Yule in Iceland

It's early December, which means the Yule in Iceland Web site is up. Oh, wait, I see it's now up year-round, but the Jólasveinar don't start appearing until Dec. 12. When I was in Iceland, I picked up a multi-language children's book on the Jólasveinarnir, which has the section on each of the lads (the text is in Icelandic, English, German, Norwegian, and, I want to say, Swedish and/or French). Without a doubt, however, my favorite Icelandic Yule tradition is the Jólaköttur.

Welcome to Iceland and the Yule Traditions and Yule Lore found here. On these pages you will find some information about Yule traditions in ancient and modern times.

Jólasveinarnir, The Yuletide Lads, will visit these pages starting on December 12th, as you can see in the list at the left. The Icelandic Jólasveinar leave small gifts for good children, who put their shoes on the windowsill at night. The Jólasveinar will also leave a Cyber-gift for you each day, as they arrive in town from the mountains, where they live for most of the year.

We are using the English word Yule instead of Christmas as we want to emphasize the close connection the English and Icelandic languages had in the past when the tongues were essentially the same.

Christmas | Iceland | yule