A straw goat in Sweden is known to have been burned illegally – and someone just burned his “little brother” on fire
A Swedish city that is plagued by the bad situation of having its festive straw goat continuously burnt down has been hit by another year of disaster, after it was reported that the goat’s “little brother” had been lit early on Sunday morning.
Gävlebocken, which is located in Gävle, has not had much luck since it became a thing in 1966. The main buck – which still remains at the time of writing – has only survived Christmas on only 18 occasions.
Unlike Guy Fawkes, it is very much illegal to burn down the straw buck and not something those who put in the hard work of installing it every year want.
Nevertheless, for most of the years Gävlebocken has been burned down or otherwise destroyed by the public.
In 1976 it was hit by a car and in 2001 it was burned down by an American tourist who thought it was perfectly legal to do so (it was not).
Four years later, it was reported that it was set on fire by a flaming arrow, fired by arsonists. apparently dressed up as Santa and a gingerbread man.
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Webcams were installed in 2009 to prevent vandals, except that the latter were taken offline by an overload attack, when the goat was burned down.
This year, reports local media the other smaller buck installed next to the Gävle buck – which was was introduced in 1986 – had suffered major burns, but was not completely destroyed.
Police have not yet found a perpetrator.
In response to the news, the official Gävlebocken Twitter account wrote: “Oh little brother. My heart feels heavy when I see that someone has attacked you.
“Leave us goats alone!”
The burning of the smaller buck, however, has received mixed reactions. Some seemed genuinely upset that it was damaged:
Nevertheless, the majority expressed their joy over the destruction:
Whether Gävlebocken will suffer the same tragic fate remains to be seen.