The Yule Cat: Jolakotturinn, Gryla and the Yule Lads of Iceland
Most countries keep a gift-bringer at Christmas. Iceland keeps a family of trolls and a cat the size of a house. The Yule Cat, Jolakotturinn in Icelandic (properly written Jólakötturinn), prowls the snow on Christmas Eve and eats anyone who has not received a new piece of clothing before the holiday. It is one of the darker figures in European winter folklore and, oddly, one of the most cheerful to tell children about, because the way to avoid it is so simple.
This piece covers the cat, the household it belongs to, the poem that fixed its modern image, and what the story was actually doing.
The cat itself
In the usual telling the Yule Cat is enormous, taller than the houses, with whiskers sharp as bristles and eyes that glow. It roams the countryside on Christmas Eve looking in through windows. If it sees a child, or in older versions any person, who has nothing new to wear, it eats their Christmas dinner and then eats them. Anyone in new clothes, even a single pair of socks, is safe.
It is usually described as black, though the sources are vaguer than the modern illustrations. The black cat is a later settling of the image rather than an ancient fixed point, but it fits: a dark cat in a dark season, seen only by its eyes. Our piece on black cat symbolism in witch lore covers how the black cat came to carry so much weight in Europe, and black cat superstitions around the world shows how differently other places read it.
The household: Gryla, Leppaludi and the Yule Lads
Black cats for the long nights
The cat does not work alone. It belongs to Gryla (Grýla), a troll woman who lives in the mountains and comes down at Christmas to collect badly behaved children in a sack and boil them in her pot. Her name appears in medieval Icelandic writing as a troll, though her Christmas role is later. Her husband Leppaludi (Leppalúði) is lazy and mostly stays home. Their sons are the Yule Lads, the Jolasveinar.
The thirteen Yule Lads
There are thirteen of them in the modern standard list, and they come down from the mountains one per night, starting on 12 December and ending with the last on 24 December. After Christmas they leave in the same order, one each day, until the last has gone on 6 January. Each has a name that describes his habit. Stekkjarstaur, Sheep-Cote Clod, arrives first and harasses the sheep. Thvorusleikir, Spoon-Licker, licks the wooden spoons. Gluggagaegir, Window-Peeper, looks in through windows. Pottaskefill, Pot-Scraper, and Skyrgamur, Skyr-Gobbler, go after the leftovers. Bjugnakraekir, Sausage-Swiper, hides in the rafters, and Ketkrokur, Meat-Hook, lowers a hook down the chimney for the Christmas meat. Kertasnikir, Candle-Beggar, arrives last on Christmas Eve and steals candles, which once mattered a great deal in an Icelandic winter.
Each night the Lads are in town, Icelandic children set a shoe on the windowsill. In older stories the Lads were pests and thieves. Over the twentieth century they softened, picked up red suits from the Santa Claus tradition, and now leave small gifts in a shoe on the windowsill for children who behave, or a potato for those who do not. The cat did not soften at all.
The 1932 poem
Much of the modern image comes from one source. In 1932 the poet Johannes ur Kotlum (Jóhannes úr Kötlum) published a collection of Christmas verse for children that included a poem about the Yule Cat. It describes the cat in vivid detail and ends with a turn: the child who hears it is asked to help make sure every poor child gets something new, so the cat goes hungry. The poem is still read and sung in Iceland every December, and most later retellings follow it.
The cat in Iceland today
The Yule Cat is everywhere in an Icelandic December: on cards, on sweaters, in shop windows and in the children's songs. In recent years Reykjavik has put up a large illuminated Yule Cat in the city centre for the season, and it has become a favourite photograph for visitors. The threat has turned into a mascot without quite losing its teeth.
What the story was for
The standard explanation is economic. Autumn in rural Iceland was the season for processing wool, and the work had to be finished before Christmas. Farm owners traditionally gave new clothing to workers who had done their share, and those who had not got nothing. The cat was the threat that kept the spinning wheels going. Whether the tale started that way or simply came to be used that way is hard to say, since written records of the cat are no older than the nineteenth century.
Either reading leaves the same useful core. The cat punishes neglect, and Johannes ur Kotlum turned that around so it also punishes the neglect of others. Make sure everyone has something warm. That is a Yule message as good as any. For other dark figures of the season, see our piece on Krampus and Krampusnacht and the Norse Yule and the Wild Hunt.
Keeping a Yule Cat night
The custom translates well to a modern house, with or without children.
Give one new thing
Make sure everyone in the house gets one new piece of clothing before Christmas Eve. Socks count. It is a small, practical gift and it comes with a story.
Give one thing away
Follow the poem. Donate a coat, a blanket or a set of gloves to someone who would otherwise go without. The cat stays hungry another year.
Leave a light in the window
The cat looks in through windows. A candle or lamp in the window on Christmas Eve is a nod to that, and to the older northern habit of keeping a light against the longest nights.
Bring a black cat into the decor
If you already love black cats, this is their season too. The black cat collection runs from jewelry to wall pieces; the black cat moon phase stocking is the obvious one for Christmas Eve, and the moonlit forest black cat wall clock stays up all year. Our black cat Christmas guide covers the rest of the house.
One stocking for Christmas Eve
Frequently Asked Questions About the Yule Cat
What is the Yule Cat?
The Yule Cat, Jolakotturinn, is a giant cat from Icelandic folklore that roams on Christmas Eve and eats people who have not received new clothes before Christmas. It belongs to the troll Gryla.
Who are the Yule Lads?
The thirteen sons of Gryla and Leppaludi. They arrive one per night from 12 December to 24 December and leave one per day after Christmas until 6 January. Each is named for his mischief.
Who wrote the Yule Cat poem?
Johannes ur Kotlum, in a 1932 collection of Christmas poems for children. His version fixed much of the cat's modern image and added the call to help poor children.
Is the Yule Cat black?
It is usually shown that way today, and the dark cat with glowing eyes fits the story, but the older sources focus on its size and hunger rather than its colour.
The Yule Cat is a monster with an easy cure: something new and warm for everyone in the house, and for someone outside it. Keep the light in the window and the cat will pass by.
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