 Welcome to this episode of Door Hardware Nerds today. If you can't tell from my apparel, my decor, Benji's sweater, we're doing a holiday themed episode. So it's going to be a little bit different than our normal content, but we hope that you still enjoy what we're bringing to you today. So I am Mia Merrill. I am a product manager for Asa Abloy and Benji, why don't you introduce yourself? Benji Bullock, the doordork. Need I say more? I don't know. Probably not. I think everybody knows both of us because we're regulars on this channel, but you know, it's always nice to give a reminder who we are. So we are going to actually start with some folklore around the holiday season. So different areas of the world. So we'll hop right into that. I'm actually really excited about this because there's some pretty crazy stuff around the world, some like folklore around Christmas and the holidays. And so I'm excited to learn more. Yeah. And I think my snowman is a little bit scared of what my, what we might be talking about. So we'll see how that goes. All right. So the first story we're going to talk about is Yola caught urine from Iceland. And he is a giant cat that wanders the countryside on Christmas Eve and eats those who didn't receive new clothing to wear for the holiday. And this lore was used to encourage giving to friends, family, and the less fortunate. Terrifying, I think. That is terrifying. Wait. So the cat eats people who didn't get new clothes for the holidays. Yeah. Yeah. So it's a giant, it's a giant cat. As you can see illustrated here, he is bigger than a house. Oh, the snowman did not like that. Like it says, it's mostly to, to encourage the giving to the less fortunate. So not to just be all about consumerism and things like that, but to make sure that you are looking out for your fellow man. Okay. So the cat is it like the fashion police, you know, like making a on trend, you know, you got to get the latest, the latest stuff. Yeah. Yeah. No, it's not a, not making sure you're trendy, but that you're keeping others from getting eaten, you know, you're, you're giving new clothes or okay, I get it. I get it. Yeah. That's scary. We'll go to the next one. So this is Bafana the witch and this originated in Italy. So she was a nice old lady that lived alone. And when Jesus was born, the three wise men stopped at her house to ask her for directions so that they could find baby Jesus, but she didn't know where he was. She offered them a place to stay and in return for her kindness, they offered for her to come on the journey with them, but she turned them down and they left to go on their way. Later she changed her mind. So she was gathering gifts to bring with her. And she set out to follow their tracks, their tracks had all blown away in the snow. And so she could not find them. And now she goes around from house to house, leaving presents for the children of Italy. Imagine if she caught up with the wise men, we would have this Italian witch part of the nativity scene. You know, like the three wise men and then this Italian witch, like I could just hear her accent like spaghetti. So I think that's a good thing. I think that's a good thing. I think that's a good thing. Making sure everybody was fed. I think a couple of things we've learned here at number one, which is may not always be bad. Number two, Italy has some great traditions around Christmas because I don't know if you also know the song Dominic the donkey, but that is my favorite Christmas song. If anybody doesn't know what that is, I encourage you to go look it up. That's that's one of those songs that will get stuck in your head. I think that's a good thing. I think that's a good thing. I think that's a good thing. I'm not sure how perched up the, the very in Christmas, which, but she is basically the polar opposite. She wanders from home to home with the knowledge of who was a hard worker during the past year. She rewards the generous and punishes the lazy liars and greedy. So if you were on her nice list, you would get a small silver coin. If you're on the naughty list, you would get a little bit of silver coin. Yeah, I would be nice. I don't know what will. There are many different incantations of this one. And she's also linked to some of the pagan goddesses as well. So yeah, I would be terrified if I saw her show up. Hopefully she leaves a silver coin. Yeah. This is like totally more incentive than Santa's naughty and nice list because just coal. I would be terrified to get that silver coin. Our last. Krampus. So some say he is the companion to Santa Claus who punishes children when they misbehave. He actually has his own night, which is called Krampus knocked, which is December 5th. He goes from house to house hunting down naughty children and throwing them in a sack to take them to the underworld. But he can easily be bribed. If you have schnapps handy, he will let you go. Yeah, just stock up on schnapps. You'll be okay. I'm guessing that's the sack that he's taking that kid to the underworld in, right? Yeah. Wasn't there an episode of