Death to all cats! asPeter Porter once wrote :-) Andrew
On 22 December 2014 at 05:32, Max Richards <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> BBC radio 3 is doing Euro carols, and one is about the
> yule cat
> new to me
> sounds cruel...?
> The Yule Cat (Icelandic: Jólakötturinn or Jólaköttur) is a monster from
> Icelandic folklore, a huge and vicious catsaid to lurk about the snowy
> countryside during Christmastime and eat people who have not received any
> newclothes to wear before Christmas Eve. [1] The Yule Cat has become
> associated with other figures from Icelandic folklore as the house pet of
> the giantess Grýla and her sons, the Yule Lads. [2]
> The threat of being eaten by the Yule Cat was used by farmers as an
> incentive for their workers to finish processing the autumn wool before
> Christmas. The ones who took part in the work would be rewarded with new
> clothes, but those who did not would get nothing and thus would be preyed
> upon by the monstrous cat. The cat has alternatively been interpreted as
> merely eating away the food of ones without new clothes during Christmas
> feasts. [1] The perception of the Yule Cat as a man-eating beast was partly
> popularized by the poet Jóhannes úr Kötlum in his poem Jólakötturinn.
--
Andrew
http://hispirits.blogspot.com/
'Undercover of Lightness'
http://walleahpress.com.au/recent-publications.html
'Shikibu Shuffle'
http://abovegroundpress.blogspot.com.au/2012/03/new-from-aboveground-press-shikibu.html
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