The Yuletide Lads

The Artist and writer Helgi Valgeirsson was born in1962, Reykjavík, ICELAND. After a free and memorable childhood with fishing, vast open spaces and boyish tricks, he opted for an art course, and graduated from the Academy of Fine Arts in Iceland in 1986. ART, his occupation, Helgi has lived in Copenhagen in Denmark since the year 1995.As an Icelandic artist Helgi has strongly been influenced by the by the environment of his country the light, landscape and atmosphere, and of course,...
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The Artist and writer Helgi Valgeirsson was born in1962, Reykjavík, ICELAND. After a free and memorable childhood with fishing, vast open spaces and boyish tricks, he opted for an art course, and graduated from the Academy of Fine Arts in Iceland in 1986. ART, his occupation, Helgi has lived in Copenhagen in Denmark since the year 1995.As an Icelandic artist Helgi has strongly been influenced by the by the environment of his country the light, landscape and atmosphere, and of course, Icelandic culture. Folklores and Icelandic adventures are, and always have been, his favourite stories, among other books and literature. Besides reading, drawing and painting pictures influenced by folklores and landscape, Helgi has also worked on a project, writing stories about The Yuletide Lads. They are all very beloved characters in the Icelandic Christmas culture. One of the main characters, "Ogress", is known from writings back to 12th century as a terrible troll that loved to catch naughty children and take them to her cave. Her husband, Ragjerk, their sons and their pet, The Yuletide Cat, shows up later. There are no real sources from where The Yuletide Cat originated, other than in the beginning it was alone individual .No one knew where it came from or where to it went after Christmastime. It is said to be BIG as a lion and very dangerous. In modern times the Yuletide Cat has found shelter as a pet in the cave with The Yuletide Lads and become tamer as Ogress, Ragjerk and The Yuletide Lads became more vivid and alive..So Christmas culture in Iceland is different from other Western countries. No Santa Claus is as in other countries. In his place are the 13 Yule-tide-lads who appear in the old folk tales. Historically The Yuletide Lads were far meaner and more evil than in modern times, but in the beginning of the 18th century and during the 19th century they become more likable. Their mischievousness remained, but their image changed. Old tales portray monsters with almost no similarity to humans, but by the 19th century they had adopted a more human form. The better behaved Yuletide Lads first showed up in towns, although their meaner personalities survived longer in rural locations. However, by the 1930s their transformation was complete, and their shape took on the figure of Santa Claus. At that time the Yuletide Lads began to visit schools singing Christmas carols and giving presents to the children. Though they are thirteen sons of the giantess troll, their father is an elf, kidnapped at a young age by trolls, developing through his long life to become a brawling troll making The Yuletide Lads neither trolls or elves but a combination of both. Helgi has written stories about the Yuletide Lads influenced from what little information is actually known about these interesting Christmas characters, along with original stories describing their adventures and their Universe. The first book, "The Yuletide Lads " Helgi wrote and illustrated, is the main story in the series "The Yuletide Lads" with inspiration from old folklore. The story is about the troll-family living in a huge cave in a mountain far away from town. Ogress is the giantess who controls her family with iron hand. She and her companion Ragjerk send their sons "The Yuletide Lads" to town with instructions to collect some Christmas food for the Christmas festive season, but otherwise they sleep the biggest part of the year. As well as his Christmas story, Helgi has published a series The Yuletide Lads entitled "The Yuletide Cat", "The Yuletide Lads", "Raven Saga", "The Yuletide Lads up to their Neck", "Tall Tale", " Into the Mountain " and more funny histories are being created by Helgi Valgeirsson.