The Yule Cat, one of the many interesting folkloric denizens of Iceland, is an enormous cat who prowls through towns and villages on Christmas eve looking for people who didn’t receive gifts of new clothes for Christmas. If he finds such people, he eats their Christmas dinners and then he eats the people. The origin of the possibly medieval legend of the Yule Cat is unknown, and the legend was not written down until the nineteenth century, but it became internationally famous due to the eponymous poem, and the text of this song, by the author and poet Jóhannes úr Kötlum (1899–1972). The Yule Cat is the pet of Grýla, a troll-woman who is the mother of the thirteen Yule Lads, trolls who play mean tricks on people. On Christmas Eve the Yule Lads leave candy in the shoes of good children and rotting potatoes in the shoes of naughty children. This, of course, is not as bad as being eaten by a giant cat. One Icelandic journalist, Haukur Magnússon, wrote: “This is the kind of message Icelanders like to send out in their folklore. If you do not have the money or means of acquiring new items of clothing before the festival of lights, you will be eaten by a gigantic cat.” The underlying reason for the legend may have been to goad people who spun wool and made clothing to finish their work before Christmas, for children to do their chores, and to encourage charity. And it might be the reason that Icelanders put in more overtime at their jobs than most other Europeans.

While the melody sounds like it could be a folk tune, it is not. It was written in the ‘80s by Ingibjörg Þorbergs (1927-2019), a composer of children’s songs who was also the program director of the National Broadcasting Service of Iceland. After the singer Björk recorded the song it went more or less viral and has since become very well-known and popular in Iceland. On YouTube you will find a number of performances of the song, including a heavy metal version and a performance with all the trappings of a Las Vegas nightclub show. It is probably not as well-known outside Iceland, however, because the Icelandic poem is a major tongue-twister for those who did not grow up speaking Icelandic. But we are giving it our best effort.