JULTOMTE

By: Nicholas Pell

Välkommen vår fest!

Nu er det jul igen!

Who is he?

Swedish “Santa” Protector of farms

Harasser of farm animals

Thief Old, short and

Lively house elf Shapeshifter -

invisible Easily offended

What does he do?

Has a goat and a cat, but no reindeer

Lives in Ancestral [Christmas] tree

Brings presents on Christmas

Candy in your shoes

What do you do?

Leave out your clogs to be filled with candy

Leave milk for tomte’s cat

Leave porridge for tomte Or he’ll probably kill you

Don’t offend him Or he’ll play pranks on

you Pebbles to the head,

tying cows’ tails together, or killing herds of cattle to destroy family farms

Tomte, the good and bad:

Troll/elf Nisse (vicious) and

poisonous, visible/invisible, trouble maker, peace maker, family friend and foe

What’s the word?

“Children, behave, or Tomte will beat you”

Make offerings to the elf, or you’ll be sorry

Be good and you’ll be rewarded

Misbehave and you’ll be punished

Bibliography:

“Swedish Christmas Customs” by: Dr. A Kellgren Cyriax http://www.jstor.org.dbprox.slcc.edu/stable/1256552?

&Search=yes&searchText=Tomte&list=hide&searchUri=%2Faction%2FdoBasicSearch%3FQuery%3DTomte%26acc%3Don%26wc%3Don&prevSearch=&item=13&ttl=50&returnArticleService=showFullText

Jultomten blog: http://talesoffaerie.blogspot.com/2010/12/jultomten.html

Norse gift house: http://www.nordicgifthouse.com/food/food-

cheesejamsmixes.htm Encyclopedia Mythica:

http://www.pantheon.org/articles/n/nisse.html