Hold My Sweet Tea

Ep. 88-Gryla, The Yule Lads, And The Hungry Christmas Cat

• Pearl & Holly • Season 1 • Episode 88

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The winter sun barely lifts in Iceland, and that thin light is perfect for a story with real teeth. We head north to meet Gryla, the towering giantess who hunts misbehaving children, her thirteen chaotic Yule Lads who sneak into kitchens and barns one night at a time, and the legendary Yule Cat that devours anyone who didn’t earn new clothes by year’s end. It’s a festive world built on volcanic rock, long shadows, and the blunt lesson that survival in winter is a team sport.

We trace how these legends formed in a landscape of scarcity, where chores weren’t busywork but lifelines. Gryla isn’t softened into a mascot; she remains a consequence with a face. The Yule Lads, from Spoon Licker to Window Peeper, turn everyday temptations into quick parables about waste, privacy, and respect. The Yule Cat, huge as a house, reframes a simple gift—socks or a sweater—as proof of contribution and care. Along the way, we draw lines to Krampus, Hansel and Gretel, and modern pop culture nods, showing how different cultures remix the same winter alarm bells.

Today, Iceland has gentled the Lads into shoe-gift givers, but the stories still carry their winter edge. We talk about why that matters: how fear plus humor keeps the lessons sticky, why clothing gifts endure as a tradition with meaning, and how families can use folklore to spark real conversations about work, community, and staying warm together—literally and figuratively. It’s cozy, creepy, and surprisingly practical.

If this kind of folklore lights your fire, share the episode with a friend, subscribe on your favorite app, and leave a quick review to help others find the show. Got Icelandic roots or a family legend to add? Email us at holdmysweettea podcast at gmail.com and tell us your tale.

SPEAKER_01:

In Iceland, the winter sun barely skims the horizon. Shadows stretch longer than the day itself. And on those frozen nights, families whisper an old warning Behave or Gryla will hear you. This is Hold My Sweet Tea. And I'm Pearl. And today we're we're gonna travel to Iceland. Woohoo! I don't know if that was the greeting for Iceland.

SPEAKER_00:

It just sounded good. We have 93 followers on YouTube. Yay! I'm so so excited. Creeping up. Yes. So share with your grandma still. Because I think grandma ain't done it. Y'all go help grandma.

SPEAKER_01:

Tell grandma this is how you do it, and you hit this button right here. Follow. That's it.

SPEAKER_00:

That's it, Grandma. Good job, grandma. Don't get run over by a reindeer. It is that time of year.

SPEAKER_01:

You gotta keep grandma in check so she does not get run over by a reindeer.

SPEAKER_00:

Y'all protect your grandma's for Christmas. Exactly. Exactly. Iceland.

SPEAKER_01:

Iceland. You know, it's cold. Yeah, it's it's cold. And it's Christmassy. Like when you think of like traditional Christmas, I mean, Iceland's right up there, you know, with the whole Christmas theme. Pull out my Christmas theme list. That's right. But we're gonna travel to the volcanic fjords and black rock mountains of Iceland. No fun. Christmas isn't just wrapped in like ribbons and warm cocoa. In their tradition, it's also wrapped in fear and lessons.

SPEAKER_00:

We're all about the fear and lessons. That's right.

SPEAKER_01:

I'm pulling out all of the folklore this holiday season. Here's all your fear.

SPEAKER_00:

Right.

SPEAKER_01:

Your creepsness fear. Exactly. And they're they're watched over by 13 mischievous brothers, a monstrous giantess, and a cat that devours the poor. We got we got 15 characters in this, because 13 brothers. So there we go.

SPEAKER_00:

Sweet, sweet, sweet.

SPEAKER_01:

This is the legend of Gryla and the Yule Lads and the Yule Cat. So long before Christmas even existed in Iceland, the land was like, of course, alive with stories. Creatures that roam the lava fields. There, like the lava fields there, it just it's these, like I said, black rocks, and it just looks like twisted, gnarled like things. Like you when you look at the clouds and you're like, ooh, I see you know pictures of this. Like when you look at those lava, you can see, and some of them look like like demons or something like that.

