Huldufólk - Holiday Special

Happy Holidays! For our Holiday special this year, we're heading over to Iceland and the Faroe Islands for a hidden monster, the Huldufólk! Why do Icelanders still craft hillside houses for these invisible elves? How do they relate to Christmas and New Year? Find out this week in our last episode of Season 3!

Transcript

INTRO:
Hello and welcome to Myth Monsters, my name is Erin and I’ll be your host for these little snack bite size podcasts on folklore and mythical monsters from around the world. 

These podcasts focus on the actual cryptids, folklore and mythic monsters from global mythology, rather than focusing on full stories of heroes and their big adventures.

I’ll also be dropping in some references that they have to recent culture and where you can see these represented in modern day content so you can learn more, and get as obsessed as I am about these absolute legends of the mythological world.

Ho ho ho, happy holidays! It’s our last episode of the year and we’re doing something associated with the holidays, but not as well known as the other monsters we’ve covered in previous years. 

DESCRIPTION:

So what are we covering? Well we are heading over to the eastern Scandinavian islands of Iceland and the Faroe islands to look at a monster that is often joked about in this part of the world. Yes, we’re looking at the fairy mound and hill house dwelling creatures, the Huldufólk for this year’s Holiday special!

The Huldufólk are described as elves and most commonly as hidden people. These creatures are almost identical to people and the only way to tell it is one of the Huldufólk is they have an outstanding philtrum of upper lip, where humans are inwards. They have their own communities, and live in the fairy mounds or natural mounds within these two countries as well as in the dips of hills and cliffs. Huldufólk are sometimes represented as being tiny elves that are only around 6 inches tall, however, they can actually be any size and are most likely to be running around as normal people. They often wear all grey or all green traditional 19th century Icelandic clothes, and their hair is all black.

They mostly live their lives like us, they will have jobs, go to church, their children play with others, but they do all of this within a parallel world behind the rocks and caves of Iceland, mirroring everything we do in their own communities - which gives them their other title, the Hidden People. However, that doesn’t mean that they do not interact with humans, whilst they are on our side of the world, they are usually completely invisible. They can be seen by children, and can make themselves visible to adults that they deem worthy.

Like most elven or spirit myths from around this area, they like to be respected and offered things. Local communities to fairy mounds will often build them house fronts to place in front of the dips in cliffs where they live, or pray to the elves for good fortune whilst leaving them food and drink. It’s advised in Iceland not to throw stones, so as not to hit the Hidden People and not to call them by their real name, the Alfar, to avoid their wrath. 

What their wrath results in, we’re not actually too sure - other than mischief and accidents. They are known for stealing important things such as tools but can also break machinery, cars or anything of high importance - but it’s never said exactly what they do to cause it. 

Because they have this hidden world that mirrors ours, we believe that there are differing genders who can go on to procreate and have children - therefore continuing the race. However, the Hidden folk rely on their homes not being destroyed by humans on the other side, and so Icelanders naturally try and protect places like fairy mounds for the Huldufólk.

There are a couple of instances and events where the Huldufólk are celebrated throughout the Faroe Islands and Iceland, such most importantly for this holiday special, Christmas! When Icelanders hold parties in their houses, it’s customary to clean up and leave food for the elves for their own late night partying. On New Year's Eve, it is thought that Huldufólk will move to new homes or visit other mounds, so it's traditional to leave candles out to help them find their way. On the Thirteenth Night, which is January 6th and is the official last day of Christmas in Iceland - bonfires called álfabrennur, of Elf Fires, are lit. 

However, Midsummer’s Night is one of the most interesting nights for them. It is believed that standing at a crossroads during the late hours may bring wandering Huldufólk to you, and they will lure you with gifts and money. It's believed that taking these gifts will lead to misfortune and refusing them will lead to good luck.  

ORIGIN:

Onto etymology, Huldufólk very literally means hidden people in Icelandic so that one is nice and easy. As I said earlier though, this isn’t actually their real name - this is a synonym for their real name Alfar, which literally translates to elves, and is said to wind them up when you say it, so I guess I’m in for a rough time.

Before we indulge in history - I just want to clarify the geography, because it is so small! The Faroe Islands are a group of 18 Scandinavian islands in the Norwegian sea, and sit just over Scotland on the map. They’re a Danish territory, but they speak their own Faroese language and have their own folklore, but it is heavily inspired by other Scandinavian countries due to the Viking influence. Iceland sits further east still, and again is part of Scandinavia, although being further away from the main Scandinavian countries. Again, they have their own language and folklore as well as having a Scandi influence.

