Events 2022

Pot Scraper

  • 16.12.2022, 11:00 - 11:30, The Photo Gallery - National Museum of Iceland Suðurgata 41

Pot Scraper is expected on 16 December. He is also sometimes called Pot Licker since in the old days he waited to snatch away the pots that had not been washed and licked the food remains from the insides. Admission ticket is needed.

The Yule Lads visit the National Museum from the 12th of December until 24th, daily at 11am. They wear their old Icelandic costumes and sing and tell children (and adults) stories.

Pot Scraper, the fifth one,
was a funny sort of chap.
When kids were given scrapings,
he'd come to the door and tap.

And they would rush to see
if there really was a guest.
Then he hurried to the pot
and had a scrapingfest.

The Icelandic jólasveinar (Yuletide Lads) have little connection with the international red-clothed Santa Claus. The Yuletide Lads are descended from trolls, and orginally they were bogeymen who were used to scare children. During this century they have mellowed, and they sometimes wear their best, red, suits. But they still tend to pilfer and play tricks. They are the sons of two of the most hideous ogres ever known in Iceland, Grýla and Leppalúði.