I know, it's not a big deal to most of you. That's OK. There are so many holidays that even through sheer determination, it's hard to celebrate them all.
Not only is today Cookie Day, it's Jamhuri Day, and the Day of the Virgin of Guadalupe, the anniversary of the First Crusade, the birthdays of Frank Sinatra, Dione Warwick, and my youngest child, the feast Day of Masa'il, Russia's Constitution Day, Turkmenistan's Neutrality Day, Vicilenus Day, the first translatlantic radio message was sent, and it's the arrival of the first of the Yule Lads.
Yep. Today, Stekkjastaur, or Sheep-Cote Clod, arrives to check on the children. Children who were good today receive a small treat, and children who misbehaved receive a rotten potato.
Tomorrow, the children will be observed by both Stekkjastaur and Giljagaur (Gully Gawk). Then, they will be joined by their brothers, one a day, until December 25th, when they begin departing in the order in which they'd arrived. Each day, they will get up to tricks and do their best to encourage children to misbehave so they can gleefully leave a rotten potato for them. In some places, the story says that one of the Yule Lads gets to trade places with a child who received rotten potatoes for every day they are present - from December 12 to January 6.
If the children are good, they are equally pleased to leave treats for the children because the parents of good children are more likely to look the other way when the Yule Lads steal sausages, bread, milk, candles, and other items they fancy.
They bring with them the Yule Cat, who eats the children who dislike the new clothes they get for Christmas. Children who don't get new clothes are said to be eaten by the Yule Cat, too, but the children claim those children are actually stolen by the Yule Cat to play forever in the warm forests of the south, where they never need to wear clothes at all and spend their days fishing for the Yule Cat and giving her tummy rubs.
I just love the charming tales of winter.