The Jultomte was originally a small invisible Christmas house gnome or dwarf from the Nordic mythology, who watched over the house and its inhabitants. An old superstition still calls for feeding the Tomte on Christmas Eve with a small bowl of porridge. If a bowl of porridge is not laid out for him somewhere in or outside the house, he will bring bad luck to everyone in the house the next year. The modern "Tomten", nowadays is a version of Santa Claus in red cloth and white beard, except that he does not enter the house through the chimney, but knocks on the door and asks "finns det några snälla barn här?" ("are there any nice children here?")