Also called Tanngrisnir, Tanngnjostr, Teeth-barer and Teeth-grinder.
Their story
Thor's chariot is drawn by two goats. On a journey he killed and cooked them for a farmer's family, telling everyone to throw the bones onto the hides. In the morning he raised them again with Mjöllnir, but one was lame, because the farmer's son Þjálfi had split a thighbone for the marrow. In recompense the farmer gave his children Þjálfi and Röskva to Thor as servants.
Best times to give to them
- Thursdays with Thor
- at a shared meal
- Yule, when the Yule goat appears in Scandinavian custom
What they like being given
- a straw Yule goat on the hearth
- bread and ale, or bread and apple juice
How to honour them
- Treat food with respect and waste nothing, remembering that the goats were restored only when every bone was whole.
- Hang a straw Yule goat at midwinter, a later Scandinavian custom often linked to them.
How they can help you
- respect for food
- renewal
- hospitality done rightly
Symbols
- two goats
- a chariot
- bones laid on the hide
- a lamed leg
The Yule goat link is a popular idea rather than an established history.
Sources
- Prose Edda, Gylfaginning 21 and 44
- Poetic Edda, Hymiskviða 37–38