SPEAKER_00:

So is that that weird curly thing that uh Jack Skellington stands on? Probably so. Probably so. It's it's some Icelandic black rock.

SPEAKER_01:

But you know, you look in the flames of the fire and you see like dancing demons and it so people's imaginations stories circulate through Icelandic lore lore, and this is like as early as the 13th century.

SPEAKER_00:

They make a new song, Christmas is here, demons appear. And a cat and a mean giant lady.

SPEAKER_01:

But you know, again, they they had nothing more to do but to sit in their little homes with snow like covering the windows and a small fire going.

SPEAKER_00:

So what are they gonna do but tell each other stories, exactly terrible things? Exactly. So more reason to not go outside.

SPEAKER_01:

Exactly. Because it's it's damn cold outside. So it was all about survival then. So among one of those tales was Gryla. She is described as a fearsome troll woman, a creature who wandered the wilderness in search of disobedient children.

SPEAKER_00:

So me every day when I wake up.

SPEAKER_01:

Yes. Where's those kids? She is described as a giantess, she's enormous, she has hooves instead of feet, she has tangled hair with like ice and earth and leaves and all kinds of stuff in there, and a voice like a grinding stone. Um, she's rough. She's been through some stuff. Like they didn't describe her as subtle, like she they went all out. And when she heard a child misbehaved, she didn't lecture them, she came straight for them. She carried a massive sack made of stitched animal hides, and inside it were the children she would take. She would drag them back to her cave in the mountains, which was an enormous, like, dark cavern beneath the lava rock, where she would make a stew from the unfortunate souls she collected. And pick her teeth with their bones. Yes. She's like, that was tasty. But they said that she had like uh a hunger that was like no other because she would hide in her cave all year and then she would only come out during the So she had like opposite hibernation, like a weird hibernation. Yes, so she summer hibernated and then she was out in the winter. She's like, I'm starving and I'm going after these misbehaving children. Is the season to feed me? Yep. She was hunger incarnate. There we go. So around the 17th century, Iceland blended like some older pagan beliefs with newer Christmas traditions. And Gorilla suddenly gained like company. 13 sons to be exact, named the Yule Lads. So these are her children? They're I guess they were her children. Oh my goodness. Okay. So she was like eating children, but these were her kids. Yeah. So these 13 boys that were they weren't cheerful little elves working in a workshop. They were mischievous little chits. Where's where's Troll Daddy? Troll Daddy was said to be a lazy, incompetent husband, and she got tired of his crap, so she killed him and ate him too. Oh. Yeah.

unknown:

Well.

SPEAKER_01:

So originally these, you know, Yule lads were like dangerous night walkers, home invaders, troublemakers. And these are little dudes, right? Yeah. Like they're the opposite. Of her. She was a giantess, so these were like smaller, mischievous little little dudes.

SPEAKER_00:

Dudes.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah. So some of them, I'm gonna go through a few of them. So there was like Golly Gawk. He hid in ravines. He waited to sneak into barns and steal fresh milk. There was Stubby, a small goblin-like lad who crept into kitchens to steal crust from pans. They were all about getting food, you know, for survival. Um, spoon licker. What a name. He was gaunt and starving looking, and he waited for a chance to lick the last bits of food off of wooden spoons.

SPEAKER_00:

Well, that's his problem. Right. That's why you're so skinny. Since he was so picky about what he was getting. Right. Gotta be the last bit of stuff on some wooden spoons. I guess you are skinny.

SPEAKER_01:

Right. And then there was window peeper. Oh. He he was very tall and he stood, he was stare through windows searching for something to steal, or you know, perhaps something else. Who knows?

SPEAKER_00:

Well, there's a special place in H.E. Double hockey sticks for him where he can pick his own pineapple.

SPEAKER_01:

And, you know, that was just a few of them, but each night, beginning December 12th, one Yule lad descended from the mountains and wandered the Icelandic homes. And behind them, always lurking, always watching, was their mother Gryla. So they would descend. So this is one at a time? Right, one at a time.

SPEAKER_00:

So not 13 chaotic little lads running everywhere. Okay.

