Published December 17, 2019
In Iceland, Christmas is a little wacky. Instead of one Santa, we have thirteen. And rather than being a jolly old white-bearded fellow who lets children sit on his on his lap in a shopping mall and showers them with presents, our Jólasveinar—or “Yule Lads,” in English—are a tribe of mischievous little weirdos.
Starting on December 12th, the Yule Lads come down from the mountains one by one, each day until Christmas. If you’ve behaved well, they’ll put a gift in your shoe; if not, you get a potato. In honour of this harrowing game of cat and mouse, we present: the Thirteen Days Of Grapemas, where every day, a Yule Lads will deliver one of you—our beloved readers—a special Icelandic gift.
So what’s a girl gotta do to get some cool stuff in her shoe? Just tag the friends or loved ones you think are most deserving on this Facebook status, along with a damn good reason that they should win. Remember: If you don’t enter in this life, you sure won’t win. #JÓLÓ
What’s In The Shoe Today?
Today, Reykvíkingar around the city panicked, suddenly sure their studio apartments and favourite galleries were haunted.
But, never fear, it was just the work of the Yule Lad Hurðaskellir—’Door-Slammer’ in English—known for his proclivity for waking people up, like a jerk.
In-between door-slams, though, he gave us a voucher for a Northern Lights tour for two from your good friends at BusTravel Iceland. No more will you have to settle for experiencing the auroras through Instagram anymore, as you’ll finally get to see them in person as they shine and glimmer in the sky above you. So, dear reader, tag your most well-behaved friend here—this is peak season for the Northern Lights, so there’s never been a better time to enter to win.
A note: The winner of yesterday’s dinner for two at Matur og Drykkur was Candice Korevaar who, as her nominator put it, “is being an amazing new mother to her 7 month old and deserves someone to cook and pamper her after many many sleepless nights. She also needs some Christmas spirit.” Stay tuned for tomorrow’s winner. It could be you!
