Day 3.  Íslenski Hesturinn, the Icelandic horse.

Met M & Eli downtown (Bus Stop #3, across from City Hall). Destination: Hestar Stables.  Shorter & stockier than their American cousins.  Genetic relative to the Mongolian ‘Genghis Khan’ breed.  Long way Mongolia to Iceland – how did that happen?

Jacket, pants, boots.  Safety video & a helmet.  Go, go, go!  Probably not the best pre-race activity (saddle sore) but 100% wanted a try after Ash & Tom’s 2017 vacation pics.  Beautiful day.  Dug the lava-scape, view of Mount Hekla.  And lucky for us – no RAIN!

Bib pickup at Laugardalshöll Sports Hall.  Lamb dinner & Christmas shopping.

Learned of the 13 Lads who help Icelandic Santa & YULE CAT (Jólakötturinn), an evil Christmas MONSTER cat who eats kids that don’t get new clothes.  Think I’ll stick with ‘cookies-n-milk’ American Santa & his high-flying reindeer.  Yikes! 😲

Run day tomorrow:  Reykjavíkur Maraþon 2019

Íslenski Hesturinn

Icelandic Christmas folklore depicts mountain-dwelling characters and monsters who come to town during Christmas. The stories are directed at children and are used to scare them into good behaviour. The folklore includes both mischievous pranksters who leave gifts during the night and monsters who eat disobedient children.

 

The figures are depicted as living together as a family in a cave and include:

 

Gryla and Leppaludi – Gryla is a giantess with an appetite for the flesh of mischievous children, who she cooks in a large pot.  Her husband, Leppaludi, is lazy and mostly stays at home in their cave.

 

The Yule Cat is a huge and vicious cat who lurks about the snowy countryside during Christmas time (Yule) and eats people who have not received any new clothes to wear before Christmas Eve.

 

The Yule Lads are the sons of Gryla and Leppaludi. They are a group of 13 mischievous pranksters who steal from or harass the population and all have descriptive names that convey their favorite way of harassing.  They come to town one by one during the last 13 nights before Christmas (Yule).  They leave small gifts in shoes that children have placed on window sills, but if the child has been disobedient, they instead leave a potato in the shoe.