Reykjavík Grapevine - 06.12.2013, Side 50

Thirteen Things
About Þrettándinn
1. Þrettándinn is “Old
Christmas”
Around 1528, the Roman Catholic
Church decided to shift from the
Julian calendar, which was insti-
tuted by the Romans around 46 BC,
to the Gregorian calendar, which is
still in use today. The Julian calen-
dar attempted to approximate the
solar year, but minor inaccuracies
in the calendar structure—basically,
a few minutes not accounted for in
the solar rotation—lead to a gain of
roughly three or four days every four
centuries. This meant that important
Catholic holidays, like Easter, tended
to drift over time, which the church
didn’t like at all. Thus the shift to the
Gregorian calendar, which has fewer
leap years, and which, by the time it
was finally implemented in Iceland
in 1700, had 11 fewer calendar days
than the Julian calendar.
In practical terms, what this
means is that holidays shifted signifi-
cantly after the arrival of what 18th
century Icelanders referred to as the
“new style” calendar. So Christmas
went from taking place on January
6th to taking place on December
25th. And so, as late as the end of
the 19th century, Þrettándinn was
known as “Old Christmas.”
2. Þrettándinn is also
Second New Year’s Eve
What with all the confusion about
calendar shifts and dates, a lot of
holiday-related folklore got muddled
along the way. So many of the super-
natural occurrences and traditions
originally associated with New Year’s
Eve in Iceland have shifted over
time to Þrettándinn. “The last day
of Christmas has also often served
as second-string New Year’s Eve,”
writes ethnologist Árni Björnsson,
“when celebrations can be held if the
weather on New Year’s Eve is unfa-
vourable.”
3. It’s time for bonfires
and elf dances
Icelanders make the most of New
Year’s Eve and Þrettándinn, indulg-
ing their pyrotechnic sides: large
bonfires are regularly held on both
New Year’s Eve and Þrettándinn. The
bonfires celebrate all of the fairies
and elves who are said to be depart-
ing on Þrettándinn, and many local
celebrations elect Fairy Queens and
Kings who lead ‘elf dances’ around
the fire. Elf dance traditions may
originate with a popular play called
“Nýársnóttin,” or ‘New Year’s Eve,’
which was written by Indriði Ein-
arsson in 1907 and first featured the
King and Queen of the elves.
4. Þrettándinn is a good
time for dreams
Þrettándinn also marks the start of
Epiphany, the Christian holiday that
commemorates the night in which
Jesus’s birth was revealed to the
Three Wise Men in a dream or vision.
And so, in some local traditions, such
as on the Northern island of Grímsey,
Þrettándinn is known as “The Great
Dreaming Night.” The dreams that
you have on this night must be taken
very seriously, as they may hold clues
to the future.
5. Cows talk on Þret-
tándinn
On the evening of Þrettándinn, many
folktales say that cows can suddenly
speak. But while there are many
variations on this story—in some
versions, for instance, they specifi-
cally speak Hebrew—one thing is for
sure: if the cows are talking, you don’t
want to be listening. In one version
collected by Jón Árnason (Iceland’s
one-man Brothers Grimm), a cow-
hand hangs around in the barn af-
ter his work is done on Þrettándinn.
Around midnight, the cows all stand
up and begin to speak to each other in
nonsensical rhyming couplets, which
are supposed to drive anyone who
overhears them crazy. The cowhand
escapes before he fully loses it, but is
obviously unable to prove his tale to
anyone the next day. In other varia-
tions, however—such as one taking
place on New Year’s Eve—the cow-
man is not so lucky, and goes mad
listening to creepy bovine poetry.
6. Seals take on human
form, get naked and get
down
There are many folktales about seals
transforming into humans on New
Year’s Eve and Þrettándinn. In one
fascinating variation, seals are actu-
ally the animal incarnations of an an-
cient Pharaoh’s army, drowned in the
Red Sea while chasing Moses and the
Jews out of Egypt. The drowned sol-
diers became seals, but their bones
remain much like human bones. So
once a year, they become human,
shedding their skins and dancing na-
ked on beaches.
In one very famous tale (also col-
lected by Jón Árnason), a man goes
walking on a beach and sees many
seal skins lying on the shore. He
takes one home with him and locks
it in a chest. Later, he discovers a
beautiful naked woman crying on
the same beach because he’s taken
her skin and she cannot return to the
sea. He takes her home, marries her,
and they have many children, but he
keeps the seal skin locked away so
that she can never escape. One day,
however, he forgets to take the key to
the chest, and the woman retrieves
her skin and returns to the ocean.
7. Þrettándinn is moving
day for fairies and elves
Þrettándinn is often thought to be
the day in which fairies and elves
leave their current dwellings and find
new homes. In some traditions, resi-
dents walk around the home asking
for the family’s continued well-being
while those spirits who have arrived
to come in, and those who want to
leave go on their ways.
