As a follow up to my article on the Icelandic Christmas demon known as the Gryla, I decided to do a follow up on her nasty brood that would put the one in David Cronenberg’s the Brood to shame. Like many Christmas monsters the Gryla’s sons the Yule Lads who worked overtime, Grinch style, in ruining everyone’s holiday. There are thirteen Yule Lads who come down from the mountains one at a time. This separates them from the better-known Wild Hunt.
The first goblin comes down from the mountains on the might of St. Lucy’s Eve (December 12th) and another would come down until December 24th when the last goblin would come sown from their icy mountain lair. As many of these spookier Christmas spirits they leave special treats for good children and a piece of rotten fruit of potato for the rotten kids. Another of Gryla’s sinister companions is the Yule Cat. The Yule Cat was quite as likely to devour wicked misbehaving children during the long winter nights. One way to discourage the activity of the monstrous was to wear a new set of clothing. It was considered a pretty good idea to buy one’s children a new set of clothes to avoid the lusty hunger of the Yule Cat. Here in my native West Virginia, we have our own dark attendant to St. Nicholas by the name of the Belsnickle. This goblin like figure usually arrives early in the holiday season to see who has been naughty or nice. The Belsnickle seems to have arrived with the Dutch settlers entering into Pennsylvania and later into West Virginia, The Belsnickle seems to be another variation on Krampus and the even more sinister Knecht Ruprecht or the Night Wanderer who haunts the long winter nights. His version of the Yule Lads who when by the title of the Tom-Tins. Knecht Ruprecht is definitely a kindred Christmas bogey to the better pus or Belsnickle. Knecht Ruprecht was a kind of ‘Rough Santa’ figure in sooty black furs and with clanging wo bells. This is an example of the contradictory nature of superstition with bells being used to ward of evil spirits especially those lurking on the night of the winter solstice. And so, It Goes.