When
I was reading about different Christmas traditions from around the world, one
that stood out to me was the Yule or Gävle
Goat. We’ll talk about the Gävle
Goat in a little bit, but let’s start by looking at the history behind the Yule
Goat.
The
tradition of the Yule Goat is most dominant in Scandinavian and Northern
European countries. In Northern European countries hundreds of years ago they
had festivals in December called Yule to bring in the Christmas season. One of
the Yule festivals called Koliada, celebrates the goat which is considered as
the god of the harvest and the fertile sun. In Sweden, the goat is thought to
watch over the Christmas preparations and to make sure they are done right. The
goat was said to help deliver Christmas presents and some people believed that Santa
would ride a goat instead of a sleigh.
In modern days the goat is represented in a couple of ways.
One way is by a straw decoration with red ribbon wrapped around it. Straw is
used quite often at Christmas in Sweden as part of their decorations as it
reminds them that Jesus was born in a manger. The goat ornament is
traditionally made from the last grain of the harvest and bundled in a red ribbons
and “kept as a token of hope for the New Year.”
Another way the goat is represented is by the Gävle Goat. The Gävle Goat is erected over two days in early December. Advertising consultant, Stig Gavlén, came up with the idea of making a giant version of the traditional Swedish Yule Goat made of straw. The first goat was designed by chief of the Gävle fire department and the construction of the goat was carried out by the fire department in 1966.
Since then the goat has had an interesting history. It has been burned down a total of 36 times over 50 years of it being erected. The town has tried to protect it by having guards as well as spraying it with fireproof chemicals, but vandals and arsonists keep attacking the poor goat each year.
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