Wednesday, December 16, 2009

Askasleikir

The Yule Lad that will be visiting the children of Iceland tonight is Askasleikir or Bowl Licker. He is the last of the lickers in the Yule Lad bunch.


Askasleikirs favorite bowl to lick is called an askur. It is a traditional wooden bowl with a hinged lid. In the old days Icelandics used to live in turf houses which were very small and the kitchen would double as a bedroom at night. Everyone had their own askur (wooden bow) and Bowl Licker would wait for the perfect opportunity to sneak the bowl away from the owner and lay underneath the bed to lick the bowl clean.

Nowadays poor Bowl Licker is lucky if there is a dirty bowl for him to lick clean.

3 comments:

Pennie said...

Now THIS BOWL should be your next giveway, girlfriend - and it should be rigged...I should be the winner! Hmmmm? What do you say???? :)

Can't blame a gal for trying, can you? :)
That's what you get for being the most exotic friend I know!

Helga said...

If I had one of these bowls, I would not be giving it away!!! These bowls are in museums in Iceland now, I don't know anyone who owns one of these bowls.

Pennie said...

I always did have expensive taste...the picture you have there is BEAUTIFUL!!!
Maybe, if you're lucky, Askasleikir will be confused in his old age and LEAVE you one of these bowls tonight... :)