Reykjavik Centre, Jólakötturinn, & Harpa

I have been waiting for MONTHS to see the Yule Cat, Jólakötturinn, who is considered the pet of Gryla and her sons, the Yule Lads.

According to Wikipedia (and yes, I'm ashamed of myself for using it as a source): "Jólakötturinn is a huge and vicious cat from Icelandic Christmas folklore that is said to lurk in the snowy countryside during the Christmas season and eat people who do not receive new clothing before Christmas Eve. In other versions of the story, the cat just eats the food of people without new clothes. The Yule cat was traditionally used as a threat and incentive for farmworkers to finish processing the wool collected in the autumn before Christmas. Those who took part in the work were rewarded with new clothes, but those who did not would get nothing and thus would be prey for the Yule cat.

The establishment of the Yule cat as part of classic Icelandic Christmas folklore came in 1932, when Jóhannes úr Kötlum published his poetry collection Jólin koma [is] ('Christmas is Coming'). One of the poems, "Jólakötturinn," centered on the eponymous man-eating monster, which subsequently became a common part of Christmas festivities and decorations in Iceland."

McKelvie and I also found The Drunk Rabbit again, and we visited the Harpa Concert Hall and walked very quickly by the Icelandic Phallological Museum (One visit was enough, thank you very much.)Leggi altro