Iceland Iceland is a Nordic countries, Nordic island country between the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic and Arctic Oceans, on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge between North America and Europe. It is culturally and politically linked with Europe and is the regi ...

folklore Folklore is the body of expressive culture shared by a particular group of people, culture or subculture. This includes oral traditions such as Narrative, tales, myths, legends, proverbs, Poetry, poems, jokes, and other oral traditions. This also ...

, Grýla is a monstrous entity who lives in the wilderness of

. The name Grýla is first attested in medieval sources. However, the earliest unambiguous references to Grýla's gender and her association with

Christmas Christmas is an annual festival commemorating Nativity of Jesus, the birth of Jesus Christ, observed primarily on December 25 as a Religion, religious and Culture, cultural celebration among billions of people Observance of Christmas by coun ...

date only from the seventeenth century. In seventeenth-century poems about Grýla, she is generally represented as a hideous and greedy

troll A troll is a being in Nordic folklore, including Norse mythology. In Old Norse sources, beings described as trolls dwell in isolated areas of rocks, mountains, or caves, live together in small family units, and are rarely helpful to human bei ...

-like crone who wanders between human settlements and demands

charity Charity may refer to: Common meanings * Charitable organization or charity, a non-profit organization whose primary objectives are philanthropy and social well-being of persons * Charity (practice), the practice of being benevolent, giving and sha ...

from those she encounters, often asking for naughty children. Modern depictions of Grýla tend to focus more strongly on her role as the mother of the Yule Lads (). Today, the most monstrous aspects of her character and appearance (such as her appetite for children) are generally toned down for younger audiences.

Grýla in medieval sources

The name Grýla appears in a list of heiti for troll-women in the ''

Prose Edda The ''Prose Edda'', also known as the ''Younger Edda'', ''Snorri's Edda'' () or, historically, simply as ''Edda'', is an Old Norse textbook written in Iceland during the early 13th century. The work is often considered to have been to some exten ...

'', composed in the 13th century by Icelandic

skald A skald, or skáld (Old Norse: ; , meaning "poet"), is one of the often named poets who composed skaldic poetry, one of the two kinds of Old Norse poetry in alliterative verse, the other being Eddic poetry. Skaldic poems were traditionally compo ...

Snorri Sturluson Snorri Sturluson ( ; ; 1179 – 22 September 1241) was an Icelandic historian, poet, and politician. He was elected twice as lawspeaker of the Icelandic parliament, the Althing. He is commonly thought to have authored or compiled portions of th ...

. However, a list of ''Grýlu heiti'' ('heiti for Grýla') in one manuscript of the Prose Edda from the early 14th century, AM 748 I b 4to, gives various terms for foxes, suggesting an association with the

Arctic fox The Arctic fox (''Vulpes lagopus''), also known as the white fox, polar fox, or snow fox, is a small species of fox native to the Arctic regions of the Northern Hemisphere and common throughout the Tundra#Arctic tundra, Arctic tundra biome. I ...

. Several parallels to Grýla exist in the North Atlantic region, and these are generally associated with mumming and disguise traditions (see mummer's play). Terry Gunnell hypothesizes that Grýla may once have been associated with similar disguise traditions in Iceland, although such practices have not survived to the present day. In contrast to later depictions of Grýla, no explicit mention is made of Grýla's gender. Not all counterparts to Grýla identified by Gunnell are female figures, and it is possible that Grýla was originally conceived of as a male

monster A monster is a type of imaginary or fictional creature found in literature, folklore, mythology, fiction and religion. They are very often depicted as dangerous and aggressive, with a strange or grotesque appearance that causes Anxiety, terror ...

rather than an

ogre An ogre (feminine: ogress) is a legendary monster depicted as a large, hideous, man-like being that eats ordinary human beings, especially infants and children. Ogres frequently feature in mythology, folklore, and fiction throughout the world ...

ss. In one seventeenth-century poem about Grýla, which depicts her as wandering between farms in summer rather than at Christmas, she is described as a

hermaphrodite A hermaphrodite () is a sexually reproducing organism that produces both male and female gametes. Animal species in which individuals are either male or female are gonochoric, which is the opposite of hermaphroditic. The individuals of many ...

Grýla and Christmas folklore

Grýla is closely associated with Christmas folklore in younger traditions. The oldest extant source connecting Grýla with Christmas is a poem that was likely co-composed by the Rev. Guðmundur Erlendsson of Fell in Sléttuhlíð and his brother-in-law Ásgrímur Magnússon, who was a farmer and

rímur In Icelandic literature, a ''ríma'' (, literally "a rhyme", pl. ''rímur'', ) is an epic poetry, epic poem written in any of the so-called ''rímnahættir'' (, "rímur meters"). They are rhymed, they alliterative verse, alliterate and consist of ...

-poet. This poem, "Grýlukvæði", can be dated to c. 1638–1644. Several years after this, in c. 1648–1649, the Rev.

Hallgrímur Pétursson Hallgrímur Pétursson (1614 – 27 October 1674) was an Icelandic poet and a minister at Hvalsneskirkja and Saurbær in Hvalfjörður. Being one of the most prominent Icelandic poets, the Hallgrímskirkja in Reykjavík and the Hallgrímskirkja ...

composed a poem, "Leppalúðakvæði", in which Grýla's lazy and unpleasant husband, Leppalúði, makes his appearance and claims that Grýla was left bedridden after her journey to Sléttuhlíð.Jón Samsonarson. "Leppalúði Hallgríms Péturssonar". In ''Þorlákstíðir sungnar Ásdísi Egilsdóttur fimmtugri, 26. október 1996''. Reykjavík: Menningar- og minningarsjóður Mette Magnussen, 1996. pp. 43–49. In the

Netflix Netflix is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service. The service primarily distributes original and acquired films and television shows from various genres, and it is available internationally in multiple lang ...

show '' Chilling Adventures of Sabrina'', Grýla is a recurring character, appearing at first to collect her children who are invisible but causing havoc. She later joined the main characters' coven of outcast witches. In 2024, Grýla appears as a key character in the Amazon produced movie '' Red One'' (a 2024 Christmas action adventure comedy film from Warner Bros. Pictures), portrayed by

Kiernan Shipka Kiernan Brennan Shipka (born November 10, 1999) is an American actress. She is best known for her roles as List of Mad Men characters#Sally Draper, Sally Draper in the AMC (TV channel), AMC drama series ''Mad Men'' (2007–2015), and Sabrina Spe ...

, who coincidentally portrayed the titular Sabrina in the aforementioned TV series. She is referred to as the Christmas witch and has some magical powers. She is both the ogre like creature of mythology and a shape shifter that can take human form. She also appears in an episode of Hilda (TV series), where the Yule Lads end up feeding her veggie soup instead of humans. Her pet is the Yule cat.

References

External links

Christmas in Iceland

Waking the Wiggle-Waggle Monsters
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gryla Fictional characters introduced in the 13th century Christmas characters Icelandic folklore Medieval legends Scandinavian legendary creatures Supernatural legends Crones and hags Trolls