..... Merry Christmas everyone...
...Christmas Monsters.....
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Gryla is a character of Icelandic folklore: a giantess with an appetite for the flesh of mischievous children, who she cooks in a large pot.
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Gryla the giantess
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Gryla was originally mentioned as being a giantess in the 13th century compilation of Norse myths and legends by Prose Edda but there are is no specific connection to Christmas until the 17th century.
The oldest poems about Gryla describe her as a beggar who would walk around asking parents to give her their disobedient children.
Her plans can be thwarted by giving her food or by chasing her away. Originally, she lived in a small cottage, but in later poems she appears to have been forced out of town and into a cave.
Modern day myths about Gryla say that she has the ability to detect children who are misbehaving year-round.
During Christmas time, she comes from the mountains to search the nearby towns for her next gruesome meal.
According to Iclandic folklore, Gryla has been married three times. Her third husband Leppaludi is said to be living with her in their cave in the Dimmuborgir lava fields, with the big black Yule Cat and their sons. Leppaludi is lazy and mostly stays at home in their cave. Gryla supposedly has dozens of children with her previous husbands, but they are rarely mentioned nowadays
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Gryla's Sons the Yule lads
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the Yule Lads can be found in the 17th-century poem, Poem of Gryla. Gryla had appeared in older tales as a troll but had not been linked to Christmas before. Gryla is described as a hideous being who is the mother of the gigantic Yule Lads who are a vicious menace to children.
Early on the number and description of Yule Lads varied depending on location, with each individual Lad ranging from a simple prankster's to a homicidal monster's.
They were used to frighten children into being good like the boogyman..
In the late 18th century a poem mentions there being 13 of them. In the mid-19th century, author Jon Arnason drew inspiration from the Brothers Grimm and began collecting folktales. His 1862 collection is the first mention of the names of the Yule Lads.
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---The Yule Cat---
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The Yule Cat is her pet: a huge and vicious cat who hunt's the snowy countryside during Christmas time (Yule) looking for people too eat he usually targets people who have not received any new clothes to wear before Christmas Eve.
This odd trait is connected to the culture and traditions of the region.
Sheep husbandry was an important part of the farm life in Iceland, after the autumn shearing of sheep, all members of the family worked hard to process wool. As a rule, the work was completed just in time for Christmas time, and those who worked hard received a new item of clothing to wear
So to encourage children to there chores and work , there parents scared them with story's of the Yule Cat .
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===La Befana======
=the Christmas Witch==
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La Befana and The Feast of the Epiphany is celebrated January 6 with a national holiday in Italy, and the tradition of La Befana are a big part of Italian Christmas celebrations. Epiphany commemorates the 12th day of Christmas when the three Wise Men arrived at the manger bearing gifts for Baby Jesus. The traditional Christmas holiday season in Italy lasts through Epiphany.
La Befana is a witch from Italian folklore: she travels on her magic broom, to every house in Italy bringing gifts. Climbing down the chimneys, she brings candy to the children that were good and black coal to the children that were naughty.
kids in Italy look forward to the arrival of the red-suited Babbo Natale on Christmas Eve.
She is an old witch who arrives in early January. For Italians, La Festa dell’Epifania on January 6th is as significant a holiday as Christmas Day; especially for Italian children!
According to the Italian legend, La Befana, a witch, refused to join the Wise Men on their journey to see the baby Jesus. When she regrets her decision, she sets out to bring gifts to the Child but never finds him. Instead, she leaves gifts for other children. Italian children leave out their shoes or put up stockings for the Befana to fill on January 5th, Epiphany Eve.
So according to legend every Epiphany Eve, the old, tattered and soot-covered Befana flies around the world on a broomstick and comes down chimneys to deliver candy and presents to children who have been good during the year.
However just like Santa la Befana will leave a lumps of coal to the bad kids. Knowing that all kids can’t be perfect year-round, some shops in Italy sell carbone or black rock candy that actually looks like pieces of coal… that way even teh naoughty kids can still have a treat on the holidays.
Unlike Santa Claus, La Befana has been an Italian tradition since the XIII century and comes from Christian legend rather than pop culture or corporate merchandising
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==Frau Perchta=========
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Frau Perchta, (Berchta) previously known as a goddess in Southern Germanic paganism in the Alpine countries. Her name means “the bright one”.
Perchta seems to have a dual nature – she is alternately described as kind or violent, and physically as wizened, old, and ugly or a tall and beautiful young woman, white as snow and dressed in all white
The days leading up to the winter solstice, Perchta would enter homes in search for the good kids who would receive a small silver coin in their shoe; while the bad kids would have their stomachs slit open and innards pulled out and replaced with stones and straw.
In many old descriptions, Perchta had one large foot, sometimes called a goose foot or swan foot. some believe the strange foot symbolized her being a higher being who is capable of shape shift into an animal form.
The Brother's Grimm reconted a simmilar story called Frau Holle,
They noticed that Bertha with a strange foot exists in many languages (Middle German "Berhte mit dem fuoze", French "Berthe au grand pied", Latin "Berhta cum magno pede", Italian " Berta dai gran piè", title of a medieval epic poem of italian area): "It is apparently a swan maiden's foot, which as a mark of her higher nature she cannot lay aside...and at the same time the spinning-woman's splayfoot that worked the treadle.
In the Tyrol she appears as little old woman with a very wrinkled face, bright lively eyes, and a long hooked nose; her hair is disheveled, her garments tattered and torn.
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I'll have one more post next week and that will be it for 2019, thank you to all who enjoy these posts Happy New Year and have a Merry Christmas.! :D
