Reykjavík Grapevine - 04.12.2015, Page 58
The Reykjavík Grapevine X-mas Special2
Hang Out At A
Museum With
The Yule Lads
And Their Hor-
rifying, Baby-
Eating Family
By Alexander de Ridder
Curious about those mysterious Icelandic
holiday entities you keep hearing about?
Those “Yule Lads,” the jólasveinar, their troll
parents, Grýla and Leppalúði, the Christmas
Cat, that whole gang?
Never fear: the National Museum of Ice-
land has you covered—so much that they’ll
actually introduce you to them personally
(don’t be afraid, Grýla and Leppalúði almost
never feast on delicious child steak these
days). Yes, the museum folks somehow man-
aged to convince Grýla and her clan of Christ-
mas creatures to stop by at the museum and
hang out a little during their visits to the
capital. When asked how the deal came about,
representatives of both the museum and the
Yule Lads declined to comment.
Grýla and Leppalúði will get the party
started on December 6 at 2pm. Then, starting
on December 12, the different Yule Lads will
take time out of their busy schedules (licking
spoons, peeking through windows—all kinds
of mischief, really) to drop by and entertain
kids, adults and whoever else likes to hang out
with merry men, in a spectacle guaranteed to
be fun for everyone, regardless of their com-
prehension of the Icelandic language. Note
that the last of the Yule Lads, Kertasníkir,
traditionally comes to town on December 24,
and is set to be on the premises that day from
11am-12pm.
Worried you or your kids will get abducted
by those trolls or their Yulekids? Rather not
meet any of them? Again, the museum has
your back: the National Museum (including
the Culture House) will be open from 11am-
12pm on December 24 to mark the arrival of
the final Yule Lad, Kertasníkir, and on the
25th from 10am-2pm—as well as on New
Years Eve Day and New Years Day from
10am-2pm, for (mostly) Yule Lad-free fun.
So you moved to Iceland and you’re
about to celebrate that most popular
of Christianity-based holidays—and
for some reason, this year you’re not
making the trip home to attend your
traditional celebrations! Oy gevalt!
Maybe this is a lump of coal in your
stocking—you couldn’t get out of the
country for some reason, or you’re not
welcome on the other end—or maybe
it’s the candy cane on your gingerbread
house: a time to create new traditions
and take charge of that little holiday
known as Christmas.
Whichever one you’re feeling, I
can relate. I moved here almost seven
years ago and this will be my third
year in a row staying on the island
rather than going back to the Cana-
dian yuletide hubbub. Plus, I have
a birthmas, so it’s two partridges
to knock out of that pear tree. As
excited as I was to spend my first
birthday/Christmas here on my own
terms, by the second year I was crav-
ing some sort of familiar gathering.
The third year I spent here, I found a
fairly fine balance of both, but noticed
that more and more expat friends
were reaching out to potentially join
my celebrations. I couldn’t exactly
invite them to my in-laws’, but had I
been single, it would have been the
perfect time for us to come up with
our own tradition.
Gather near
faithful friends
Your first option is Friendmas. You
might be feeling very lonely right
about now, hearing all your class-
mates or coworkers go on about their
family plans, and this might serve
to underline the idea that you have
nobody. But that is a lie: you are not
alone. You just need to find your
tribe. With a few strategically placed
queries to acquaintances and on that
Internet thing, you will soon find your-
self with a nice group or a cosy little
pack of Christmas elves to celebrate
with.
Chances are you and your choice
group of Xmas friends are coming
from from different places and back-
grounds, so take the opportunity to
merge little bits of your cultures to-
gether. Maybe one of you isn’t even a
usual Christmas celebrator and you
can make it a Chrismukkah or Han-
nakwanzaa! Or something! Have a
Secret Santa or bring one big collec-
tive present to the party for every-
one to enjoy! Make a holiday playl-
ist of songs with the words “Jesus,”
“Mary” or “Joseph” in them and have
a nativity-themed dance party! Have
an eggnog drinking contest! Fun
Christmas times guaranteed.
Another way to do Friendmas?
Ship someone in. On the first Christ-
mas I spent here, my high school
bestie flew over and we spent all of
December 25th listening to nu-metal
and drinking duty free booze until
we were dancing on the dining room
table. Feel free to do that, too.
Someone else’s home for
the holidays
If, however, you are latched onto an
Icelander like a pit-bull on a poodle,
you should make it your business to
go along to their family’s place for the
traditional hoo-ha. This might take
the form of a Friendmas as well, since
you may just be tagging along with
your newest BFF, but it’s more likely
that this is someone you’re shacking
up with so act like family, dammit.
That means shower, dress up nicely
and smile while your partner’s fræn-
ka pounds back the cooking cognac.
Use the opportunity to learn
all types of holiday-centric Icelan-
dic words and to ask them all about
eating skate and the Yule Lads. In
my experience, my older in-laws
absolutely relish the opportunity to
shower me in Christmassy anecdotes
of the cultural gap between here and
everywhere else. Even if you know
what they’re telling you, it will be a
good story to hear. Plus, you’re go-
ing to get some good food out of this,
so be polite. Bring some treats for
your hosting family—a bottle of wine
and a box of chocolates is a sure hit.
If there’s one family member whose
good graces you really need to get on,
a good book is a surefire present.
What can be really nice about
spending Christmas with an Icelan-
dic family, be they your in-laws or
the kind-hearted family of a friend,
is that you get to see that there is a
common thread to Christmas rituals
worldwide. The whole gamut of emo-
tions and behaviour runs amok and it
can make you feel a little bit closer to
your own crazy family, even if they
are far away.
Yippee-Ki-Yay,
Motherfucker
You know how John McClane, of the
Christmas movie classic ‘Die Hard’,
handles things? On. His. Own. Are
you any better than John McClane?
You wish. We all do. Your third option
is to go it alone and make Christmas
your own personal Nakatomi Plaza to
blast your way through the holiday.
You might need to do this because
you just can’t shake off the holiday
blues, and that is totally cool. If you
are really feeling rough, you some-
times gotta do you and place full focus
on taking care of yourself*.
You could also do this in joyful
reckless abandon, prepping your
house with a refined selection of your
very favourite foods—Hagkaup and
Kostur are prime spots for getting
treats from abroad—and curating
a fine selection of nostalgic holiday
programming for the big day. The
aforementioned ‘Die Hard’ is a classic
for many, but you also have the heart-
warming Tim Allen ‘Santa Clause’
franchise, the goof-and-spoof ‘Home
Alone’, the whimsical ‘Nightmare
Before Christmas’, the delightful
‘Elf’, and the “Ahnuld”-ness of ‘Jingle
All The Way’. There’s a couple more
Christmas movies out there, I think.
If you’re not such a movie-watch-
er and would rather be out and about,
make a thermos of hot chocolate
(spiked, if that’s your bag) and stroll
downtown to see the big Norwegian
tree, have a skate on the rink in In-
gólfstorg, and enjoy the rare peace
and quiet of the city. And then go
home and dance to nu-metal on your
dining room table. Gleðileg jól!
-
*If you are having serious trouble
coping with the holidays and feeling
depressed or suicidal, please call 1717
or 112. Help is here for you during
this difficult time. You are not alone.
WORDS BY R X BECK ETT
THIS IS
NOT
REAL
Away From Home —
Christmas In Iceland
Real expat life, realtalk