the office. And like Dwight comes in as Krampus. And is whipping people with raw or something. All right. So. We had some submissions for holiday door decor. So we're going to go through those now. I'm going to go through them. I'm going to go through them. Benji, you've seen some of them. Some of them you've not seen. Some of them. We'll have some good things to talk about. All right. So this was submitted by Beth Welch. This is her front porch. I like that they have a full size tree out on the front porch. Yeah. That's impressive. Yeah. It's very. Pitch risk. Yeah. Very like a Pinterest. Yeah, I like it. I like there's presents. She's got a little gnome Santa gnome out there. I'm going to show you on screen door. All right. We'll go to the next one. Lisa out. Calla. She's a product manager here. So she and her daughter did a little decoration, a little dressing up very cute. Family involved. Beautiful wreath. Beautiful family. Yeah. All right. So this one. I bet you can't guess what retailer. I would not want to be involved in a fire. Yeah, imagine trying to get out of there, especially around the holiday times, how many people are in that store on any random given day? And if that's one of the few exits available, I'd be concerned of things knocking over and people trampling and tripping. And yeah, it says right there on the door, fire door, do not block. Hopefully this was like at the end of the shift and like somebody was just gonna start bringing cardboard out, but it probably wasn't, let's be honest. All that is a very flammable material leading up to the door, so. It'd be disastrous. So this was, I think it's a school decoration, right? Going into like a classroom maybe? Yeah, and it's a classroom with a sizable occupancy because of the exit device. I think it's cute. I think it's a nice festive thing. Hopefully the little awning that they put over it doesn't really interfere with anything, but I think the wall decoration is cute. Yeah, no, I thought it was a clever idea, just a fire inspector's nightmare. Yeah, this one, this is a lot. Yeah, I like to play a little game. I spy with my little eye the exit. Can you find the exit sign? I could not. I can see one set of doors, but I think there are doors leading into the kitchen. So yeah, I don't know where the exit is here. Where would you run? You're like in winter wonderland. Right, and also Christmas lights, you're only supposed to have a certain number attached together at any one time. And I don't think these are in compliance with their readings. A spark or a fuse blowout or, and all of this material is probably flammable, you know? Yeah. This is asking for a disaster. All right, so this one submitted by you, I love that right below, do not block, totally blocked. Yes, totally blocked. And they're probably like, oh, it's on the outside. We don't need to follow this, but yeah, no, somebody coming from inside that door still needs to get out. So I often, you know, the common excuses, oh, we don't use that door, or it's just temporary, right? And I'll reply, well, okay, I'll just start a fire right at the front door and see what happens. And they're like, no, I mean, it's only temporary. Like, don't worry about it. We don't even use that door. Well, if you need to use that door, you're going to want to need to use that door, right? I didn't quite think about that or we're moving it around. As soon as we sell through them, we'll we'll scooch it out of the way, right? Emergencies don't wait for you to move stuff out of the way. Right. Yeah, there's like no hope for this one. So people might say, is that an actual exit? Because if it's not an exit, it's not like a violation. And I was actually in this shop and this was the only other path of egress. So there's the main entrance and this was the back entrance or like the escape. And so it'd have to be, according to code, would be an exit. So they're missing that little exit sign as well. They probably took it down to put up the Merry Christmas sign. Or maybe they just put that right over it. I bet it's like right through here. I bet I bet we see a lot of violations this time of the year. This is the season. All right. Last one, somebody made a nativity scene out of doors. I mean, this one's perfect for us. Yeah, this is great. I love the Wisemen. I'm guessing those are the three Wisemen and probably a shepherd. Mary just delivered Jesus. So she's got the little door, you know, like. Yeah, I think it's great. I think, and then the little major representation. Yeah, that's something I would set up in my front yard. Are you even a true door hardware nerd or a door dork if you don't have this at your house? Apparently not. I mean, I think this one wins. Yes. All right. So thanks for coming on our journey today through a little bit of lore, a little bit of door decor and we wish you all a happy holiday season. A healthy holiday season as well. Yes, happy holidays, Merry Christmas and have a happy new year. Don't forget to click like and subscribe to our channel and we'll see you in the next video. Bye snowman.