Swedish town erects giant Christmas goat

The Local - Sweden's News in English ^ | 11-27-11 | Geoff Mortimore

[afraidfortherepublic]

Advent Sunday means it is time for the inauguration of the famous 13 metre tall Christmas goat (Gävlebocken) in the main square of Gävle, on the east coast of Sweden.

•Gävle Goat survives Christmas Eve (25 Dec 10) •Gävle goat targeted in foiled helicopter heist (17 Dec 10) •Gävle goat succumbs to flames (23 Dec 09) •Flames finally consume Gävle Christmas goat (27 Dec 08) To the uninitiated, the annual saga of whether or not the goat survives intact until Christmas Day, has become a tradition of Yuletide in Sweden.

The giant straw goat, which has been erected in the town's main square, Slottstorget, every year since 1966, undergoes a battle against the elements and local arsonists every year, which splits loyalties in the town.

Half of the people take pride in the giant animal, while the other half take equal pride in attempting to burn it down. To date, the goat has been burnt down more times than it has survived the Christmas period.

Large sums of money apparently change hands, as people bet on whether it will survive, or how long it lasts before being burnt down and previous attempts to sabotage it have even included the bribing of security guards.

Each year, new ingenious methods are employed to guarantee the survival of the goat, whose story has reached the Guiness Book of World Records, and 2011 is no exception.

Those trying to protect the goat are planning to douse it in water with the idea that if it freezes, it will be much more difficult to burn down, according to daily Aftonbladet.

[Slings and Arrows]

Ho! Ho! Ho!

[Daffynition]

[ApplegateRanch]

Goatpappy just does not (and never will) have the same cachet as Hogfather.

[ApplegateRanch]

Those trying to protect the goat are planning to douse it in water with the idea that if it freezes, it will be much more difficult to burn

To quote Robert Heinlein, "with enough dynamite & gasoline, anything will burn." (From A Stranger in a Strange Land.)

[shibumi]

The Wicker Goat?

[Cronos]

from wikipedia

The history of the Gävle Goat began in 1966. An advertising consultant, Stig Gavlén, came up with the idea of making a giant version of the traditional Swedish Yule Goat and placing it in the square.

[Daffynition]

Burn Billy, burn. 22 times.

An 51-year-old American tourist terrorist spent 18 days in jail after being convicted of setting it alight in December 2001.

[martin_fierro]

[Slings and Arrows]

Apparently he’s about to murder his very large family, possibly for their poor understanding of the apostrophe.

[Slings and Arrows]

The Auditors agree.

[Salamander]

The Wicker Nanny.

[Salamander]

Justifiable homicide.

[Scythian]

Only the Sweedish Elf Queen can protect the Goat now ...

[a fool in paradise]

Mighty big goat rope.

[Jack of all Trades]

A gøät once bit my sister...

[Slings and Arrows]

“He’s going to be very popular.”

[Slings and Arrows]

But humane. He could have used lutfisk.

[Salamander]

That’s probably what’s in the paper bag.

[Slings and Arrows]

*gasp!*