Soon, We Welcome the Yule Lads {Icelandic Tradition}

When we were in Iceland, we learned about a tradition for Christmas called the Yule Lads. The Yule Lads are mischievious souls descended from trolls. For 13 nights before Christmas, one Yule Lad comes down from their home in the mountains to either leave a treat or a rotting potato in a child's
shoe. The type of "gift" depends upon the child's behavior. Children leave shoes in their bedroom windows waiting for the Yule Lads. Towards the end of the season, the Yule Lads return home one by one for 13 days after Christmas. The last one leaves on January 6th marking the end of the Christmas season.

The Yule Lads initially served as a way to scare children into behaving properly. In fact, the Yule Lads are the children of the ogress Gryla. Gryla would come down from the mountains each Christmas season to search for naughty children to boil while her children would engage in hijinks. Pretty scary for little ones! Fortunately, the Yule Lads have become a little more benign over the years. Yet, the tradition has retained its charm and we are enamored with the idea of adding this tradition to our holiday celebration. Each Yule Lad has a certain peculiarity about him, so we thought that the tradition would add a dash more magic to the holidays.

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Website Wednesday: Holidays Around the World

One thing that I have always loved to do is learn about traditions throughout the world. Sometimes, I think that these traditions are really being lost in this fast paced world. Through my daughter's eyes, I see the vigor that some of us still have in learning about these traditions. I think that it is important to remember these special little things about life or we will lose them.

For this Website Wednesday, I thought that I would collect a few websites where you can find some information about interesting celebrations across the globe. Check these sites for some interesting information:

Six outdoor (ok, one is in a cave) Christmas celebrations are discussed in Six Christmas Traditions From Around the World in the New York Times.

The History Channel has a ton of information and videos about the holidays. If you go to their holiday page, you will see a list of holidays. Just click on one of the holidays and you will be brought to a page with information and videos about that holiday.

The Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago has quite an extensive amount of information. The website has a list of countries. All you need to do is click on one of the countries to learn about their Christmas traditions. The Museum of Science and Industry also has pages dedicated to Hanukkah, Diwali, Chinese New Year, Kwanzaa, and Ramadan.

With these websites, you find tons of interesting information about celebrations around the world! Maybe you will start some new ones of your own!

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