For their history though, this goes back to the Viking era with our favourite old text, the Poetic Edda, which we believe was written in about the 10th century. Elves within this are noted to be fertility symbols, but not much else was spoken about them within this. However, Elves within Scandinavian and Viking folklore were really big - with differing types across all the different countries. 

Elves are a big part of Norse mythology and are considered to be their own race. There are different types like the svart álfar, dökk álfar and ljós álfar or in English the black elves, dark elves, and light elves, all of which were crafters that rivalled the Dwarves of Norse folklore. I covered general Elves not too long ago, so I won’t go too into them here - but they are generally pretty widespread across Norse myth. Huldufólk are just another type that are specifically from Iceland and the Faroe islands that can turn invisible instead.

Iceland itself was not settled on until the Vikings did in 870 AD, and was officially part of Denmark until 1918 after the First World War, and the Faroe Islands were thought to be inhabited by Scots, Celts or other Scandinavians before the Vikings invaded in the 800’s. The Faroe islands were actually then declared part of Norway until 1814 when they were officially handed over to Denmark, and whilst they are still their Sovereign country today, they are technically an independent nation now but they are also a Danish realm. 

Why is all that important? Well mainly because I think it’s interesting to give geographical context, but also the Vikings are a huge part of Huldufólk history. This is because they did originate within this folklore, carried from Vikings from Denmark and the rest of Scandinavia, but when Christianity swept across Iceland and the Faroe islands in the 11th century, it brought a new concept of the Huldufólk with it. The Icelandic Christians rewrote the tales of elves to say that they could be traced back to Adam and Eve, and that they were the dirty, unwashed children of Eve herself and she hid them from God. God found them and declared that ‘what man hides from God, God will hide from man’ leading to their invisibility. Another theory is that they were the children of Lilith, Adam’s first wife, and so were fallen angels, condemned to live in the space between heaven and hell.

Following all this, there was a movement to ban dancing in Iceland in the 12th century, and the elves were thought to love dancing. In one folktale, the Huldufólk rebelled with the townspeople to bring back dancing and got revenge on the local sheriff who imposed it to bring them back, to show that Icelanders loved and missed dancing. The ban of course was eventually lifted. 

It’s believed that the Huldufólk were a representation of happier times within Iceland, and showed the potential for happy living in a parallel world during tough times, and so encouraged Icelanders to strive to be like the Huldufólk - making them a real national hero. Another interpretation is that they represent the native landscape, filled with volcanoes, earthquakes, landslides and avalanches. It was a way to explain the unseeable things that caused these disasters that happened out of the blue with such disregard to human life. If you annoyed the elves in the hills, you would get a landslide - a very common belief when it comes to a cautionary myth within most cultures. 

However, in modern times - they represent the Icelandic identity and culture, they’re a source of pride for the locals and a symbol of their country and landscape being so unique and pure. They are still massively believed in, as well as the locals building houses for them, they also actively avoid fairy mounds and known Huldufólk dwellings when building for people. There is a great modern example of this with Álfhólsvegur or Elf Hill Road in English, which is a road that was at one point intended to run through Álfhóll, a hill where elves are believed to live. Construction was begun on this road on two separate occasions, but each time a collection of misfortunes and thefts prevented it from being completed. The road was finished, but a stone had to be moved after a seer negotiated with the elves, and now has its own street number on the other side.

In 1982, over a hundred Icelanders went and protested at a NATO base for building near an elf dwelling, and demanded that they either move or prove that there were no elves nearby. In 2004, a company called ALCOA had to halt construction to inspect for elven ruins by hiring a government official to come and look at the place.

In terms of statistics, 54% of Icelanders believe that they could exist, but only 5% are completely convinced that they are. There are places you can visit to go and get your elven education, such as the Elf School in Reykjavik, where you can have a class for 2-3 hours for about $64 USD. This school also holds all the testimonies for people who have witnessed elves, and they have over 900 accounts on record so far. There is also the Hafnarfjordur Elf Circle Route, which is a guided 90 minute walking tour around the Elven hills. I fully intend on doing both the next time I’m over in Iceland, and I’d generally just love to go to the Faroe islands, as they have the most amazing folklore.

Now in more general terms, there aren’t many things we can compare these to in real life animal or people examples. However, of course, they are a type of Elf, so that’s the easiest mythical comparison I have. They also really remind me of household spirits from Norse folklore, the Tomte, who live in a parallel universe in the walls of houses, collecting things forgotten by humans and demand to be respected. In that case though, we can compare all household spirits, most recently we covered Kobolds, but there are Brownies, Hobgoblins, Boggarts and all those others too. I’ve covered some of these, but the rest are yet to be done. I’m very excited to cover Tomte eventually - they’re one of my favourite Scandinavian myth monsters.

