There are places that you might travel where nothing seems quite certain… When light bends and glimmers to reach your eye; when there are only a few hours of daylight, it plays on the rocks and glaciers. It lifts out shadows that can’t have been there a moment ago. In December in Iceland, the darkest day has about four hours of light. The night may bring storms or stars or even the northern lights. Mystery and magic are steeped in awe and fear.
But say you were a child in the Middle Ages. As the darkest day of the year approaches, harsh wind tears through your village, howling as it chills. The ground can’t support many crops, but your family tries. You keep sheep and cattle in your bid to survive, but now is the time when everyone you see worries the most.
You hear stories of trolls and elves, ghosts and goblins that dwell in the nearby mountains. These creatures are said to be ancient and powerful. Even without the tales, you can feel the danger glancing your skin. But, as a child in Iceland you would also hear about the 13 Yule Lads. They are trolls who pilfer and pull pranks. They show up one night after another starting the evening before December 12th until there are more and more of them.
The first lad is called “sheep-cote-clod,” who totters on stiff legs and steals sheep milk. The next night comes “gully gawk,” who sneaks into the barn to sip the froth from the top of the milk buckets. Then comes “stubby,” who eats leftover crusts; then “spoon-licker” and “pot-licker” and “bowl-licker.” On the night before the18th, the Yule Lad called “door-slammer” makes himself known. He especially enjoys slamming doors late at night when everyone’s asleep. Perhaps this one has visited you a time or two. Another day passes and “skyr-gobbler” comes to eat your yogurt; “sausage-swiper” takes aim; “window-peeper” creeps around to look for things he’d like to steal; “doorway-sniffer” snatches your bread; “meat-hook” pounces from nowhere. Then, the last to come is “candle-stealer.” The night before December 24th he leaves you in the dark while he munches away at the few candles that you have.
Bits of food may go missing, but it’s probably not your fault – it’s the trolls. The fearsome wind may slam the doors and startle you awake, but you know why it’s happening. The Yule Lads are up to their old tricks. However scared you may be, however powerful the evil out there gets, you know that Christmas Day will come. By Christmas Day, the longest night will be over; the feast of the Christ’s birth will bring new light into your life; and, every day after that, one by one, the Yule lads will leave.
As a child, you can hold on to this hope; you can believe in peace that shatters the trolls and goblins; you can do your best to love as you have been taught. You can see Christ as your joy. Think about it – if these stories were the way you thought about the world, you would know that even when things appear to get worse and worse, scarier and more confusing, you would still believe that Jesus is arriving and that means that things will get better, bit by bit.
That is joy. It’s not that we feel thrilled and giddy and smiley all the time. Yeah, sometimes joy includes the warm, fuzzy feelings, but it also includes our stubborn insistence of faith. Joy has a strength that bends and bows like a willow. It’s not only one thing, stiffly resisting the wind. It suffuses our spirits. Joy is our tangled understanding of God’s grace.1
[1] https://adventures.com/blog/december-in-iceland/ &
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iceland &
https://adventures.is/blog/the-icelandic-yule-lads/ &
https://www.travelchannel.com/interests/holidays/articles/origins-iceland-christmas-trolls-yule-lads