Tonight Gáttaþefur, the 11th Yule Lad, comes to town. 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, Day 9, Day 10 and Day 11.
Below is the Icelandic and English version of the poem about Gáttaþefur by Jóhannes úr Kötlum.
Icelandic version of the poem about Gáttaþefur
Ellefti var Gáttaþefur
-aldrei fékk sá kvef,
og hafði þó svo hlálegt
og heljarstórt nef.
Hann ilm af laufabrauði
upp á heiðar fann,
og léttur, eins og reykur,
á lyktina rann.
English version of the poem about Gáttaþefur
Eleventh was Door Sniffer,
a doltish lad and gross.
He never got a cold,
yet had a huge, sensitive nose.
He caught the scent of leaf bread
while leagues away still
and ran toward it weightless
as wind over dale and hill.
Icelandic Christmas Tradition
Bake saras or sörur – Chocolate glazed buttercream macaroons
Sarah Bernhardt cakes originates back to 1911, where a Copenhagen pastry chef (Johannes Steen) created this cake as a tribute to the world-famous french actress, Sarah Bernhardt, when she came to Copenhagen to mark the publication of her memoirs in Danish
Piparkökur – pepper cookies but really gingerbread.
