The History of Gonks: From Nordic Folklore to 1960s Toys

Timeline

The tomte and nisse: folklore first

Long before anyone said "gonk", Scandinavian country people told stories about a small, old, bearded spirit who lived on the farm. In Sweden he was the tomte, from "tomt", the plot of land a house stands on. In Norway and Denmark he was the nisse; in Finland, the tonttu.

In folk belief, the tomte was often thought to be linked to the person who first cleared and settled the farm. He looked after the animals, especially the horses, and kept an eye on the household at night. The stories agree that he was:

• Hard-working and protective, bringing good luck to a family that treated him well.
• Old-fashioned, disliking change and sloppy farm work.
• Short-tempered: according to the tales, an insulted tomte might play tricks, cause bad luck, or simply leave, taking the farm's good fortune with him.

The one thing every family was supposed to remember was his Christmas Eve treat: a bowl of porridge with a knob of butter on top. Folk tales warn of what happened when the butter was forgotten. These are stories rather than history, but they explain why gonks today are linked with protection, luck and cosy winter nights.

How the tomte became a Christmas figure

During the 19th century, the farm spirit moved closer to Christmas. Swedish and Norwegian Christmas traditions began to show the tomte or nisse bringing presents, and his image softened into a friendly, red-capped figure, influenced in part by the Father Christmas and Santa Claus figures spreading through Europe and America.

Two Swedes played a big part. In 1881 the poet Viktor Rydberg published Tomten, a quiet, thoughtful winter poem about a tomte keeping watch over a sleeping farm. Its first appearance included an illustration by Jenny Nyström, who went on to paint cheerful tomtar on Christmas cards and magazine covers for decades. Her pictures did much to fix the image of the friendly Christmas tomte that later decorations copied.

Today the jultomte in Sweden and the julenisse in Norway and Denmark are central to Christmas, and many families still eat rice porridge on Christmas Eve.

The 1960s British gonk

The word "gonk" has a completely separate origin. In the 1960s, the London inventor Robert Benson created a range of novelty toys called gonks: small, round, furry figures with googly eyes, sometimes dressed in outfits such as Merseybeat suits. They were made in many sizes and materials and marketed as collectables, as much for teenagers and adults as for children.

Gonks were a genuine craze. Ringo Starr and Peter Sellers both owned them, and in 1964 Newsweek ran a piece on the trend. The toys were sold in Canada and the United States, where the toy company Gund produced them on a large scale, including inflatable versions. In 1965 they appeared in the title sequence of the low-budget British musical science fiction film Gonks Go Beat. In the 1970s, redesigned cylindrical gonks became popular fairground prizes in Australia.

Collectors still look for original 1960s gonks today. See collecting gonks.

When two stories became one

From the 2010s, Scandinavian style became fashionable in Britain. "Hygge", the Danish idea of cosiness, became a buzzword around 2016, and Scandinavian-style Christmas figures with long hats and big beards appeared in more and more UK shops.

At some point, British shoppers and sellers started calling these figures gonks. Nobody seems to know exactly who first did it. The best guess is that the old name for a small, furry, characterful figure simply felt right, and it stuck. If you have evidence of an early use, we'd love to hear from you.

The 2020 gonk boom

Christmas 2020 is when gonks went mainstream. With many people spending more time at home, decorating took on extra importance, and budget gonks became one of Poundland's best-selling Christmas decorations that year, helped along by photos on social media. High street chains, garden centres and supermarkets soon expanded their ranges.

The craze didn't end in January. Valentine's and Easter gonks appeared early in 2021, followed by Halloween, autumn and summer designs. Today, gonks are a fixture of the British decorating year. See gonks for every season.

Where to go next

Find out how a gonk differs from a gnome in gonk vs gnome vs tomte, learn more words in our glossary, or start your own collection in our shop.