Scary guests on Christmas Eve

Christmas Eve is often associated with Santa's gentle character climbing through the chimney and giving gifts to children, but in some cultures there are evil characters to scare children disobedient.

Gryla, Iceland

Gryla is a female goblin that lives in the mountains of Iceland. According to legend, this evil character has hooves, horns, 13 tails, a big nose and full of acne. Gryla's origins date back to the pagan era and then turned into a character to scare children. On Christmas Eve, Gryla visits the towns and cities from the mountains, finding and catching naughty kids. The goblin then returned to the cave with a bag filled with crying children, boiling and eating them. Gryla has 13 children called Yule Lad and they often harass Iceland families for 13 days before Christmas. Recently, Yule Lad was used as an image of good dwarfs and gifts for children.

Nightrunner, Kenya

In the daytime, Nightrunner is a normal person but at night, they transform into goblins with wild hair, deep eyes, dark eye bags and no clothes. They ran through the villages, banging on the door and throwing stones at the roof. Nobody can catch the Nightrunner because they can fly and disappear. Sometimes they dig up dead graves, take bones to use magic and eat meat. People do not dare to provoke the Nightrunner because they can use their power to disturb their minds and make them go dig graves together.

Cat people, Northern Europe

The Cat is a long-standing character in the Nordic folk representing both good and evil. According to some legends, this spooky character visits children when they are fast asleep, then sprinkles magic dust or sand from special sacks into their eyes to prevent children from having beautiful dreams. In some other folk tales, Cat people are the ones holding 2 umbrellas. Accordingly, the Cat will hold a nice umbrella to visit and give gifts to good children. The other umbrella is black for the Cat to use when it comes to punishing spoiled children.

El Cuco, Spain, Portugal and Latin American countries

According to legend, El Cuco is a dark monster that likes to eat disobedient kids. He hid under the bed or the children's wardrobe when they refused to go to sleep. The more stubborn the child is, the more hungry El Cuco is and the craving for them. Images of this character also change in each country. El Cuco is described as a cloaked man, sometimes a fierce female dragon, a monster with furry leaves or goblins. This monster has red eyes, glowing ears and is also known as El Coco or El Cucuy.

Zwarte Piet, Netherlands

Zwarte Piet or Pete Black is Sinterklaas's assistant (St. Nicholas according to Dutch culture). According to folklore, on Christmas from December 5, Sinterklaas appeared and traveled from his homeland of Spain on a gift-filled ship. Zwarte Piet, the black servant, would then help Saint Nicholas climb over the chimney and give gifts to the children, and punish spoiled children. However, Zwarte Piet used to become a controversial figure in the Netherlands because this character has a dark face and makes many people uncomfortable. Over the years, some solutions have been introduced, such as Piet drawing in red, green or colorful colors, but no solution is effective because they often make children scared.