3 posts tagged “jól”

So I was really busy these past couple of days and didn't manage to post about the jólasveinn.  So two nights ago Ketkrókur came.  He would be called Meat hook in English.

Ketkrókur, sá tólfti,
kunni á ýmsu lag.
Hann þrammaði í sveitina
á Þorláksmessudag.

Hann krækti sér í tutlu,
þegar kostur var á.
En stundum reyndist stuttur
stauturinn hans þá.

Meat hook, the twelfth,
knew an interesting tune.
He plodded through the country
on St. Þorláks day.

He snuck a bite of meat,
whenever he could.
But sometimes when he tried
his hook was too short.

Þorláks day was yesterday.  We went into Reykjavik for a bit and I ran into some friends of mine, Kok and Mod (both from Thailand). Júlíus sang some Christmas songs at this store.  Then we went to Pabbi´s brother´s house to eat skata.  Skata is sting ray that´s been peed on, left to rot, and then cooked.  It smells quite rank (imagine a toilet in a very sunny and warm spot that has not been cleaned for over a year) but doesn´t taste too terrible, although I didn´t finish my piece.  We got home around midnight and then we got some visitors so I didn´t really get to sleep until around 2.  Then I had to wake up so early this morning to go to the post office in Keflavik.  I am so tired that I think I´ll post about the final jólasveinn later today.  Gleðileg Jól!

Tonight Gáttaþefur, door sniffer, comes to visit.  He is the eleventh jólasveinn which means that Christmas is soon upon us! 

Ellefti var Gáttaþefur
-aldrei fékk sá kvef,
og hafði þó svo hlálegt
og heljarstórt nef.

Hann ilm af laufabrauði
upp á heiðar fann,
og léttur, eins og reykur,
á lyktina rann.

The eleventh was Door sniffer
-who never got a cold,
and he had such a big
and sensitive nose.

He smelled laufabrauð
from very far away,
and light, like smoke,
he ran to the smell.

Laufabrauð is a traditional Icelandic food that is made at Christmas.  It´s very good and crispy.  If you google it you should be able to find some pictures.  Today I spent the day with my amma, or grandma.  We ran some errands around town and then I baked some more Swedish tea rings.  I´m getting quite good at it now.  The next couple of days will be very busy as Christmas is on Monday.  I´m really looking forward to it!

Today I discovered to Christmas mugs on my window sill.  Tonight, with only 4 days until Christmas (!!!), Gluggagægir (Window peeper) comes.

Tíundi var Gluggagægir,
grályndur mann,
sem laumaðist á skjáinn
og leit inn um hann.

Ef eitthvað var þar inni
álitlegt að sjá,
hann oftast nær seinna
í það reyndi að ná.

The tenth was Window peeper,
an odd sort of man,
that peeked through the screens
and looked all around.

If something was inside
that was nice to see,
he often returned later
and tried to make it his.

Tomorrow I´m going to my amma´s house to bake some more.  It´s fun to bake this time of year.  Especially with Christmas literally right around the corner.  It´s gone so fast!