The Wicked Feline Murder Floof, a Yule Cat Story | Monstrum
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- Опубликовано: 19 дек 2019
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Christmas isn’t just a time for presents, cookies, and holiday cheer, but the hunting period of Iceland’s murderous monster feline, the Yule Cat. This giant, fluffy cat towers over buildings, roaming the snowy countryside for human victims who have yet to receive new clothes before Christmas.
Although at first glance this monster may seem random, in this episode you’ll learn how the importance of wool production, the absence of Santa Claus, and a respect for cats drove Icelandic folklore to create such a gruesome Yuletime critter. #yulecat #christmas #iceland #cat #MonstrumPBS
Written and Hosted by: Dr. Emily Zarka
Director: David Schulte
Executive Producer: Amanda Fox
Producer: Stephanie Noone
Illustrator: Samuel Allen
Editor: Sara Roma
Produced by Spotzen for PBS Digital Studios.
We would like to sincerely thank Dr. Árni Björnsson for his expertise and time. Special thanks also to Sylvía Oddný Arnardóttir and the Skógar Folk Museum, and Gróa Finnsdóttir and the National Museum of Iceland.
Follow us on Instagram:
/ monstrumpbs
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BIBLIOGRAPHY:
Árnason, Jón. Icelandic Legends. Trans. George E. J. Powell and Eiríkur Magnússon. London: Richard Bentley, 1864.
Bedell, J.M. Hildur, Queen of the Elves, and Other Icelandic Legends. Trans. Terry Gunnell. Interlink Books, 2007.
Björnsson, Árni. High Days and Holidays in Iceland. Trans. Anna H. Yates. Mal og menning, 1995.
Björnsson, Árni. Í jólaskapi (In a Christmas Mood). Bjallan, 1983.
Dalrymple, Colin Arnold. “Christmas Cat Cost Causes Controversy.” The Reykjavík Grapevine, Nov. 27, 2018. grapevine.is/news/2018/11/27/....
Gunnell, Terry. The Origins of Drama in Scandinavia. D.S. Brewer, 1995.
Guðmundur, Ólafsson. “Jólakötturinn og uppruni hans (‘The Yule Cat and his origins’).” Árbók Hins Íslenzka Fornleifafélags 86, 1989, pp. 111-120.
Helgadottir, Gudrun. “Nation in a sheep’s coat: The Icelandic sweater.” FORMakademisk, Vol. 4, No. 2, 2011, pp. 59-68.
Magnússon, Sigurður Gylfi. "From Children's Point of View: Childhood in Nineteenth-Century Iceland." Journal of Social History, vol. 29, no. 2, 1995, pp. 295-323.
Róbertsdóttir, Hrefna. “Manufacturing in the 18th Century: Production, consumption and relative usefulness in Iceland's Old Society.” Scandinavian Journal of History, Vol. 39(1), Jan. 2014, pp. 49-77.
Raedisch, Linda. The Old Magic of Christmas. Llewellyn Publications, 2019.
Róbertsdóttir, Hrefna. Wool and Society: Manufacturing Policy, Economic Thought and Local Production in 18th-century Iceland. Makadam Publishers, 2008.
Sigurðsson, Arngrimur. Museum of Hidden Beings. Salka-Reykjavik, 2016.
“10 facts about the Icelandic Yule Lads.” Iceland Monitor, Dec. 20, 2016. icelandmonitor.mbl.is/news/cu....
Yule cat: That shirt is SOOOO last season
Me: what
Yule cat: *murders me*
Regina Longmore
Lol right? Like, ok who died and made you the fashion police?
Your just lucky risk! I live in iceland and i get pretty scared when i havent opened a soft present at Christmas.😼
Tanner grinzel he actually has a new set of clothes in his belly, thats why he eats children with old & torn clothes
@@browniecookiecocoaremycute4327 Couldn't he just hack it up like most cats do with hairballs?
i snorted
"...unlike this kitty, the Yule cat is no cuddly creature", she says while the kitty promptly goes "PUT ME DOWN WOMAN!" xD
XSportSeeker Thought the same thing!
