SC - potatoes

[Nanna Rognvaldardottir]

I ran into some difficulties this morning when my granddaughter rang to tell
me that Pot-licker had put a raw potato in her shoe because she was a bad
girl yesterday (Icelandic christmas custom, explanation to follow). We
discussed what could be done with the potato and then I began telling her
that when my great-grandparents were children they did not know potatoes
because they were not commonly grown in that region until the 1890s or so.
And she said "No potatoes? What did they get in their shoe when they were
bad?" I had to say I had no idea ...

Here in Iceland, we have not one Santa Claus but 13 of them - that is, the
Yule-Swains, the unruly ogres of Icelandic myths, who have merged with
Scandinavian nisser, the Dutch Sintklaas and the American Coca-Cola-type
Santa Claus and the result is nice guys in red and white suits who give lots
of presents to good children but still like to play their pranks now and
then - many of them food-related. If anyone is interested, more can be found
here:


http://www.islandia.is/~gardarj/yule5.htm

>From 12th to 24th Dec, they come to town, one each night, and each places
something in the shoes the children have put in their window - a small gift,
candy, fruit or something nice if the child behaved the day before, a potato
if he or she did not - Icelandic children are usually rather well behaved
during the run-up to Christmas. This was the second potato little Hekla has
ever got in her six years of life.

BTW, there are some traditional Icelandic Christmas recipes at the above
site too, and information about Yule in the Sagas and more.

Nanna

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