Tonight Bjúgnakrækir, the 9th Yule Lad comes to town This is a 15-day Icelandic Christmas series. To hear about the other Yule Lads that have already arrived and an overview of this Icelandic Christmas series, check out Day 1, Day 2, Day 3, Day 4, Day 5, Day 6, Day 7, Day 8, and Day 9.
Below is the Icelandic and English version of the poem about Bjúgnakrækir by Jóhannes úr Kötlum.
Icelandic version of the poem about Bjúgnakrækir
Níundi var Bjúgnakrækir,
brögðóttur og snar.
Hann hentist upp í rjáfrin
og hnuplaði þar.
Á eldhúsbita sat hann
í sóti og reyk
og át þar hangið bjúga,
sem engan sveik.
English version of the poem about Bjúgnakrækir
The ninth was Sausage Swiper, a shifty pilferer.
He climbed up to the rafters
and raided food from there.
Sitting on a crossbeam
in soot and in smoke,
he fed himself
on sausage fit for gentlefolk.
Icelandic Christmas Tradition
Menorah looking electric candle decorations. I was so confused when I saw these in the window of many Icelanders when I visited for the first time in December 2013 because I didn´t know so many Jewish people lived here. However, when I looked closer and inquired about it, these candles are not a menorah but closely resemble them.
According to the website Stuck in Iceland, these lights were apparently brought to Iceland by an illustrious businessman from Sweden in the sixties. The story goes that he bought a few handmade lights for his aunts but pretty soon everybody had to have one. Needless to say, he made a fortune on this rather lucky break. If something catches on in homogenous Iceland, well it takes off big time! Confusingly, Icelanders also prepare wreaths with four candles. The candles are lit on every Sunday on the advent.
