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In Iceland, a witch named Grýla captures misbehaving children during Christmas and eats them in her herb stew. Grýla has been a popular character in Icelandic folklore for centuries and is known for eating one of her husbands. Other scary Christmas traditions include a haunted ghost in South Africa, evil witches in Norway, and an evil butcher in Belgium, France, and Switzerland.
Santa might keep a list of which kids have been naughty and which kids have been nice, but even the naughty don’t have to worry about Santa turning them into dinner. The same cannot be said of those unfortunate little ones in Iceland.
According to Icelandic folklore, a huge and horrible witch named Grýla lives in the mountains and during Christmas she descends into the cities in search of misbehaving children. The ones she catches from her are thrown into a bag and taken home with her. Grýla devours them as they are or mixes them into her favorite herb stew – and legend has it that she always has plenty of stew to eat.
Grýla’s history dates back to at least the 13th century, when it was featured in Norse mythology, but it wasn’t associated with Yuletide until centuries later. Terry Gunnell, who heads the folklore department at the University of Iceland, says Grýla has been one of the most popular characters in Icelandic folklore for centuries. “You don’t mess with Grýla,” Gunnell said. “She ate one of her husbands when she got bored with him. In a sense, she is the first feminist in Iceland ”.
Some other scary Christmas traditions:
South African children are told about a bad boy who ate all of Santa’s cookies; his grandmother killed him, and now his ghost haunts the houses during Christmas.
In Norway, everyone is supposed to hide their brooms on Christmas Eve to prevent evil witches from stealing them.
In Belgium, France and Switzerland, Santa Claus is said to be followed by an evil butcher who deals with naughty children.
