The Finnish-Icelandic author speaks to All Things Nordic about the new edition of Christmas in the Nordic Countries, her first children’s Christmas story, and an ambitious publishing programme devoted to Nordic folklore and festive traditions.
Christmas in the Nordic countries is not a single tradition. It is a constellation of customs, characters and beliefs shaped by winter darkness, rural life, Christianity and stories that long predate it. Few contemporary authors have explored this rich cultural landscape as warmly as Hilda Lainen. Born and raised in Iceland, educated in the United Kingdom and now living in Finland, Lainen writes from a perspective that crosses both geographical and cultural boundaries. Her work combines folklore, history and storytelling, looking beyond the familiar imagery of snow, candles and Christmas markets to uncover the older and sometimes stranger traditions of the North. Following the recent update of her book Christmas in the Nordic Countries, Lainen has just released a new children’s story, The Night the Yule Cat Saved the Yule Goat. She is also developing a collection of Nordic tales, individual volumes about Christmas in the different Nordic countries, and further adventures featuring two of the region’s most distinctive festive characters.
ATN spoke with her about the books, the traditions behind them and the world she hopes to build around Nordic storytelling.
ATN: Your book ‘Christmas in the Nordic Countries‘ has recently been updated. Why did you feel it was time to return to it?
Hilda Lainen: Christmas traditions are never entirely fixed. We often imagine them as something handed down unchanged from one generation to the next, but they are constantly evolving. Families reinterpret them, communities revive forgotten customs, and practices that were once highly local can suddenly become internationally recognised. Returning to the book gave me an opportunity to make it richer and more balanced. I wanted readers to see both the similarities and the important differences between Christmas in Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, Sweden and the wider Nordic region. The new edition expands the cultural context with new chapters about Christmas related books and music. It also has a new introduction and a new conclusion, to explain not only what people do at Christmas, but also at why they do it and how different layers of belief have come together over time.
ATN: What do you think readers outside the region misunderstand about Nordic Christmas?
Lainen: There is a tendency to reduce it to a beautiful winter aesthetic: snow-covered houses, candles in the windows, red wooden cottages and perhaps a glass of glögg. All of those things have their place, of course, but Nordic Christmas is much more complex. Behind the cosy surface, you find pre-Christian beliefs, agricultural customs, ideas about the returning sun, household spirits, supernatural visitors and the constant historical awareness of winter as a difficult and sometimes dangerous season. Christmas provided light and companionship during the darkest part of the year, but the old stories also reminded people that darkness was not entirely under human control. That tension between comfort and unease is one of the things I find most fascinating.
ATN: Does the book treat the Nordic countries as a single cultural area?
Lainen: It recognises the connections without erasing the differences. The Nordic countries have exchanged stories, religious practices, food traditions and festive imagery for centuries, but every country—and often every region—has developed its own interpretation. The Icelandic jólasveinar are not simply another version of Santa Claus. The Finnish joulupukki has a history that reaches far beyond the modern red-coated gift-bringer. The Swedish and Finnish traditions surrounding Saint Lucia have their own development, while the Danish and Norwegian nisse occupies a rather different place in the domestic imagination. The updated book is intended as a journey across those distinctions. I want readers to recognise a shared Nordic winter culture while appreciating that there is no single, standard Nordic Christmas.
ATN: Your new children’s book has the wonderfully unexpected title ‘The Night the Yule Cat Saved the Yule Goat‘. How did the idea begin?
Lainen: It began with the contrast between the two characters. The Yule Cat comes from Icelandic tradition and is generally portrayed as enormous, threatening and hungry. The Yule Goat has a much older and geographically broader history, but today it is often associated with Swedish Christmas celebrations and, most visibly, with the great straw goat erected each year in Gävle. One is a creature children are supposed to fear. The other is a festive symbol that repeatedly finds itself in danger. Bringing them together created an immediate question: what would happen if the frightening character became the rescuer? That reversal was irresistible to me. It allowed the Yule Cat to remain proud, mysterious and slightly alarming while revealing that a character does not have to be conventionally gentle to perform an act of courage.
ATN: Is the story a retelling of a traditional folktale?