I saw that too! And she even says that she's not a cat person, I think that cat could tell :=)
@Alexander Brunnrgaard I don't doubt that :=)
@@jaymartin8273
Animals can sense evil in hoomans! 😈
@@TheCimbrianBull Oh definitely :=)
Gorefield.
Genius
When Gorefield attacks you, you're gonna go Owwwwdie!!
Get it?
Cuz its Garfield and Odie!!
Ha ha ha!
No?
_I'll leave_
I'm Sorry Ghon
@@trenton227 Nice
vorefield
We need more more murder kitties and fewer elves on shelves
Cats on hats?
Lol, yes
Elf on the shelf creeps me tf out
Now there's an idea.
It would definitely be less creepy.
American Parents: Alright kids, if you’re good this year, you’ll get presents from a Jolly old elf on Christmas.
German Parents: Ok Kinder, if you’re good this year you won’t get eaten by an evil goat man on Christmas.
Icelandic Parents: Listen very closely children, if you don’t get new clothes this Christmas, you’ll be eaten by a giant cat.
Icelandic children: Nintendo... Legos... Paint set... crap! Where's the socks & shirts?? I don't wanna get eaten!!!
Literally not even about being good or bad anymore loool
actually the goat dude is only active in Bavaria and beyond southwards. Bavaria isn't germany. It's...."special" :p
Finnish parents : you get a rally car for this christmas
Please....The American Jolly Elf watches you when you're sleeping, he knows when you're awake, and you can't cry or pout. If that peeping Tom is not menacing then who is?
NOW I know why my Grandmother gave me clothes for Christmas every year. She was saving my life! Thanks, Grandmother!
lol
your not at risk if you dont live in icelnd. The cat doesnt know how to swim, i should be afraid (i live in iceland)
Aw grandma, I wanna be eaten by a murder floof
My family was Icelandic and we got and still do get pajamas and clothes @christmas eve
I got the most beautiful socks this year! 🧦
“Murder floof” has got to be my new favorite word for a cat monster XD
similar to "danger noodle" for snakes 🐍
I’ve been using [insert] floof for years. People thing I’m strange. I am. Every time I hear it used, I feel justified
@@_PsychoFish_ I love the danger noodle name. It's just perfect.
Me to XD
@@_PsychoFish_
Or 'nope rope'.
Fun fact: the two cats that pulled Freja's chariot were named Trjgul and Begul, meaning tree-gold (amber, said to come from Freja's tears as she searched for her husband) and bee-gold, honey. So her cats were named Amber and Honey!
That's freaking adorable omg
I don't care if the Yule Cat doesn't want cuddles, I AM GIVING IT CUDDLES
Same
Same
While singing soft kitty, warm kitty, little ball of fur! Happy kitty, sleepy kitty, purr purr purr!
@@dwightalexander2648 **giant ball of fur
@@Aly-ym9yi almost forgot it's a giant devil floof
Nothing like the menace of death to gather the family.
Mexican's Moms do that all the time
It really is though.
@@Genzafel El Cuco!
I laughed too hard at that!
That cat is going to murder you in your sleep if you don't put it down right meow.
It's untameable. Is untameable a word? Anyway, it's as hard to tame as an adult Typhoomerang dragon or a Whispering Death dragon, and you can't tame these things at a certain age. You must develop a bond with the Typhoomerang dragon while it's still a hatchling and is between 1 and 5 days old. But the Whispering Death dragon is the opposite. They're savages as hatchlings, and you must tame them once they're adults. We don't know about Yule Cats so put them in the Danger Section of the Monster Book Of Monsters.
"traveled across the sky in a wagon pulled by two giant, flying cats"
Me: life goal
It would be pretty sweet!
Same
Poor child : My parents are broke and it's Christmas time..No gifts this year either.. Not even new clothes..