8. It’s the last day to see a
Yule Lad
Þrettándinn is a time to “say goodbye
to the spirits,” says Folklorist Terry
Gunnell. So as the fairies take their
leave and the elves move house, so
also is the last Yule Lad leaving town.
Iceland’s twelve Yule Lads arrive
one by one on the days leading up to
Christmas, and then also leave one at
a time on the twelve days following.
The last Yule Lad to leave is Kertas-
níkir, or “Candle Beggar.”
9. It’s a good time to sit at
a crossroads
If you want a chance to meet one of
the magical beings flitting around on
Þrettándinn, your best bet is to sit at
a crossroads and wait. In many folk-
tales, people who sit at crossroads are
met by elves who give them gifts of
gold, food, or second sight. In some
stories, the elves will tempt you with
gifts all night, but you must not ac-
cept them. If you can last the night
having accepted nothing, the elves
will leave all their treasures behind
for you. If you take the gifts before
daylight, you may go mad. But usual-
ly, Terry says, “if you treat them well,
they’ll treat you well. It’s a business
transaction.”
10. Water is magic
Some folktales have it that water will
turn to wine on Þrettándinn, while
others suggest that dew is particu-
larly potent and powerful on this day.
11. The unknown is made
visible, sometimes at a
cost
“If something is hidden from you,”
says Helga, “it will open up to you on
Þrettándinn.” In one exemplifying
tale, a shepherd has particular suc-
cess keeping his animals through
the winter. He repeatedly disappears
throughout the season, never telling
anyone where he has been. One Þret-
tándinn, a curious farmer follows
the shepherd, and finds that he has
been travelling to a hidden moun-
tain valley, which is still green even
in the dead of winter. But this discov-
ery comes at a cost: one of the valley
dwellers curses the farmer for his
curiosity and he dies three days later.
12. It’s the last day for
Christmas decorations
You’re probably tired from all the
bonfires and merry-making, but
don’t slack off and leave your Christ-
mas trees and decorations hanging
around the house for the next month.
It is considered bad luck by some to
keep your Christmas paraphernalia
up after January 6th.
13. It’s time to burn out,
eat up, and play out
Christmas
Traditionally, Þrettándinn is the last
day for people to get their fills of
Christmas decadence. So Icelanders
would “burn out” Christmas by fin-
ishing off the remains of their can-
dles, “eat up” the season by finishing
all the leftovers, and “play out” the
day with long card games.
Naughty Or Nice,
Icelandic Style
For Icelandic children, the twelfth
of December holds special signifi-
cance as it marks the first visit of
the thirteen Yule Lads. One by one
they make their visit, with the fi-
nal one making his appearance on
Christmas Eve.
Formerly known as sinister
tricksters who made their way
from monstrous homes to plague
children by slamming doors, steal-
ing food and candles, and peeking
through windows, they have grown
nicer and more gift-oriented over
the years.
As a nation unaccustomed to
chimneys and unwilling to hang
up perfectly good apparel, Iceland-
ers instead leave shoes in their bed-
room windows for the Yule Lads.
Those deemed nice are rewarded
with a small treat, but those judged
naughty get a raw potato. Yes, that’s
right, a potato. Not coal, but a nutri-
tious and perfectly edible potato.
At the munchkin age of five,
I sought to test exactly how judg-
mental the Yule Lads were. I didn’t
listen to what my mother asked me
to do, refused to go to bed on time,
and was by all accounts a misbehav-
ing brat. To my mother’s surprise,
the following morning I wasn’t up-
set at finding a potato in my shoe,
but asked her joyfully if I could cook
and eat it for breakfast.
—By Larissa Kyzer
By Tómas Gabríel
Benjamin
6 THE REYKJAVÍK GRAPEVINE XMAS SPECIAL 2013
Often known as the Twelfth Night in the English-speaking Christian world, Þret-
tándinn (directly translated as “the thirteenth”) marks the end of Iceland’s epic Christ-
mas season. The last of 24 straight days of Christmas merry-making, January 6th is the
season’s last gasp—and not just because it’s the last day that you can legally shoot off
fireworks in Iceland, or the last day you can purchase Christmas beer. No, according
to folk traditions and tales, Þrettándinn is much, much weirder, and gloriously so: it is
a time of talking animals, aquatic metamorphoses, naked dancing, supernatural gifts,
and precognitive dreams. It is what Helga Einarsdóttir, the Museum Educator at the
National Museum of Iceland, calls a liminal time or “a border between two worlds”—
namely the holy season around Christmas and the back-to-normal New Year which is
just beginning. So here are thirteen things you should know about Þrettándinn:
Illustration by Inga María Brynjarsdóttir
Folklorist Terry Gunnell will give an English-language talk about Icelandic
Christmas and New Year’s traditions at the National Museum on December
15 at noon.