Lainen: No. It is an original story inspired by traditional characters. That distinction is important. I did not want to pretend that an old Icelandic or Swedish tale existed in which these two figures met. Instead, I placed them in a new adventure while respecting the cultural traditions from which they originate. Folklore has always moved and changed through storytelling. New stories can be part of that continuing conversation, provided they are honest about what is traditional and what has been newly imagined.
ATN: What can readers expect from the book?
Lainen: They can expect a winter adventure with humour, suspense and an unusual friendship at its heart. The cat does not suddenly become sweet or obedient. It remains independent, dismissive and rather pleased with itself. Its decision to help the goat is therefore much more interesting. At the same time, the story introduces children to two genuine Nordic Christmas traditions. I hope it works first as an enjoyable tale, but also encourages families to ask where these characters came from and why people continue to celebrate them.
ATN: Is it intended only for Nordic children?
Lainen: Not at all. In fact, it may be especially intriguing for children who have never encountered these characters before. Many children around the world now receive a very standardised version of Christmas. The same decorations, songs and characters appear almost everywhere. Nordic folklore offers something refreshingly different: Christmas trolls, mischievous household spirits, straw goats, porridge-loving nisse, the Icelandic Yule Lads and, of course, a monstrous cat that watches to see whether everyone has received new clothes. Children readily accept that the festive season can contain both wonder and strangeness. Adults are sometimes more cautious about it than they are.
ATN: Do you see the Yule Cat and the Yule Goat returning in future books?
Lainen: Yes. ‘The Night the Yule Cat Saved the Yule Goat‘ is intended to open the door to further adventures. Their personalities create a useful balance. The goat can be impulsive, sociable and vulnerable, while the cat prefers to appear detached and unconcerned. They do not behave like obvious friends, which is precisely why their relationship can develop over several stories. Future books will take them into other corners of Nordic Christmas tradition. They may encounter new characters, customs and dangers, but the cultural background must always remain meaningful. I do not want the Nordic setting to become merely decorative. Exact titles and publication dates will be announced gradually, but I already see the pair as recurring figures with a larger world growing around them.
ATN: You are also planning a new title devoted to Nordic tales. How will that project differ from the Christmas books?
Lainen: The Nordic tales project has a much wider scope. It will bring together folk narratives from across the Nordic world and introduce readers to the different environments and communities that preserved them. There will be trolls, giants, hidden people, animals, transformations, journeys and encounters with the supernatural. But I also want to avoid presenting Nordic folklore as though it were one continuous Viking fantasy. A Finnish forest tale does not necessarily belong to the same tradition as an Icelandic wonder tale, a Danish folk story, a Greenlandic narrative or a story rooted in Sámi culture. The collection should create connections while preserving those distinctions.
ATN: Will the book include Sámi and Greenlandic Inuit traditions?
Lainen: They are essential to any serious attempt to represent the wider North, but they also require particular care. These are living cultures, not simply reservoirs of anonymous stories available for anyone to reshape. Questions of translation, attribution, cultural context and permissions can be more important than the age of a particular narrative. The project will therefore distinguish clearly between public-domain historical material and traditions that require consultation or a different editorial approach. It is better to proceed slowly and respectfully than to include a story merely for the sake of geographical completeness.
ATN: Is the first Nordic tales volume intended to stand alone?
Lainen: It will be a complete book in its own right, but it is also planned as the foundation of a larger series. The opening volume will offer a carefully selected journey across the Nordic region. Later monographic books can then explore the storytelling traditions of individual countries and cultures in greater depth. That structure gives new readers an accessible starting point while allowing those who become particularly interested in Icelandic, Finnish, Norwegian, Swedish, Danish, Faroese, Sámi or Greenlandic traditions to continue their exploration.
ATN: You are considering a similar approach for your Christmas publishing programme, beginning with the regional overview and then moving to individual countries.
Lainen: Exactly. Christmas in the Nordic Countries provides the panorama. The future monographic titles will allow me to slow down. A book devoted entirely to Icelandic Christmas, for example, can explore the Yule Lads, Grýla, the Yule Cat, food, books, music and the development of modern celebrations in much more detail. A Finnish volume can go further into joulupukki, sauna traditions, seasonal food, cemeteries, songs and the importance of peace and remembrance. Each country deserves that space. There are also regional variations within the countries, as well as changes between rural and urban traditions. The monographic format makes it possible to include personal memories, local history, recipes, literature and practical suggestions for readers who want to experience or recreate some of the customs.