SPEAKER_01:

So as if the 13 lads and the child stealing giantess weren't enough, Icelandic folklore added one more creature, which was the Yule Cat.

SPEAKER_00:

I mean, every family needs a pet. Right. That's what I'm saying. Makes sense.

SPEAKER_01:

I have two Yule cats. But this was no ordinary farm cat. It was monstrous, like the size of a house. It's glowing eyes and fur black as volcanic ash.

SPEAKER_00:

Well, it has to be. Gryla's huge. Right.

SPEAKER_01:

So this is a huge cat. It stalked through the snow on Christmas Eve. Yule cat's hunger had a very specific target, though. Anyone who didn't receive new clothing for Christmas, that was its target.

SPEAKER_00:

Oh, well. I'm sorry. That's why it's eating poor people.

SPEAKER_01:

Right.

SPEAKER_00:

Makes total sense. Y'all should be wrapping up some socks or something. Some new socks with a hole in it. So the whole show.

SPEAKER_01:

Don't complain when you get clothes for Christmas. Right. Because you were just spared from the Yule cat eating you. Someone saved your life with those underwear. That's right. And you know, it sounds strange, but centuries ago, new clothing meant you had worked hard during the autumn harvest. If you hadn't, the cat would see you as lazy, and laziness in winter is deadly. So parents warn their children, do your chores or you'll be eaten by the Christmas cat. And while the cat watched the valleys, Gryla listened from the mountains, smelling the air for misbehaved children. So they were all in cahoots with each other. If you're bad, yep.

SPEAKER_00:

Or if you're poor, that's your ass. Yep.

SPEAKER_01:

Exactly. If you didn't work hard and you were lazy, that's your ass. If you misbehaved, guy was gonna get you and eat you in a stoop. And if this kind of sounds familiar, if you watch The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina and they were burning the Yule log, and you know Aunt Hilda had said, don't let the log go out, because it's a bad thing. So it had to burn for 12 nights. So it's the 12 nights of Christmas. So Christianity kind of took that and turned it into the 12 nights of Christmas, which is where the song comes from, on the you know, blah blah blah. So on that, Gryla was more of a witch on that episode. And the Yule lads, you never seen them, but you've seen them and she was terrible looking, right? Causing mischief all over their house. They would steal things. They even stole um baby Letitia, remember? Yes. Yep. Yeah. But they didn't have the Yule cat on there, because you know, of course, nobody could upstage Salem. No.

SPEAKER_00:

Why would they do that?

SPEAKER_01:

Right. But that's where, you know, if it sounds familiar, that was kind of adapted from this Icelandic.

SPEAKER_00:

And I feel like that's the thing with most folklore and stuff. It they derive from one another. Like you hear one story over here, and then someone turns it and makes it fit in their culture somehow, somehow. You know, so it's they're all similar in nature. Yeah, absolutely.

SPEAKER_01:

So every Christmas season, Icelandic storytellers told about Gryla awakening her cave, sharpening her knives. She could taste the cold air and she could count the hunger for the children. She could count the children who had misbehaved. So then the Yule asks.

SPEAKER_00:

Oh, you can count them with their smell. That's gross.

SPEAKER_01:

Okay.

SPEAKER_00:

And by tasting the air, she was like, I thought you were gonna say something about a nice Chiante. Yep.

SPEAKER_01:

That's what she had. She she mixed in some fava beans and a nice Chianti. She was like, yes. So that's uh so the Yule lads, like I said, would adventure ahead of her creeping into towns, stealing food, spying on homes, causing chaos. But they all had a purpose. They would tell Gryla where to find the children.

SPEAKER_00:

I was about to say, are they just like tattletales and they're just being like little mischievous badasses, badasses? Because they're they're not like eating people, they're just stealing their food. They're like, cool, you're misbehaving. I can eat all of this because you're gonna be dead tomorrow anyway. Exactly.

SPEAKER_01:

So she would descend after them, her footsteps or her hoof steps, you know, shaking the frozen ground, her sack open and waiting. And when the wind roared down the mountains, parents would whisper, listen, that's gryless hunger. And the children would be like, you know, and her stomach must sound like mine. Right. She's like, I'm hungry. Where's these bad children? Get in my belly. Right. You know, and today Iceland celebrates, still celebrates the Yule Lads in a much more friendly way. They leave like small gifts in children's shoes, and their stories are told with more humor and charm.

