In Lapland live the Sami people, who were formerly a somewhat primitive race of hunter-gatherers, dependent on the reindeer for most of their needs. Lapland is not a separate country, but it is spread across Norway, Sweden, Finland and Russia.
In days of yore, the Sami believed in a horrible giant that came by around Christmas (and perhaps other times too). This was Stallo, a one-eyed figure who was half man and half troll. He had an appetite for children, but was able to eat only the bad ones.
If Sami heard the sound of his sledge outside their house, they would tremble with fear. They would clear the way of wood when he was due, so his sledge would not be impeded and would get away quickly.
If there was no water nearby, Stallo would imbibe the blood and consume the brains of children. He had a lascivious nature and it was suspected that the was the father of a number of children by Sami girls, even though he had a wife of his own.
Stallo may have had his origins in a ceremonial procession that had fertility connotations and was still enacted as laye as the 19th Century.
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