Nordic Christmas myths and stories: My top 7

You’ve heard of Santa Claus, but have you heard of Odin Claus? North Europe has an impressive canon of unique Nordic Christmas myths and stories, many based on Norse mythology. 

From the ominous Yule cat to mischievous trolls, these are bedtime stories told to children to make them behave. However hidden within them is a real fear of the darkness that winter brings, going all the way back to Viking times. 

It’s an implicit acknowledgement that while winter is a beautiful season, it also comes with danger.  From extreme weather to a limited supply of fresh food, winter in the middles ages was a test of survival. Yule, a pagan festival celebrating the winter solstice, marked the rebirth of the sun and the point at which the nights would start getting shorter again. 

Nowadays, in a post-Christianised Europe, Christmas is celebrated instead of Yule. However a lot of the underlying folklore remains, offering a fascinating cultural insight into the Nordic countries. Here are my top 7 favourite myths, ranked in order, from Northern Europe. 

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This isn’t some cute and fluffy domestic pet. The Yule Cat is a huge and monstrous feline that wanders the Icelandic countryside during the Christmas season, eating those who do not receive new clothes. It is considered to be the pet of the troll Grýla and her sons the Yule lads. 

The main theory is that this myth was originally meant as a threat to farm workers to finish processing wool collected in the autumn before Christmas. Those that did were rewarded with new clothes, so wouldn’t get eaten. Talk about a toxic workplace!

Reason this is my number 1? Well, it’s quite literally a giant man-eating cat, how could I not give that first place?

The 13 Yule lads are the mischievous prankster sons of the terrifying troll Grýla. The myth is that one lad will visit town each night, starting on 12th of December until Christmas. 

They’ll leave small gifts for the children like sweets or toys in shoes they leave on the windowsill. But if the child has been bad, they’ll leave a rotten potato instead. The lads are pranksters, and each one has a descriptive name based on their preferred form of harassment. 

Fun fact. The original Yule lads were much more menacing. So menacing that the King of Denmark objected to them. In 1746 the use of the myth was banned as disciplinary tool. Since then, they’ve had a revival in a much more friendly form. 

The Snow Queen by Hans Christian Anderson is a beautiful winter fairytale. It was also the original inspiration behind the best Disney film ever created Frozen. 

The tale follows a little girl, Gerda, who goes to save her best friend Kai from the grasp of the evil Snow Queen who has taken him. It’s a traditional tale of good vs evil, exploring themes of friendship, childhood innocence and perception. One of my favourite messages from the story is that our perceptions of the world are subjective, and can be flawed or distorted. 

The magical winter vibes of The Snow Queen has since inspired a lot of media, including I believe The Narnia Chronicles.

Also known in English as Saint Lucy’s day, this Christian festival is marked in Sweden on 13th December. It is a festival of light, heralding the arrival of Christ’s light on Christmas Day.

Its origins are said to be a virgin martyr in the 4th century called Lucia of Syracuse, who brought food to persecuted Christians hiding in Roman catacombs. She wore a candle-lit wreath on her head to light the way. 

In the modern day, there’s a procession of girls dressed as Saint Lucia. They wear long, flowing white dresses with a red sash and candlelit wreaths on their heads. They sing special choir songs, and there’s a feast afterwards. 

Yule Goats appear all over Nordic Christmas stories, most likely stemming from Thor’s goat in Norse mythology. But, I find the Finnish version to be especially unsettling. 

The original Joulupukki has pagan origins and was a symbol of fertility. But what that meant in practice was a man dressed up in a goat costume going around people’s houses and demanding food and treats. I don’t know about you, but I would probably call the police if this happened to me. 

At some point, this got mixed up with the international Santa Claus myth, and now Joulupukki is known as the Finnish Santa Claus, who you can visit in Rovaniemi up in lapland. I personally think this is just a very clever marketing ploy on behalf of the Finnish tourism board, but hey, it worked. I’m totally not imagining Santa Claus as some weird goat-human hybrid now. 

The nisse are benevolent domestic sprites that live in houses and farms and help with the workload. They clean and look after the animals, wanting nothing in return but respect and a good bowl of julegrøt (Christmas porridge) with butter on Christmas Eve.

These adorable creatures look a little bit like garden gnomes with long beards and tall cone hats. You’ll see them being sold everywhere in Norway during the Christmas period, and I think they’re quite charming. However, they are also pretty greedy and can be vengeful if you withhold the butter on their porridge!

Read more: A full guide to visiting Bergen in winter (by a local)

It’s said that during the Yule season, supernatural sightings are more common as Odin, king of the Norse gods, transforms into ‘Old Man Winter.’ 

He goes on the Wild Hunt, riding his eight-legged horse Sleipnir through the winter sky and leading a procession of ghosts. Odin also had a long beard and gave gifts to those who deserved them, influencing the image of modern day Santa Claus.

I love seeing the connections between Norse mythology and modern day Christianity. While Christianity often likes to call paganism ‘barbaric’, it just goes to show how many Christian rituals, festivals and traditions originate in pagan myth.

It also shows how these festivals can change with time, while still maintaining their core purpose. Though Christmas and Yule may look very different nowadays, they are both still festivals celebrating rebirth, renewal and the darkness of midwinter.

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