In Iceland there are 13 very naughty santas "Jolasveinar" or Christmas Boys - Jul Lads, - who live in the mountain. Thirteen days before Christmas, they leave the mountains one by one.

 The first Yule Lad to arrive, on the twelfth of December, is Sheep-Cop-Clod, he steals milk from the sheep. The second, Gully Gawk, steals the froth 0ff the cows’ milk.  The third is Shorty.  He is small and takes the left overs from cooking pots.  Then there is Ladle Licker, he is very skinny and he loves to lick ladles. The fifth to arrive is Pot Scraper who snatches food from unwashed pots. Number six is Bowl Licker, he licks out bowls. Number seven, Door Slammer, slams doors and wakes people up. Number eight is Curd Glutton and dairy products are his favourite. The ninth, Sausage Snatcher, yes, he steals sausages. Next is Window Peeper, he peeps through windows to see what he can steal. Number eleven is Sniffer who has a huge nose and sniffs out his favourite food, The twelfth, Meat Hook, has a long pole with a hook on the end to hook meat from the ovens. And the last is Candle Beggar who loves candles to eat, or just too watch them burn.


But The Christmas Boys are not all bad: for each of the thirteen nights they come down from the mountains they put a present in the shoes left out by the children, unless, they have been naughty, then all they get is a potato