Posted on by Matt Gilligan

Grýla the Troll Eats Naughty Children on Christmas in Iceland

If you’re a bad kid who finds coal in his stocking instead of gifts, well…consider yourself lucky. If you lived in Iceland, you just might have been eaten by a troll instead.

Human-eating trolls feature heavily in many Icelandic myths, and during jól (Christmas season in Iceland), a Christmas troll named Grýla comes down from her mountain cave to gather all of the naughty children.

Then she hauls them back home to her lazy, nagged husband to turn into a holiday stew.

Stories of her antics have been around since at least the Middle Ages, and, according to experts on local mythology, Icelandic trolls are typically stupid but dangerous giants who actively hate Christianity and Christians. Early folk used them to explain rock formations (legends would claim they were trolls turned to stone).

Sometime in the 13th century, the general word for a she-troll – grýla – became the name of a specific troll who ate children around the holidays.

Which only goes to prove that, even hundreds of years ago, people needed a way to keep their kids in line at Christmastime.

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Happy krampusnacht! Our friend the krampus has gotten a lot of play the last few years, and I wholly approve of bringing back the traditions of terrifying children(and adults!) into good behavior. Iceland has an entire pantheon of holiday ghouls that I’m gleefully exploring and can’t wait to share with you. Without further ado, I welcome you to a Christmas full of holiday fear! . . . First, we’ll meet Gryla. She’s the matriarch of this northern band of bloodthirsty goblins. She has thirteen sons , the “Yule boys” and (depending on the telling) these creatures are murderous wretches or charming tricksters who leave gifts or rotten potatoes. Gryla, however, has received no politewashing treatment, and watches children all year long from her cave on the lava fields. If a child has made the naughty list, she’ll steal them away in the night and stuff them into her simmering stewpot. . . Clearly, Nordic wintertime festivals are the most metal. If the cold dark winters don’t kill you, there’s plenty of monsters hiding in the gloom that will. So grab your Rowan, yew, and a fresh pair of socks, and we’ll navigate how to protect ourselves from this family of fiends! (Unless you’ve already been bad. Then I’m sorry, Gryla’s claws are coming to town.) . . . #krampus #krampusnacht #folklore #christmastraditions #iceland #icelandicfolklore #goblin #troll #oagress #gryla #krampuslauf #icelandicchristmas #vikingmythology #nordictraditions #nordic #fantasticbeasts #badfairy #faerie #faerieart #betweenmirrors #popeofhell_art #whatsfordinner #darkart #fairy #badsanta #unseelie #christmasfear #nightmarebeforechristmas

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Like all trolls, Grýla is gross and huge, but she might also have 15 (or 40) tails to hold her many bags of naughty children, 300 heads with 3 eyes each, eyes on the back of her head, long ears, a beard, black teeth, and/or hooves – all depending on who tells the story.

So, I mean, they agree that she’s super ugly and scary, which is the point.

Despite her looks, Grýla is the mother of the 13 Yule Lads, who visit on the 13 days of Christmas, and she owns a cat called Jólakötturinn, who devours people who didn’t get clothes for Christmas (because they didn’t work hard enough).

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Day 3 of #folktaleweek is #witch. Grýla the Christmas witch of Iceland lives in a mountain cave with her husband (who is a giant yule cat!) and her 13 mischievous sons the Yule Lads.  Each Christmas, Gryla comes down from her mountain dwelling to hunt for naughty children. She places them in a sack and drags them back to her cave where she boils them alive for her favorite stew. Her sons join her and do all that they can to terrify the children before they're stuffed in Grýla's sack (because scared kids are tastier!) one is named 'the door slammer' and another 'the sausage swiper', one of them goes around stealing candles so the children are left in the dark. If you haven't heard of Grýla and her family yet go do a quick Wiki search, you're in for a treat! . #folktaleweek2018 #Gryla #christmaswitch #instawitch #witchesofinstagram #folktale #fairytale #folklore #fable #forest_of_twinkling_fireflies #iceland #kidlit #kidlitart #childrensbookillustration #childrensillustration #childrenswritersguild #illustragram #illustratenow #illustrationartists #illustrationoftheday #illustratorsofinstagram #illustratorsoninstagram #kidsillustration #artforchildren #whimsyillos #whimsicalart #best_of_illustrations #scarystories

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As with Santa Claus, Grýla is a cautionary tale used to get children to behave, not a creature adults believe in themselves.

You can see her depicted in statues and other artwork all over Iceland – even in airports – and you won’t have any trouble seeing why Icelandic kids are probably very, very nice when the season is upon them.

I’m inspired to be a little kinder myself, even!

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