Every country has its own Christmas traditions, but only one involves copious amounts of property destruction. I present to you, Sweden’s Gavle Goat.
The Gavle goat is a giant goat made out of straw to represent the Scandinavian Yule Goat, a character in folklore associated with Christmas. Two goats are erected every year in the Swedish city of Gavle: the main one is put up by a local association called the Southern Merchants, and the second is erected by students in the city’s Natural Science Club. A cute Christmas tradition, right? Well, it’s given way to a more unorthodox tradition: seeing how long it takes before one or both of the goats are destroyed.
The first goat was built after an advertising consultant came up with the idea in 1966. The goat went up on Dec. 1 of that year and was burned down on New Year’s Eve. This has become the norm, so much so that in 1988, English bookmakers began taking bets on how long the goat would last. So far, it’s been burned 27 times. Both vandals and the goat’s protectors have been forced to get creative. It’s difficult to pick highlights from a list of highlights, but here’s a partial list of indignities the poor goat has suffered:
- 1968: This year was a banner year for the goat as a fence was built around it and a couple was rumoured to have had … relations inside. It survived.
- 1970: The goat was burned down by two drunk teenagers just a few hours after it was constructed. It was rebuilt.
- 1971: The Southern Merchants stopped building the goat because they got tired of seeing it burned down. The Natural Science Club took over. The Southern Merchants resumed building the goat from 1986 on, and since then there have been two.
- 1976: It was hit by a Volvo.
- 1978: Some enterprising strangers kicked it to pieces.
- 1985: The goat burned down despite being enclosed by a fence and guarded by soldiers.
- 1992: This was a particularly bad year for the goat. Both goats were burned down early on. The Merchants’ goat was rebuilt and burned down again before Christmas.
- 1997: The Southern Merchants’ goat was attacked with fireworks.
- 2000: The Southern Merchants’ goat burned down before New Year’s Eve and the Natural Science Club’s goat was thrown in the river.
- 2001: The goat was set on fire by an American who claimed he thought he was joining in on a legal, annual tradition. He spent 18 days in jail and was ordered to pay a fine, which has still not been paid.
- 2005: Vandals dressed as Santa and the gingerbread man burned down the goat by shooting flaming arrows at it.
- 2008: Good almost prevailed when the Southern Merchants’ goat was set on fire but extinguished by passersby. However, it was burned down the next day.
- 2009: A culprit or culprits tried twice to set the Southern Merchants’ goat on fire and once to toss the Natural Science Club’s goat in the river. However, someone finally managed to steal the Natural Science Club’s goat and set the Southern Merchants’ goat on fire. The latter goat was guarded by webcams, which were hacked before the attack.
- 2010: It was reported that one of the guards for the Southern Merchants’ goat was paid to leave his post for an attempted kidnapping by helicopter. Both goats survived that year.
- 2011: The Southern Merchants’ goat went up on Nov. 27 and was sprayed with water to create an ice barrier. It was burned down on Dec. 2.
- 2013: The Southern Merchants’ goat was coated with anti-flammable liquid. It was burned down before Christmas.
The Gavle Goat has a Twitter and Instagram account, as well as a live webcam feed, which has caught it burning more than once. This year’s Gavle Goat just went up, but only time will tell if it will survive the year. The odds are not in its favour.