ATN: Will these be travel books, cultural histories or Christmas guides?
Lainen: Ideally, they will combine all three elements without becoming conventional guidebooks. A reader might use one to understand a tradition, plan a winter journey, choose seasonal food or simply enjoy travelling through the country from home. Christmas is a particularly effective lens through which to examine identity because it brings together religion, family, work, childhood, food, music, commerce and memory. I want the books to feel welcoming, but they should also have substance. “Cosy” does not have to mean superficial.
ATN: Your projects seem to move constantly between research and imagination. Is it difficult to keep the two separate?
Lainen: It is necessary rather than difficult. When I write cultural history, I have a responsibility to identify sources, uncertainties and later reinterpretations. Folklore is full of claims that are repeated because they sound appealing, even when the historical evidence is weak. When I write fiction, I have more freedom, but I still need to understand the material I am using. Research does not restrict imagination. It gives imagination stronger foundations. The essential thing is to tell the reader which kind of book they are holding. A traditional tale, a literary retelling and a completely original story inspired by folklore are three different things.
ATN: Having grown up in Iceland and later returned to Finland, do you feel that you write from inside or outside Nordic culture?
Lainen: From both positions, perhaps. Growing up in Iceland gave me a very immediate relationship with stories, landscape and seasonal darkness. Living elsewhere taught me that the things one considers ordinary can look quite extraordinary from outside. Finland added another perspective. It showed me how familiar Nordic themes can take very different forms across languages and borders. Studying in the United Kingdom also helped me understand how Nordic culture is presented internationally—and how often it is simplified. That combination of closeness and distance is useful for a writer. I can feel emotionally connected to the material while still asking why a tradition developed and how it might appear to someone encountering it for the first time.
ATN: Why do you think there is such strong international interest in Nordic folklore now?
Lainen: Part of it comes from the popularity of Nordic literature, television, design and travel. But I think there is also a deeper desire for stories rooted in place. We live in an age in which culture can feel increasingly uniform. Folklore reminds us that landscapes once had names, personalities and dangers; that a mountain, forest or stretch of sea could shape the imagination of an entire community. At the same time, these stories deal with universal experiences: fear, hunger, courage, envy, generosity, loss and the need to survive. Their settings may be distinctly Nordic, but their emotional worlds are not remote.
ATN: What unites all the books you are now planning?
Lainen: The wish to make Nordic traditions accessible without flattening them. Whether I am writing about Christmas customs, editing a collection of tales or sending the Yule Cat and Yule Goat on another adventure, I want readers to feel that they have entered a larger cultural landscape. A children’s story can lead someone to discover Icelandic folklore. A general Christmas book can inspire a reader to explore the traditions of one particular country. A collection of Nordic tales can open the way to a deeper understanding of the communities that told them. The books should be able to stand individually, but together they will gradually form a connected library of Nordic stories, seasons and traditions.
ATN: Finally, what should readers look out for next?
Lainen: The immediate focus is The Night the Yule Cat Saved the Yule Goat and the updated edition of Christmas in the Nordic Countries. After that, work will continue on the first broader collection of Nordic tales and on the country-specific Christmas volumes. Further Yule Cat and Yule Goat stories are also in development. It is a long-term programme rather than a rush of disconnected titles. I want each book to add something new, while allowing readers to recognise that they are returning to the same larger world. There are many doors into the Nordic imagination. Christmas is only one of them—but it is a particularly magical place to begin.
A Growing Library of Nordic Traditions
Hilda Lainen’s forthcoming programme brings together three complementary strands: cultural studies of Nordic Christmas, carefully contextualised collections of traditional tales, and original children’s fiction inspired by some of the region’s most memorable folkloric characters. Together, the books promise to move beyond the familiar international image of the Nordic winter. They reveal a season populated not only by candles, snow and decorated trees, but also by goats, cats, household spirits, trolls and ancient stories that continue to change with every new generation of readers.