Yule cat : A piece of meat marinated in sadness *MMMMMMM*
But then the Yule Cat change its mind and instead gives the poor a huge bag of gold coins and gifts! 😻
MMMMMM
NOM
@@bjgoodrich5864 nope not how that works
@@e4ehco21 it should be!😾
"I'm not much of a cat person"
*wearing shirt covered in cats*
Wearing a NEW shirt covered in cats...covering all the bases there.
Every shirt a cat owner wears becomes a shirt covered in cats
Freya, goddess of love and war.
Her motto: if you can't lay 'em, slay 'em
Freyja isnt a god of war
@@kristjannoikristjansson3260 Yep. I believe it is Tyr
@@adamsarufan2656 yep, he is. I have like 10 books about nordic mitholigy.
She gets half of all slain warriors. She presides over fólkvangr
Norse mythology has more than one deity of war. After all war was a big part of the culture. Odin, Freya and Tyr are among those.
I always theorized that the Yule Cat was allegorical for frostbite. Another part of the lore goes that people that don't get new socks during Yuletide will have their toes nibbled on by the Yule Cat which I always took as your toes starting to freeze upp, giving a similar sensation to being bitten by a sharp-toothed animal, like a cat for example.
Nice Jólköttur.
Scary Jólköttur.
Gigantic ball of fur.
Evil Jólköttur.
Murderous Jólköttur.
Run! Run! Run!
😂😂
Where's sheldon
@@jenniferhouse1939 Yulecat ate him for wearing last years flash shirt
@@derpiekittie17 blasphemous calamity
😭😭
Timmy, we would love to get you that toy, but you're getting this sweater instead so that cat won't eat you.
That's what I was thinking!Poor kids.
Awe thanks!
This is trully Clifford's nemesis
Yule, The big grey cat.....
I’ve heard an interesting interpretation that he was meant to be a “Jack Frost” figure (a personification of winter cold), hence why later interpretations have him slipping through cracks in poorly insulated homes to eat Christmas dinner, and why he is said to favor victims without warm clothes and tear them apart with ice-cold claws... Maybe that’s another facet of the “Wool Production” part of the story? He wasn’t only a symbolic punishment for laziness, but also represented the very real threat of freezing to death if you didn’t have your winter garments ready in time. XD
Interesting/
That's where I thought this story was going too lol
yikes!
Aw the house cat never got their treat. And now it hunts for little children for sustenance.
Awww, my favourite murder floof. I'm glad I'm not the only one that would DEFINATLY hug this good, good boi
Omg its definitely*
Look at the one Eyebrow raise at 0:59 .. xD
With new clothes lmao
Dresses in finest new*
Love my murder floof!
𝙄 𝙒𝘼𝙉𝙏 𝙏𝙃𝙀 𝙂𝙄𝘼𝙉𝙏 𝙁𝙇𝙊𝙊𝙁
In case you didn't know - the Yule Cat does still play a part in Icelandic Christmas traditions, it just got made more kiddy-friendly (like the Christmas Lads). Nowadays the Yule Cat is more an office-Christmas-party joke - if your colleagues reckon you haven't done your job properly or want to teach you a lesson they'll conveniently 'run out' of pudding or turkey or something when you go up for your share and say "Oh dear, the Yule Cat must've eaten it!" So the Yule Cat is still used to punish lazy people, just in a less scary way.
(Why do I now have a mental image of this creature as a giant magical Garfield?)
The Yule Lads is just a boy band waiting to happen
Ice-pop = Icelandic pop
Nobody:
Yule cat: *meow*
My grandma “AWWW come on inside little kitty cat.”
“*Krompus* isn’t the only Christmas monster so is this.” *shows cute chunky boi*
PBS, dropping the important history docs I didn't know I needed but always wanted
😎
@@pbsstoried yule cat : Iceland night Christmas forest giant cat feline murder kid
I call "Wicked Feline Murder Floof" as a band name.
Apan Apandottír
Not if I form a band first!
