Iceland has its own Santa Claus problem — except instead of one jolly figure, it has thirteen, and they used to be genuinely frightening. The Yule Lads are a set of trickster brothers who visit Icelandic children one by one in the thirteen nights before Christmas, and their story reaches back further than most people expect, tangled up with Norse midwinter belief and one deeply unpleasant mother.
Here's who they are, where they came from, and why they're worth knowing if you're drawn to real Norse and Nordic winter folklore instead of the department-store version of Christmas.
Who Are the Yule Lads?
The Yule Lads (Jólasveinar in Icelandic) are thirteen brothers who come down from the mountains one at a time, starting thirteen nights before Christmas Eve, and leave the same way, one per day, after Christmas. Icelandic children put a shoe on their windowsill each night — well-behaved children get a small gift, and the rest get a raw potato.
Each brother has his own personality and his own specific kind of mischief. A few of the best-known:
- Stekkjarstaur (Sheep-Cote Clod) — harasses sheep, though his stiff wooden legs make it difficult.
- Þörusleikir (Spoon-Licker) — steals and licks wooden spoons.
- Pottaskefill (Pot-Scraper) — steals leftovers from unwashed pots.
- Gluggagægir (Window-Peeper) — looks through windows for things to steal.
- Kertasníkir (Candle-Stealer) — steals candles, which in the old days were made of tallow and edible.
They sound almost comic today, and in modern Iceland they largely are — cheerful, costumed figures who appear at Christmas markets. But the earlier versions of these stories were told to keep children in line, and they weren't gentle about it.
Grýla: The Troll Mother Behind the Lads
The Yule Lads' mother is Grýla, and she is not a comic figure in the older tellings. Grýla is a giantess who lives in the mountains and comes down during the Christmas season specifically to find misbehaving children, whom she is said to carry off in a sack and boil into stew. She appears in Icelandic sources going back to the 13th century, though her connection to the Yule Lads as their mother developed later, over centuries of oral storytelling.
Grýla is usually described alongside the Yule Cat (Jólakötturinn), a giant black cat said to eat anyone who doesn't receive at least one new piece of clothing before Christmas Eve — a detail some historians connect to an old practical incentive: get the wool processed and the farm work finished before the holiday, or face the consequences in the story told to children.
Where This Fits Into Norse and Nordic Tradition
It's worth being precise here: the Yule Lads and Grýla are Icelandic folklore, not Norse mythology in the Eddas-and-sagas sense. They don't appear in the Poetic Edda or Prose Edda. What they share with the wider Norse world is the season itself — Yule, the midwinter festival that predates Christianity in Scandinavia and Iceland, and the broader Nordic pattern of midwinter being a time when the boundary between worlds felt thin, and strange things were said to come down from the mountains or ride through the sky.
That pattern shows up across the Nordic countries in different shapes — the Yule Goat in Scandinavia, house spirits who needed to be fed porridge to stay friendly, and processions of masked figures going door to door. The Yule Lads are Iceland's specific, well-documented version of a much older midwinter instinct: that the season brings visitors, and not all of them are kind.
The Yule Lads Today
Modern Iceland has softened the Yule Lads considerably — they're now closer to thirteen small Santas than thirteen small threats, and the shoe-on-the-windowsill tradition is a beloved part of Icelandic childhood rather than a warning. But the older, stranger version of the story hasn't disappeared. It's part of what makes Icelandic and Nordic Christmas folklore feel different from the version most of the world grew up with — older, odder, and rooted in a landscape where the mountains genuinely felt like they could hold something.
If that's the kind of Christmas story that appeals to you more than the standard one, it's worth carrying that spirit into how you decorate and gift this season — something with real Norse and Nordic roots instead of a generic snowflake. Our Nordic Snowflake Christmas Beanie and the rest of the Viking Christmas mug line lean into that same old-ways midwinter feeling rather than a generic holiday one.
Yule Lads FAQ
How many Yule Lads are there?
Thirteen. Each one arrives on a separate night in the thirteen nights leading up to Christmas Eve, and each leaves the same way afterward.
Who is Grýla?
Grýla is a giantess in Icelandic folklore, described in sources going back to the 13th century, who is said to come down from the mountains at Christmas looking for misbehaving children. In later folklore she became known as the mother of the Yule Lads.
Are the Yule Lads part of Norse mythology?
Not in the strict sense — they don't appear in the Poetic Edda or Prose Edda. They're Icelandic folklore that developed over centuries, connected to the same midwinter season that Norse Yule belongs to, but they're a separate tradition from the god-and-saga mythology.
What is the Yule Cat?
The Yule Cat, or Jólakötturinn, is a giant black cat in Icelandic folklore said to eat anyone who doesn't receive new clothes before Christmas Eve. It's usually mentioned alongside Grýla and the Yule Lads.
Do children still leave shoes out for the Yule Lads?
Yes — it's still a common tradition in Iceland today. Children place a shoe on the windowsill each of the thirteen nights and find either a small gift or a potato in the morning, depending on their behavior.
For more on the wider Norse midwinter season, see our guide to how Yule is celebrated and our overview of the Norse Wheel of the Year.
Want more Norse and Nordic folklore like this through the winter season? Join the Rune Circle for new Rune Library guides and early looks at new designs from Runestone Norway.