SPEAKER_00:

Like licked wooden spoons.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, right. And like how we leave stockings, like they leave their shoes, so they get little gifts and nuts and fruits and little things in their shoes. But you know, Gryla always remains a monster. It's just like Krampus. He was the bad to the good of St. Nicholas, so you know, Krampus is gonna get you, but Gryla will get you. So, like Gryla and Krampus, maybe they were like cousins. Maybe you should have hooked up, like they could have caused like severe chaos.

SPEAKER_00:

I mean, they both had sacks, fought fought over the kids in the right.

SPEAKER_01:

He's like, I'm gonna throw them in the river. She's like, The hell you are. I'm eating that one tonight.

SPEAKER_00:

Throwing them in the pot.

SPEAKER_01:

Sorry. Right? Poking them in the bat. And maybe that's where like Hansel and Gretel came from, you know, the whole tale of the witch and eating children and fattening them up and everything. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

Stick out your finger so I can tell if you're plump yet.

SPEAKER_01:

And but like in Icelandic folklore, they never like softened the story about Gryla. So she never turned into like the harmless Christmas mascot or whatever, like elves, like, ooh, elf on a shelf. No, the Yule lads are still little assholes. Uh, she's still a child eating ogre, and the Yule cat still prowls the holiday displays every winter. And it's still tradition there that they get clothes on Christmas. I usually do buy something. I do too. I always buy something clothing-wise. Or like something you need, something you want, you know, like type thing. Some shit I can't afford. Some stuff I can't afford. There we go. But you know, some of it's practical, some of it's not.

SPEAKER_00:

It's like the like wedding tradition, something old, something new, and I'm over here going, something you need, something you want, something I can't afford. Right.

unknown:

Exactly.

SPEAKER_00:

Spend the rest of the year paying that off.

SPEAKER_01:

But, you know, if you've heard of anything about Icelandic traditions, or if you are one of our Icelandic listeners and you need to correct me on anything and you need to tell me about more about Gryla. Please do. The Yule lads and the Yule Cat. Please do.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah. We will love to hear it. For sure. Yep, for sure. And you can do that by emailing us at holdmysweettea podcast at gmail.com. Absolutely. You can also message us on all the social medias. And don't forget to get your grandma to subscribe to our YouTube. Yep. That's important. Absolutely. Icelandic grandmas can subscribe to. But you know who wouldn't eat children? Um, um, no. No, I'm just kidding. Patty's gonna be so mad. I would I mean, no, I don't think Patty would eat children, but I also just want to give like some extra condolences for that. Absolutely. Baby dog. Yeah. She lost her poor puppy, and she's had she had her a really long time. Yep. And she was very special, baby.

unknown:

Yep.

SPEAKER_00:

Well, Nikita. Nikita Dorito.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, she had she had a really full name for Nikita. A very full name that I can't even remember off the top of my head. But yeah, we're so sorry.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, it sucks. She was a good dog.

SPEAKER_01:

She's sweet. She made our theme music and it is wonderful, and we thank her. Absolutely. Yep.

SPEAKER_00:

And she she m made him pretty little bibit who absolutely that's one of her Yule ads. Yeah. She has her own Yule ad. That's right. Or count. Yeah. Whatever he may be in the moment.

SPEAKER_01:

But if you, you know, have any traditional stories in your family from where they're from or anything, I like we said, let us hear it. And as always, Hold My Sweet Tea is a drunken bee production. And you guys stay safe out there. Stay warm.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

And dry. Because it's raining here a lot. And make sure clothing is in the mix for Christmas for whatever you celebrate.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, don't get your jewel or don't get your friends and your kids ate by the Yule Cat. That's right. That your cat will eat. That is part of staying safe out there.

SPEAKER_01:

Exactly. And just because we're dipping doesn't mean you can't keep sipping. Bye.

unknown:

Meow, you can't get a lot of people.