😂😂
Damn
There's a Deathcore band called Litterbox Massacre. All their songs are cat-themed
Or Diablos Gatos
That would be an excellent name for a band!
Best co-host ever! Super kitty!!
agreed
Aww look at the cuddly demon kitty!
I’m giving the Yule kitty lots of pets, belly rubs & treats! He’s just hangry 🤣
Same
"I'm not a cat person," she says, as she cuddles the tiny murder floof.😂
I had never heard of the Yule Cat before. Cool legend. Thanks for sharing, Dr. Z!
Guinness the cat may have changed my stance!
@Maxx Kroes Yeah, she needs to learn how to hold a cat. You can tell it was very uncomfortable.
"I am not much of a cat person"
I don't know you anymore so you can get eaten by that giant cat
*Murder Floof*
You got me with the title
Finally some Icelandic monsters hello from Reykjavík
👋
Would you give us your take on this monster?
I litterally was focused on the window behind Dr. Emily Zarka just to see if they put the large feline's eyes there!
Nimr Al Nimri they did lol
Nice Kitty.....
Yikes!! -- Help me I have 11
Yikes🙀 Hellp’ I have 11 kitties!!!!!!🙀🙀🙀🙀🙀🙀🙀🙀🙀🙀🙀
informationtolearn 11 I’m pretty sure that a wool of string with stop it
I respect you Yule Cat. We have monsterous cats in my culture too. Cats rock
That is a nice cat shirt btw
Which culture? What mythological cats? I want to find ALL giant kitties on google!
Which culture and which cat?? I must hear about this... 🤔✍️
I am icelandic! This is a thing we hear in school every christmas, its normal. I love hearing american people pay attention to iceland.
Imagine a land where everyone is literate and everybody's labor is actually wanted and needed.
I finally understand Kanye’s clothing line! He’s trying to sacrifice us all to the Yule Cat!
Ian Byrne 😂🤣😂🤣😂🤣
Geniuses like you never get any credit for making our lives happier
Another unknown cryptid to me, thank you monstrum. ❤️
Doc Z: This monster eats kids
Me, an absolute brainlet: hehe fluffey babey
Mood
That pronunciation of Jólakötturinn was hilarious 🤣. Thx, it made my day ❤
I know a guy named Jules who gets pretty catty if you walk into his store wearing last season's look... so.. this doesn't sound that strange to me.
I was just learning about the Yule Cat and the Yule Lads the other day while prepping a Christmas-themed DnD session (sadly it ended up being canceled due to the weather)
If you haven't watched that yet check out Extra Mithology's latest episode, it's all about them
@@alessandromazza4557 i'll check it out
I’m scaring my younger cousins with the Yulecat this Christmas
Awesome! This is the first I'd heard of the Yule Cat! It's neat that there's still monster mythology out there to delight and surprise! Thanks, Dr Zarka!
"Spoon-licker" actually made me lol
I’m so glad I found,This show when looking for Frankenstein context in fact when we doing some work on context for the book I told my teacher about the video you did and he played the video and loved it and he said he was going to use every time he teaches context for Frankenstein.
That’s awesome!
Also look up the book "The Lady and her Monsters" by Roseanne Montillo. It goes super in-depth on the science of the time and the life of Mary Shelley.
@@katherinewiykovics1602 Thank you
@@pbsstoried Could you do a video about the Mongolian death worm?
The one Eyebrow Raise at 0:59 was pretty awesome
Those ghoul kitties are absolutely getting shoved into my next D&D game. What's not to love about man-eating subterranean ambush cats with gaze attacks?
"christmas is coming" sounds more like threat in this context
Suggestion: there is also a popular myth here in my country, Philippines about a humaniod creature that is somewhat similar to Elves. They are called the 'Engkanto'. However, ppl in my country are confused as to the existence of their actual lair---or where the Engkantos originated. They are said to only reveal themselves to humans whom they like and sometimes take them to their kingdom where they'll get tricked in choosing between white rice and black rice. It is said that if the human chooses the black rice or any particular food that's black will get trapped there for eternity. Although some version say that these creatures are from the future. They usually appear to have pale skin, taller than humans, and lack of philtrum.
