Thirteen Yule Lads visit Icelandic homes during the Christmas season.
The Yule Lads, or Jólasveinar, are figures from Icelandic folklore. In the modern tradition, they arrive one at a time during the thirteen nights before Christmas, beginning on 12 December. Each leaves a small gift in a child’s shoe, provided the child has behaved well; a badly behaved child may instead receive a potato.
The figures have individual names and mischievous habits, including door-slamming, sausage-stealing, and skyr-eating. Older folklore portrayed them as more frightening, but modern celebrations generally present them as humorous Christmas visitors.
The Yule Lads are not identical to Santa Claus, although contemporary Icelandic Christmas customs sometimes blend international Santa imagery with local folklore. Their mother, Grýla, and the family’s large Christmas Cat belong to the same traditional story world.