Saturday, December 16, 2006

Swedish Christmas Goat

I've been following this story for a while now. I haven't posted about it because I didn't think it all the news worthy. I may be wrong though. Theres a small town about 90 miles north of Stockholm called Gavle. They have been erecting a huge goat as a Christmas tradition since 1966. The sad part is that the 43ft high goat has only survived past Christmas a total of 10 times since then. It has been burned. cut down, and ran into by cars even. This goat is made of straw and to make sure it survived this year, the makers doused it with flame retardant chemicals. They even put up 24 hour surveillance cameras in an attempt to foil would be wrongdoers. Well, someone sneaked past the camera and tried to set it on fire again. This time though, the chemical did it's job. The giant goat got singed but didn't burn.

Now, you may ask why I write about this? It's because I didn't think other countries had this kind or problem. I don't know why I thought that, but I did. Besides, you really have to ask what kind of person would do such a thing. Try to ruin this festive time by vandalizing such a thing. the story doesn't say what significance the goat has to Sweden, but it must have some meaning for them to build such a large semblance of it.

Maybe the Grinch really does exist. Maybe he is in Sweden camping out while waiting for the Who's to go to sleep in Whoville. Who knows?

Till next time BYE!!

4 comments:

Rachel Schell said...

very interesting...the goat must be controversial for some reason. I'm part swedish...btw :)

Barb said...

Those are some baaaa-d people.

Anonymous said...

Now, Mike, how many times do we have to remind you?

If the story interests you is all that matters.

I went for over five years keeping my thoughts to my self as an unpublished blog and I really only do the blog to entertain myself.

It is the daily life and the people around you that really matter.

Those people that you deal with each day are the ones that really count for something in your life

Take it from an old pro, you can cut the PC off and never post another blog in your life and it would not change a thing.

Jeni said...

I too am of Swedish descent and I think the goat is called a "Julbock" or something like that. But I don't remember now the story behind the goat and the symbolism there. I recall reading about someone making a game, more or less, though out of trying to burn it or destroy it year after year. Sad, isn't it when people think it so much fun to destroy things that are a part of our heritage. If you read anything about the ghost town near where I live, and the one house remaining there - it no longer exists now either as someone torched it around the early part of November. Makes one wonder, for sure, doesn't it?