As we gear up to the festive season, we are reminded of the many different ways people across the world celebrate. From the Yule Boys to Old Saint Nick, Krampus to Jólakötturinn, there are thousands of stories and tales to be heard. Here at Brid’s Cross Brewing, we love a good folktale.
Krampus: In Austria St. Nicholas rewards ‘good’ children, while Krampus is said to capture the naughtiest children and whisk them away in his sack.
Gävle Goat: We all know Santa’s sleigh is pulled by reindeer, but did you know this image originates from the poem ‘Twas the night before Christmas’. Older stories tell of Saint Nicholas riding a Yule goat on his yearly deliveries. In Sweden, since 1966, a 13metre-tall Yule Goat has been built in the centre of Gävle’s Castle Square for the Advent.
Mari Lwyd: The Grey Mare is a Christmas wassailing tradition which has been recorded in Wales since 1800, but may have been practised much longer. The mare itself is a horses skull mounted on a pole with a white sheet covering the pole bearer. The Mare and its companions engage in a singing contest with the inhabitants of the houses they visit, before being granted entry to the house and being plied with food and ale.
Cutty Wren: Boxing Day has also been known as St Stephen’s Day and Wren Day in the past. There are several folk songs about the slaughter of a wren on this day, and these are thought to represent the sacrifice of a Year King. At Middleton in Suffolk, the Old Glory Molly dancers parade a wooden wren through the village to the Bell Inn, where they sing and dance for the assembled crowd of locals and visitors.
Jólakötturinn (The Yule Cat): Is said to tower above the tallest buildings, and silently prowls around Iceland on Christmas Eve looking for people without new clothes; he shows no mercy and eats the humans without new clothes for the season. He belongs to a family of trolls called Yule Lads.
Yule Lads: These are the gift givers for Christmas instead of Santa in Iceland. Since about the 17th century these trolls (most common number being 13) came down from their mountain one by one over 13 days before Christmas to leave small presents and to cause a little mischief. Children place their shoes outside, the trolls would put nice gifts for good and rotten potato for bad children. These trolls weren’t always friendly, originally, they came down from the mountains, not to spread Christmas cheer, but to scare the children into obedience.
Ruth’s tradition is to burn a Yule fire and scatter the ashes on the flowerbed, watch all of the festive horror films, and she is also a firm believer Die Hard IS ABSOLUTELY a Christmas film. It’s a bitter sweet time of year, Boxing Day was her father’s birthday, who she sadly lost a few years ago. The season is not a happy one for her, but we’ll do our best to keep our spirits high.
My Christmas traditions have been linked to family and the community that I lived in for almost 20 years, before moving to Whitworth, where I am creating new traditions. This year we’ll be in Suffolk for the festivities with my family, and for the first time in three years, have all three of my children with me on Christmas Day.
How do you celebrate the festive season?
Pop a comment below and share your stories.
Did You Know…
True meaning behind the Yule Tree: FRUITS for the harvest NUTS for fertility LOVE CHARMS for happiness COINS gold and silver for prosperity LIGHTS for the suns return GARLANDS for unity
Christmas tree decorating goes back to the ancient Egyptians and Romans, who decorated using evergreens during the winter solstice to signify that spring would return.
Mistletoe isn’t just pretty. It’s also an ancient symbol of fertility and virility— and the Druids considered it an aphrodisiac.
Rudolph was a marketing ploy. In 1939 the Montgomery Ward store asked one of its copywriters to create a Christmas story for kids that they could use as a promotion. (sorry kids)!