I hope this channel makes an episode on this because I'm starting to love these videos on supernatural beings
PS: Lots of love from the PH 🇵🇭
PPS: Looking forward for the next season
I belong to the Krewe of Krampus in New Orleans. We have an annual Krampus Run (NOLAuf) which not only features Krampus & his Ice Witches, but also several other Yule monsters. This includes Yule Cats, which will henceforth be called "Murder Floofs" (at least by me).
This makes me enormously happy-*Dr. Z*
I still love cats. They're so cute and amazing creatures. I'm just an animals lover. Caring for them too.
"But Iceland has no wild large predatory cat species" tell that to the Yulecat
God I love the holiday season. Even more with holiday based creatures. Who else wants this as a pet 😂
The part where Jólakötturinn eats those who are wearing old clothes may have evolved to the modern day Yule customs and traditions where Yule is a huge family gathering where everyone is wearing their best, and preparations usually start weeks (or months) in advance. For example hair salons market Yule hairdos and haircuts that you need to book way in advance in order to get them done for the holidays
I think my favorite part is that cheildren were basically the audiobook of the time. Reading to entertain the adults while they work.
Ikr 😅
Merry Christmas and happy Hanukkah to anyone who celebrates it! ❤ from Croatia🇭🇷
And a Blessed Solstice to you and yours, and a gift....
ruclips.net/p/PLOEE2elOdm7B4r_XhA0Nw8uWIuxpEFqLA
Are you Jewish?
Me: aww you're so cute
Yule cat: *Gulp*
"Honey, I need new clothes for Christmas." "But why Darling?" "Because if I don't the Yule Cat will eat me!"
I will pet the cat, and nothing can stop me.
Caught this channel as it was starting up. Hope to see it explode and cover all our favorites from across the glob! More content, please!
I've always known it as jólakötturinn first time I'm hearing the name yule cat well nice to see something from Iceland here.
English translation.
Happy krampusnacht!
just dropping by in the comments section to say... I love whoever created the headline for this video. Feline Murder Floof? hell yes
“Murder-floof”. lol
Giant cat monster video....
Merry Christmas Everyone🎊🎊🎊🎊🎊
Death is temporary and hugging a huge fluff only comes once sooooo definitely cuddling a Yule cat when I get the chance.
"moooom i need new clothes because the yule cat might get me" excuse can be a thing just to claw your way towards new ootds
I Will Love To Use My Old Clothes So This Cat Can Go To My House And Cuddle
The cat prints on your dress did not escape my notice :D
Such a good idea this show. I love that they go into possibilities on why the creature and story's existed. Very informative!
I wonder if the Yule Cat started off as its own entity and then was added to Grylla's family, or if it was invented to give Grylla a monstrous pet?
My favorite Holiday traditional is trying not muled by the Time Cat
Mauled
The perfect excuse to buy for someone clothes for Christmas
My cat was purring the whole time while I watched the video. Guess she loves listening to storys about murderous felines ;)
So glad I found this channel -- it brings me back to my 8-year old self hanging out in the library devouring books on myth and folklore (which I had to read in the library because my mother deemed them all "witchcraft and devil worship").
One suggestion I have would be to explore the zombie from its originator culture (Haiti) to current popular culture; that zombies are now a staple of apocalyptic horror -- the world that gets beyond our control due to our ecological mistakes -- is interesting to me as a person of Haitian descent, as zombies were a form or re-enslavement (a different type of horror to the citizens of the first established black republic). The book "Magic Island" is a lynch pin to zombie fever -- but there is definitely more to explore.
