Hopefully you already saw my post on Tuesday with an overview of the Icelandic tradition of the Yule Lads. If you haven’t, go back and read that first so this will make more sense. According to folklore, today — December 16 — is the day when the fifth Yule Lad arrives.
The fifth Yule Lad’s name is Pottaskefill, which translates as Pot-Scraper. His particular brand of mischief is stealing leftovers from pots.
Here’s how he’s described in the 1932 Icelandic poem, “Yule Lads,” by Jóhannes úr Kötlum:
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 scraping fest.
Pot-scraper arrives each year on December 16, and leaves again on December 29.
And here’s a more thorough explanation, by Robert Nelson, on Medium.
Pottaskefill is sneaky like the others, to be sure, but he’s also a prankster. He performs one of the most basic pranks known to humankind: he knocks on your door, and then promptly runs away before you open to reveal nobody at the front porch. In a variation of this prank, however, Pottaskefill runs around back and scrapes the remains from your pot and eats it before you even know what has happened.
You might be thinking that this is the same sort of mischief as Stúfur, but I assure you, a pot and a pan are quite different things. And, if you hang with this series long enough, we will move beyond the simple licking of kitchen implements and vessels and get into some other creative mischief!
And here’s another, from Iceland24:
The fifth, Pot Licker,
Was a weird cool lad.
As the children received scrapings,
He knocked at the door.They rushed off to see
If a guest was dropping in.
Then he hurried to the pot,
And had a filling meal.It’s Pottaskefill, the pot licker. Most of us, admit it, are not fond of leftovers (spam hash, anybody?). This Yule Lad lives for them! He patiently waits until households are finished with their cooking. Then he sneaks in and demolishes the leftovers in the pot with lightning speed.
His job is easy to do with the normal Viking household, but the Vikings on Berk are quite well grown, and the chances of leftovers are not great.
But Pottaskefill has picked up a few tricks over the years to guarantee he gets leftovers. Vikings had a notorious love of seasoning, gaining new tastes as they traveled on trading missions and their raid- oops, I mean, acquiring new possessions without paying for them. A wealthier household might have spices such as cumin, pepper, saffron, ginger, cardamom, cloves, nutmeg, mace, cinnamon, anise-seed, and bay leaves. In fact, Scandinavia is one of the few regions outside of South Asia that uses cardamom as a staple spice.
Anyway, like a Viking trader, Pottaskefill has collected his own formidable armada of seasonings from his visits. He has strung them onto a bandolier like vest that he wears when he visits Berk. And he uses them liberally and inappropriately (lots of salt in the deserts, honey and cinnamon in the meat soup, etc.). And lots and lots and lots of hot peppers.
Top it off with a few extra logs to insure the fire will burn the food, and Pottaskefill has guaranteed leftovers! It’s a good thing he has developed a cast iron stomach over the years. Some of the other Yule Lads and Grýla have noticed, actually, that he no longer can eat food if it tastes good.
The 13 Yule Lads, Mom, Dad and Cat:
