Bowl Licker!! (Ambersmom!!)
Ambersmom, today is your day!
Bowl Licker (17th Dec.) is the sixth Yule Lad to make his way down from the mountains. In the old Icelandic turf farmhouses the family sat on the edge of their beds to eat. Each family member had their own bowl which had a lid to keep the food warm. Askasleikir sneaks into a farmhouse and lies in wait under the bed of the unsuspecting person who innocently puts his or her 'askur' down on the floor between bites - whereupon the lad swipes it away to lick it spotlessly clean.
Today is also Tul Ya'een. It's one of the many Yule days in the Orkney Islands (a string of islands off the northern tip of Scotland). The rhyme goes something like this:
On Tul Ya'een, trows be seen. The wee green men and gray men are up from the hills... Lucky folk see the Christmas Pig in her red cap and boots. Other folk see naught but a wisp of mist, twilight-streaked. There's something in the middle about the trows dancing, but I forget what it is.
Trows are changelings and fairies known for being very mischievous. During December they are most active and very similar, in some ways, to Iceland's Yule Lads.
The Christmas Pig is also known as Lucky Piggy.
And there's your lesson for the day!
Bowl Licker (17th Dec.) is the sixth Yule Lad to make his way down from the mountains. In the old Icelandic turf farmhouses the family sat on the edge of their beds to eat. Each family member had their own bowl which had a lid to keep the food warm. Askasleikir sneaks into a farmhouse and lies in wait under the bed of the unsuspecting person who innocently puts his or her 'askur' down on the floor between bites - whereupon the lad swipes it away to lick it spotlessly clean.
Today is also Tul Ya'een. It's one of the many Yule days in the Orkney Islands (a string of islands off the northern tip of Scotland). The rhyme goes something like this:
On Tul Ya'een, trows be seen. The wee green men and gray men are up from the hills... Lucky folk see the Christmas Pig in her red cap and boots. Other folk see naught but a wisp of mist, twilight-streaked. There's something in the middle about the trows dancing, but I forget what it is.
Trows are changelings and fairies known for being very mischievous. During December they are most active and very similar, in some ways, to Iceland's Yule Lads.
The Christmas Pig is also known as Lucky Piggy.
And there's your lesson for the day!