Reminds me from cabin in the woods 2012 giant cat
Parents: Be good or u wont get gifts this christmas
Kid to his mom: "MOM THERE'S A GIANT CAT THAT'LL EAT ME IF I DONT GET NEW CLOTHES"
Mom:"there cant be-"
**giant cat appears**
Mom:"Hah hahaha here you go child"
Kid: **STONKS**
My shirt: *is stained
Yule cat: this is free real estate!
i love how grumpy that cat sounded, very good actor kitty
8:05 So the Yule Cat's legend not only helped Iceland achieve total universal literacy, it also may have helped Iceland gain greater social equality, at least compared with the rest of the world. Since both men and women had to help weave clothes, I'm assuming that they didn't fall to gender expectations/convention as hard as certain other countries. With all that in mind, I'm comfortable in saying this: "Who's a good murder floof, Yule Cat? You are! Yes, you are - you adorable feline helper, Yule Cat!" Hooray for murder floofs!
As usual, your research is impeccable. I love those legends and the fact that you tell us about the creatures of other cultures. What about the "White Lady" ghost? (We even have one here in Quebec, Canada.) There are so many legends around this one. Have a Merry Christmas!
Literally watching this after coming home to find my gentle, sweet cat had slain a mouse that somehow made it up to the 14th floor (really 13th, but you all know about superstitions).. What a fascinating story, and again another I knew nothing about, and put into a wonderful context! This station is kicking butt with the folklore and anthro!
Oh, and one of my cats is named Stubbie, like the Yule Lad.. Stubbie is a she, though.. a bobtail.
Love
I love how your floof was telling you to put it down.
Me: *Sees Yule Cat* What an absolute *_U N I T_*
I am in love with this thing
I just learned about this creature when browing some art on earlier this week!!! I love it when life aligns like this!
Please do a mokele mbembe from africa or a kapre from the philipines
I remember that sam o' nella video
Just remember, your friend dressed as Grilla doesn't have to eat the child, just bite It a lil bit.
Scrolled 'til I found this comment. All hail Sam O'Nella
Now I have to look at Sam O'Nellas channel. Must have missed a video.
@@rainydaylady6596 I believe the episode is called "lesser-known christmas folklore characters" or something like that
I may have cheered at the mention of the Yule Lads... The mad little lads! But paused the video to comment before hearing the connection. So back to it.
Summarizing the video: Iceland is a way more dangerous place than I imagined
Could we have an episode about the Ouroboros?
1:32 so basically that rich white girl in class
Great name there
@@janusinitiative3520 thx
Gryla: ::Goat horns, goat legs, 300 tails that look kinda tentacle-y, lots of eyes::
Me, something of a Lovecraft enthusiast and noted Shub-Niggurath stan: *hm.*
That eyebrow lift the first time you say "murder floof" about killed me haha!
Really an interesting custom, and a fascinating monster. I wonder if perhaps also, the Yule Cat represents the danger of death from lack of clothing? Winter is pretty darn fierce in Iceland, so wouldn't it be possible for a person - especially a child - to literally die from the cold, if their clothing isn't up to snuff? Having suffered from minor frostbite only once, I can definitely see how the pain of being clawed by a cat could stand in for the pain of freezing. It's QUITE unpleasant, and cat scratches are just about the closest thing I can think of to what that feels like.
Too, such a legend might have spurred on a certain amount of community support between families. If they did the work and still just had a bad year as regards their wool - it does happen, after all - then might not their neighbors bring some small extra things? Just to keep the children safe from the Yule Cat, of course!
It also fascinates me that wool production in every stage was shared among the whole family regardless of gender. It makes good sense - it's just not something I ever thought about before, or if it crossed my mind, I suppose I assumed the men did most of the herding and shearing and possibly the washing of the fleeces, while the women took over after that and did all the sorting, carding, spinning, weaving, and knitting. Kind of awesome that every hand took part in most every stage!
I completely agree with the cold weather death theory. Winter is no joke!
I love how half a month ago I learned about the Yule lads, the cat, and the husband, and wife
Edit : Actually we got to dress up as our favorite Christmas character so I picked one of the Yule lads at random and got Spoon-Licker, I had to explain who I was to a lot of people 😓