CULTURAL SIGNIFICANCE: 

Now onto modern media, I’ve got a few things specifically but realistically, a lot are just fae and elven bits, so I hope that works.

For art, have a look at the houses that people have made for the Huldufólk in Iceland and the Faroe islands because they are unbelievably cute, as well as the fairy mounds that are across Scandinavia. But otherwise, there are loads of independent art pieces of these sweet little creatures too!

You can also visit those locations I mentioned, but you can also visit the fairy mounds they live in throughout Iceland and the Faroe Islands. The most famous is Elfin Hill or there is Alfaborg, so if you can get out there - I do recommend going to see them for just a cool geographical thing!

In movies, we have; Eurovision, The Lord of the Rings, The Hobbit, Huldufolk 102, Huldufolk: The Hidden People, Kung-Fu Panda 3, Thor: Ragnarok, Trolls, Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, Hilda and the Mountain King, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, The Santa Claus & Snow White and the Huntsman. 

For TV, we have; Hilda, Let’s Go Luna, Queen’s Blade, Merlin, Barbie Presents Thumbelina, Disenchantment, The Dragon Prince, Trolls, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Rings of Power, Black Clover, Kulipari: An Army of Frogs, Adventures of the Gummi Bears & Avatar: The Last Airbender. 

In video games, we have ones such as; Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning, The Legend of Zelda, World of Warcraft, Dragon Age, Touhou Project, Skies of Arcadia, World of Mana, WildStar, Suikoden, Runescape, Tales of Symphonia, Shining Force 2, One Way Heroics, Loom, Wild ARMs, The Elder Scrolls, The Legend of Dragoon, Knight Bewitched, Final Fantasy, Dragon Quest, Bravely Default 2, Kingdom of Loathing & Arcanum: Of Steamworks and Magick Obscura.

My book recommendation this week is The Little Book of the Hidden People: Twenty stories of elves from Icelandic folklore by Alda Sigmundsdottir for some lovely stories from Iceland about these monsters.

DO I THINK THEY EXISTED? 

Now it’s time for, do I think they existed?

I’m going to say no on this one, but this makes me sad. I really wish I could believe in elves that live in the hills in a parallel universe, but that really does sound quite far-fetched to me. It makes me sad, because I think the concept is fantastic, and it feels really Scandinavian to me, but realistically, I just can’t get behind it I’m afraid. 

However, I think I’m in the minority here - they are very very real for some Icelanders, and the fact that I’m not a believer would blow their mind - but I adore that the belief is still so prevalent and respected. I also love that this is now a nod to being Icelandic within that culture, and that Icelanders are still so proud of this creature within their folklore - and that makes me incredibly happy as a folklorist.

My favourite interpretation of this is in Hilda, a Netflix animated show where the Huldufolk are tiny, invisible elves that are obsessed with paperwork and order, and live around normal people but invisibly, meaning their houses and lives are always affected by people, but they can’t do much about it. Her friend in the show is actually called Alfar, which I think is a great nod to it too. My other is obviously the Eurovision movie, if you’ve not watched it, especially if you’re not European, you’ll love it and these creatures are represented so brilliantly within it with a proper comedic twist.

But what do you think? Did the Huldufólk live in these little hill houses in Iceland? Let me know on Twitter!

OUTRO: 

What a lovely monster to finish off the year with, I’ve wanted to cover these ones for such a long time - so I’m thrilled that we’ve had time to and they’ve fit in with our holiday special theme of wintery monsters.

We are having a little break now until the new year, just to celebrate the festivities - but on the 4th January, we are back and looking at a creature from all over the world. Make sure to hide any teeth under your pillow for the Tooth Fairy when we come back in two weeks!

For now, thank you so much for listening, it’s been an absolute pleasure. If you enjoyed this podcast, please give it a rating on the service you’re listening on - I’ve got the twitter for any questions, or suggestions on what monsters to cover next and I’d love to hear from you. The social media handles for Tiktok, Youtube, Threads and Instagram are mythmonsterspodcast, and twitter is mythmonsterspod. But all of our content can be found at mythmonsters.co.uk - you can also find us on Goodpods, Buymeacoffee and Patreon if you want to help me fund the podcast too.

Come join the fun though and share this with your pals, they might love me as much as you do.

But for now, stay spooky and I’ll see you later babes.