Christmas in

Leikskólinn Mýri Leikskólinn Lækjaborg October 2007 Tradition

• has been celebrated in Iceland for many centuries • It is to celebrate the birth of • It is also called “The festival of light” because in Iceland it is always very, very dark in this time of year ( shortest day of the year being 21th of ) 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

• 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 and sing Christmas songs and carols • Two parents, dressed as come and celebrate with us and give the children mandarins and cookies

The Icelandic Lads and their parents • The Icelandic Yule Lads are 13. • They live in the mountains with their parents, Grýla and Leppalúði. • They come from the mountains from 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 Lads live in the mountains and are not very nice. • Grýla is the dominant member in their relationship. • Grýla chases children who behave badly and makes dinner out of them for her and her husband. • In the old days Grýla was often used to frighten children to behave well: “If you do not behave Grýla will come and get you!” And still somewhat today! The Christmas Cat Jólakötturinn

• 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-Legs Stekkjastaur

• Stiff-Legs is the first to show up. • He comes the night before 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 to leave, he goes home on 25th of Desember. Gully Gawk Giljagaur • Gully Gawk arrives the night before 13th of Desember. • He sneaks into the cowhouse and tries to steal the cream on top of the milk while the farmers aren´t looking. • He leaves on 26th of Desember. Shorty Stúfur

• 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 Licker Þvörusleikir

• 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 Scraper Pottaskefill

• 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 Licker Askasleikir

• Bowl Licker, the sixth one, arrives on the night before 17th of Desember. • He hides under beds and waits for the people to put their bowls of food on the floor to give the cats or dogs the left over food. • Then he steals the bowl and eats what is left. • He leaves on 30th of Desember. Door Slammer Hurðaskellir

• 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 Gobbler Skyrgámur (skyr=Icelandic yogurt type) • Skyr Gobbler arrives the night before 19th of Desember. • He likes to eat skyr and if the container is closed he smashes the lid open with his fist to get to the skyr. • He leaves on 1st of . Sausage Snatcher Búgnakrækir • Sausage Snatcher arrives on the nigth before 20th of Desemer. • He climbs up the rafters to steal sausages from where they hang after beeing smoked. • He leaves on 2nd of January. Window Peeper Gluggagægir • Window Peeper arrives on the night before 21st of Desember. • He flattens his nose against every window, looking for something to steal. • He leaves on 3rd of January. Door Sniffer Gáttaþefur

• 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 Hook Ketkrókur

• 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 Beggar Kertasníkir

• 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 in the old days. They have almost completely stopped stealing and annoying people. • They are very kind to children and visit us in Lækjaborg once a year, during the “Christmas dance” that we have sometime after middle of Desember. • They sing and dance around the Christmas Tree with 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.