On Yule Lads, Alðingi and BCPPs

On our way to Đingvellir, the old site of assembly of the Icelanders, our guide Andrí pampered us with stories about the 13 Icelandic Jólasveinar (Yule Lads) or Christmas trolls.

Our itinerary outlined by the tireless Andrí

The Yule Lads are the sons of the fearsome troll Grýla and her lazy husband Leppalúði. They live in the mountains with their terrifying pet, the Yule Cat Jólakötturinn, who is said to eat anyone who doesn't receive a new piece of clothing for Christmas.

Beginning on December 12, one Yule Lad comes down from the mountains each night. Children place a shoe on their windowsill, and each Lad leaves either:

- a small gift for well-behaved children, or

- a rotten potato for naughty ones.

Here is a list of the 13 Yule Lads:

Arrival on   Icelandic name    English name      Favorite mischief

Dec. 12        Stekkjarstaur        Sheep-Cote Clod     Bothers sheep

Dec. 13        Giljagaur              Gully  Gawk            Steals milk from cows

Dec. 14        Stúfur                  Stubby                   Eats food stuck to cooking pans

Dec. 15        þvörusleikir          Spoon Licker            Licks wooden spoons

Dec. 16       Pottaskefill            Pot Scraper              Scrapes leftovers from pots

Dec. 17       Askasleikir            Bowl Licker               Steals and licks food bowls

Dec. 18       Hurðaskellir          Door Slammer          Slams doors at night

Dec. 19       Skyrgámur          Skyr Gobbler             Eats skyr, the Icelandic yogurt

Dec. 20       Bjúgnakrækir       Sausage Swiper         Steals sausages

Dec. 21       Gluggagægir        Window Peeper          Sneaks around peering through windows

Dec. 22       Gáttaþefur           Doorway Sniffer   Uses his big nose to sniff out Christmas bread

Dec. 23       Ketkrókur             Meat Hook               Hooks and steals smoked meat

Dec. 24       Kertasníkir           Candle Beggar          Steals (edible) tallow candles from children

The Yule Lads stay for 13 days. The first one leaves on Christmas Day, and the others one after the other during the twelve nights of Christmas until January 6, Epiphany.

At the Đingvellir National Site, on top of the Hallurinn slope near the rocky ledge, the Icelandic flag is supposed to mark the former Lögberg. An elected Law Speaker standing on the Law Rock recited aloud the laws to the Alðingi (Icelandic early parliament).

At the Law Council, the chieftains sat on a central platform, while the followers were seated in front and behind. Since the Icelanders did not have a written language at that time, the rules of their society were passed on orally.

The Alðingi, founded around AD 930, held legislative and judicial power. It was the heart of the Old Icelandic Commonwealth that lasted until 1262. At the Law Rock in late June, important speeches were made regarding the affairs of the country's inhabitants; the podium was also open to all who wished to address the assembly.

The Law Council enacted new laws and ruled on legal disputes. It had no power of enforcement, however, and the parties themselves had to ensure that judgments were enforced. Vengeance was a strong tradition, leading to many bloody conflicts, which are recounted in the Sagas of Iceland and the "contemporary" sagas of the 12th and 13th centuries.

Here is an artist's view bearing the title: "We shall go to Lögberg tomorrow and move the courts out for challenging at the latest when the sun is on the western ravine crag, seen from the Law Speaker's seat at Lögberg."

The laws of the old Commonwealth were partly written down in the early 12th century when writing had arrived in Iceland with the adoption of Christianity. That written law code became known as Grágás.

Walking up the old main public road through the Đingvellir site.

The old Icelanders had chosen for their Alðingi a dangerous place where the Eurasian and North American tectonic plates meet.

On March 31st 2011, a pothole suddenly opened up in the middle of the old road through the Đingvellir area. Luckily, the passage had been closed to vehicles on November 1st 1967. The hole eventually opened up into a long, deep crevice.

The fault was about 10m deep and extended 15 m southwest under the now gravel trail.

The impressive fault

Iceland is rich in energy. Abundant water power is directly fed into turbines producing electricity.

Heating of the nearby greenhouse

As you have seen in the previous Iceland blog, the ground is steaming in many places, and geothermal energy in the form of 80–100 °C hot water is used for residential heating in over 90% of all households, swimming pools, thermal baths, snow-melting systems for roads and sidewalks, and heating greenhouses.

Not far from our hotel: During 24 hours for maximum output,
the vegetables in the greenhouse get the right temperature.
The LED light is tuned to the wavelength for optimal chlorophyll production.

Electricity-generating turbines require hot steam of usually 180–300 °C. In geothermal power plants such as Hellisheiði or Nesjavellir, water is extracted from depths of several kilometers, where temperatures exceed 200 °C. As the hot water rises, it expands into steam, which drives a turbine powering a generator.

What about water heated to 80 °C? It can be used too to generate electricity in so-called binary-cycle power plants (BCPP) using the Organic Rankine Cycle. Water at 80 °C heats a liquid, whose boiling point is much lower than that of water (e.g., isobutane or pentane). These organic liquids vaporize, drive a turbine, and are then condensed, i.e., liquefied again. However, the efficiency of BCPPs is low, at 8 to 15%. This only makes these plants economically viable under certain conditions.

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