Troll Porridge Bowl
At Christmas, Swedish farm families set out a bowl of rice porridge with butter for the tomte, the farm's household spirit. The bowl was left in the attic, the barn, or by the hearth; if the butter was hidden or the porridge forgotten, the tomte was said to abandon the farm or work mischief. The custom, documented across Sweden into the twentieth century, is the subject of many tomte tales. The offering was made on Christmas Eve or Christmas night, and the family looked the next morning to see whether the porridge had been eaten; the tomte, a small bearded figure who watched over the farm, was