not very
cuddly!
• He lives with Grýla
and Leppalúði.
• He is very grumpy.
• He eats children who
do not get any new
clothes for Christmas.
Stiff-LegsStekkjastaur
• Stiff-Legs is the first to show up.
• He comes the nightbefore 12th of Desember.
• He goes to the sheep-house and tries to get some milk from the sheep.
• That is very difficult for him because his legs are stiff.
• He is also the first one toleave, he goes home on 25th of Desember.
Gully GawkGiljagaur
• Gully Gawk arrivesthe night before 13th of Desember.
• He sneaks into thecowhouse and tries tosteal the cream on top of the milk while the farmers aren´t looking.
• He leaves on 26th of Desember.
ShortyStúfur
• Shorty is the third one to
arrive, he shows up the
night before 14th of
Desember.
• He is very short.
• He likes to steal cooking
pans and licks the left
overs from them.
• He leaves on 27th of
Desember.
Ladle LickerÞvörusleikir
• Ladle Licker arrives the
night before 15th of
Desember.
• He is very thin.
• He likes to steal the ladle
that was used to stirr the
pots with and licks the
leftovers from it.
• He leaves on 28th of
Desember.
Pot ScraperPottaskefill
• Pot Scraper arrives
the night before 16th
of Desember.
• He steals pots that
haven´t been washed
and scapes the
leftovers from them.
• He leaves on the 29th
of Desember.
Bowl LickerAskasleikir
• Bowl Licker, the sixthone, arrives on the night before 17th of Desember.
• He hides under beds andwaits for the people to puttheir bowls of food on the floor to give the cats or dogs the left over food.
• Then he steals the bowland eats what is left.
• He leaves on 30th of Desember.
Door SlammerHurðaskellir
• Door Slammer arrives
on the night before
18th of Desember.
• He likes to slam doors
very hard. Especially
when people are
trying to take a nap.
• He leaves on 31th of
Desember.
Skyr GobblerSkyrgámur (skyr=Icelandic yogurt type)
• Skyr Gobbler arrivesthe night before 19th of Desember.
• He likes to eat skyr and if the container isclosed he smashes the lid open with his fist to get to the skyr.
• He leaves on 1st of January.
Sausage SnatcherBúgnakrækir
• Sausage Snatcherarrives on the nigth before 20th of Desemer.
• He climbs up therafters to stealsausages from where they hang after beeing smoked.
• He leaves on 2nd of January.
Window PeeperGluggagægir
• Window Peeperarrives on the night before 21st of Desember.
• He flattens his noseagainst every window, looking for something to steal.
• He leaves on 3rd of January.
Door SnifferGáttaþefur
• Door Sniffer arrives on
the night before 22nd of
Desember.
• He has a very big nose.
• He likes to smell food,
especially Christmas
cookies and “laufabrauð”.
• Maybe he tries to steal a
cookie or two.
• He leaves on 4th of
January.
Meet HookKetkrókur
• Meet Hook shows up the
night before 23rd of
Desember, on Saint
Thorlaks Day.
• He has a long pole with a
hook at the end. He puts
it down chimneys and
hooks meat that is hung
in the rafters.
• He leaves on 5th of
January.
Candle BeggarKertasníkir
• Candle Beggar arrives on
the night before 24th of
Desember.
• He likes candles very
much and tries to steal
the candles children get
for Christmas.
• He leaves on 6th of
January, on “the last day
of Christmas”.
Yule Lad´s clothes
• In the old days Yule
Lads wore clothes
made from wool,
often brown or gray.
• Today they also like
to dress in red and
white clothes just like
the American Santa
Claus.
Yule Lads in Lækjaborg
• Yule lads today are much nicer than they were inthe old days. They have almost completely stopped stealing and annoying people.
• They are very kind to children and visit us inLækjaborg once a year, during the “Christmas dance” that we have sometime after middle of Desember.
• They sing and dance around the Christmas Treewith the children and bring them presents. Often it is a book and mandarin oranges.
• After that they go outside in the garden and play for a while in our swings and slide.
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