First of them was Sheep-Cote Clod

Dear Christmas-loving patrons. 12 days until Christmas and the first yulelad has come to town from the mountains. It is the ever so worrying, Sheep-Cote Clod.

Well... he is sometimes called "Sheep worrier" because he adores ewes' milk as is stated in this poem by Jóhannes frá Kötlum:

The first of them was Sheep-Cote Clod.
He came stiff as wood,
to prey upon the farmer's sheep
as far as he could.

He wished to suck the ewes,
but it was no accident
he couldn't; he had stiff knees
- not to convenient.
(* this translation is gotten from the website icelandicstore.is )

The yulelads originate from Icelandic folklore and luckily the Municipal Library has some books that tell us more about these days and folktales, but most of them are in Icelandic. The belief is that on these 13 yulelads, sons of the trolls Grýla and Leppalúði, come one by one to town from the homes (Dimmuborgir?). They start on the thirteenth night before Christmas (with Sheep-Cote Clod first), and then one by one they come until it's Christmas and on the first day after Christmas they start leaving home again, one by one. Before the first one comes, children have put their finest shoe in their window sills - and if they have behaved that day, they get something nice in their shoe. But if they have misbehaved, they get a cold potato.

These yulelads, along with their parents and black cat, are on display at our exhibition area, along with the environmental friendly Christmas wrapping station and the Christmas themed tables in the children's department and on 1st floor ... lot of Christmas lights and tree and ... the Christmas spirit is vivid in our beautiful Municipal Library.

See you there!

(ppsssst. It is said in Iceland that the best Christmas is when you enough books to read ... and we do have books here in the library :-) )