Gryla is an Ogress who lives in the mountains of Iceland on Icelandic Folklore.
Like Krampus and Mari Lwyd, she is a Christmas monster, and only appears around Christmas time. The stories about her in Iceland vary. Some say she is just a kind of bogeyman, who enjoys scarring people. Other strories present her in a much darker form, saying she she murders people and eats them. In Iceland, she is as famous as the mother of the Yule Lads and has the Yule Cat as a pet.
Quick Answers
What is the role of Grýla in Icelandic Christmas folklore?
How does Grýla's character differ in various Icelandic stories?
Who are the Yule Lads and what is their relation to Grýla?
What is the Yule Cat and how is it associated with Grýla?
How does Grýla compare to other Christmas monsters like Krampus?
Folklore[]
Gryla is very simalar to Krampus in many ways. While Santa brings good children presents, Gryla has an unsatisfiable hunger for naughty children and she is always grumpy. Like Krampus, she kidnaps them in a sack. She then brings them home to cook them alive and turn them into a stew.
Like Santa, Gryla has helpers. Her thriteen sons, known as the Yule Lads. They are usually much less cruel then their mother, and simply play pranks on people during the Christmas season (depends upon the version, some tales have the Yule Lads as homicidal child-eating monsters, especially older stories).
Gryla also has a giant cat named The Yule Cat. Whether or not you were naughty or nice, or if you're an adult or child, you are at risk of being eaten by The Yule Cat. The only people he won't eat are those who have gotten new clothes for Christmas.
Gryla is married to her third husband named Leppaluoi, who lives in the Dimmuborgir lava fields in a cave (this historic area is rife with supernatural mischief according to folklore, due to its unique natural "castle" formations and traditional tales of it being the place Satan himself landed when he fell from Heaven).
