Christmas goblins, known as kallikantzaros in Greek folklore, are malevolent goblins that are believed to live underground but emerge during the twelve days of Christmas to cause trouble. They are described as having some animal-like features. According to lore, people used various methods to protect themselves from the goblins, such as leaving a colander or shoes by the fire to repel them, or burning incense and marking doors with crosses. There are also legends about babies born during the twelve days being in danger of transforming into demons.

1. CHRISTMAS GOBLINS
Dora Papanikolaou
Jason Kitsios
Martha Johns
Stella Diakoumi

2. INTRODUCTION
 Christmas goblins (Greek: kalikantzaros) is a
malevolent goblin in Southeastern European and
eastern folklore.
 Stories about Christmas goblins can be found in
Greece, Bulgaria, Serbia, and Turkey
 These goblins are believed to live underground but
come to the surface during the twelve days of
Christmas, from 25 December to 6 January

3. IN GREEK FOLKLORE
 It is believed these elves stay underground sawing
the world tree, so that it will collapse, along with
earth. However, according to folklore, when they
are about to saw the final part , Christmas dawns
and they are able to come to the surface. They
forget the tree and come to bring trouble to mortals.

4. APPEARANCE
 There is no standard description of the appearance
of Christmas goblins.There are regional variations
in how their appearance is described. Some
Greeks have imagined them with some animal
parts, like hairy bodies, horse legs, or boar tusks.

5. LORE
 Εlves are believed to be creatures of the night.
According to folklore, there were many ways people
could protect themselves during the days when the
imps were loose. One such method was to leave
a colander on their doorstep to trick the
visiting elves. It was believed that since it could not
count above two – three was believed to be a holy
number, and by pronouncing it, the imps would
supposedly kill itself – they would sit at the doorstep
all night, counting each hole of the colander, until
the sun rose and it was forced to hide

6.  Another supposed method of protection from imps
was to leave the fire burning in the fireplace, all
night, so that they could not enter through it. In
some areas , people would burn the wooden
log for the duration of the twelve days. In other
areas, people would throw foul-smelling shoes in
the fire, as the stench was believed to repulse the
elves and force them to stay away. Additional ways
to keep them away included marking one's door
with a black cross on Christmas Eve and burning
incense

7. According to legend, any child born during
the twelve days of Christmas was in danger
of transforming to a demon during each
Christmas season, starting with adulthood. It
was believed that the antidote to prevent this
transformation was to bind the baby in
tresses of garlic or straw, or to singe the
child's toenails. According to another legend,
anyone born on a Saturday could see and
talk with the elves. In Greek, the
term kallikantzaros is also used to describe a
number of other short, ugly and usually
mischievous beings in folklore.