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The Velveteen Ocelot

(115,683 posts)
5. Here's one more Scandinavian Christmas legend, the Yule Cat of Iceland.
Wed Dec 5, 2018, 01:53 AM
Dec 2018

This is my favorite because it's so weird.

The Yule Cat (Icelandic: Jólakötturinn) is a monster from Icelandic folklore, a huge and vicious cat said to lurk about the snowy countryside during Christmas time and eat people who have not received any new clothes to wear before Christmas Eve. 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.

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....

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yule_Cat
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