The Tomten / Viktor Rydberg

In nordic folklore, a tomte was a kind of - not always benevolent - vätte (local spirit or minor deity) connected to a farmstead. There is, in fact, an etymological connection to the word tomt ("piece of land, plot").

Rydberg's immensly popular poem Tomten, first published in 1881, transformed him into a philosophic and fatherly guardian. Combined with the gift-giving julvätte ("Christmas vätte") of Rydberg's earlier story Little Vigg - and, of course, with foreign influences - he then evolved into the modern Jultomte, local version of Santa Claus.

The young artist Jenny Nyström (1854-1946) illustrated both the poem and the story - and thus embarked on a 60-year career devoted to creating the visual image of the Swedish christmas.

In 1960 Harald Wiberg produced new illustrations for a childrens' book edition of Tomten. Astrid Lindgren then wrote a prose paraphrase of the poem for the export version. In this form the book had - and still has - considerable success on the international market.

A translation of the poem, called The Gnome, is included in Judith Moffett's anthology The North! To the North! : five swedish poets of the nineteenth century (Southern Illinois Univ Press, 2001). It is also published in Veritas 24, the journal of the Viktor Rydberg society.