Sweden’s Gävlebock burning is the world’s most bizarre Christmas ritual
The world’s most attacked Christmas tradition has survived right up to the big day, with security measures deterring would-be arsonists.
A huge straw goat in the center of Gävle is often burned down by local vandals in a bizarre party tradition.
The Gävlebocken – or Gävlebocken – has been erected in the city of the same name every year since 1966.
Made of straw, it takes two days for members of the local community to put it together – and always someone destroys it, usually by burning it down.
To be clear, this isn’t some kind of Bonfire Night tradition or a Viking funeral ritual, it’s a simple case of arson.
Since it was first set up in Gävle’s town square 56 years ago, the goat has been burned down 38 times – that’s 67 percent of the time, just over two thirds.
The tradition (read: ‘crime’) dates back to the very first goat, which was lit on New Year’s Eve 1966, after being introduced in December.
The Gävlebock survived the next two years but in 1969 it was razed again on December 31 and it has been a constant battle with arsonists ever since.
In 1970, it only lasted six hours before it caught fire, causing Gävle craftsmen to give up goat production.
The local science society stepped in with a smaller goat made of reeds that quickly broke.
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Over the next decade, the Gävlebocken met a number of terrible fates, including implosion, carjacking and, in 1979, burning down before it had even been erected.
In 1985, the goat entered the Guinness Book of Records as the world’s largest straw goat, 12.5 m high, before it was burned.
In the mid-1990s, increased security, including the Swedish Home Guard, kept the structure standing for two consecutive years before it burned down on Christmas morning 1995.
The following year a webcam was introduced, which can still be followed today, and it did its job but the latter part of the decade proved to be genocide on the Gävlebocken as it burned every year between 1997 and 2001.
If all this sounds like a bit of tongue-in-cheek fun, crime is taken very seriously in the Swedish city.
In 2009, the pyro enthusiasts hacked the webcam to avoid detection, but last year’s attacker was not so lucky – he was sentenced to six months in prison after being caught on camera.
It’s not just fire that the guards have to watch out for – the straw colossus was almost kidnapped in 2010.
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According to Realtid, a guard was offered SEK 50,000 to leave the goat for five minutes, during which time it would have been taken by helicopter and taken to Stockholm.
The guard also recalled a suspected sabotage by an old woman in her 80s who offered him hot chocolate and sandwiches as a distraction. He told the newspaper: “If the goat had burned on my shift, I would never have shown my face in town again”.
A thief actually managed to steal the goat in 1973, but was caught displaying it in his garden and sentenced to two years in prison.
This year’s goat still has until December 31 to add its name to the list of survivors.
You can watch a live stream of the Gävlebocken here and we have collected Gävle’s official goat fates below.
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The fate of the Gävleboken
1966: Burnt
1967: Survived
1968: Survived
1969: Burnt
1970: Burned (within six hours by “highly intoxicated youths”)
1971: Crushed
1972: Imploded due to sabotage
1973: Stolen. Thief sentenced to two years in prison.
1974: Burnt
1975: Collapsed
1976: Hit by a Volvo
1977: Unknown. Presumably burned.
1978: Crushed
1979: Fired during construction. Compensation was also destroyed.
1980: Burnt
1981: Survived
1982: Burnt
1983: Legs destroyed
1984: Fired
1985: Enters the Guinness Book of Records for the first time. Burned.
1986: Fired
1987: ‘Heavily impregnated with fire retardant material’. Burned.
1988: Survived
1989: Fired. Money was crowdfunded for a replacement that was also burned.
1990: Survived.
1991: Fired
1992: Burned within eight days. Compensation also burned. Arsonists were arrested.
1993: Survived
1994: Survived
1995: Fired
1996: Webcam installed. Goat survives.
1997: Small firework damage
1998: Fired
1999: Burned “within hours”
2000: Burnt
2001: Burned (by an American tourist)
2002: Survived
2003: Fired
2004: Fired
2005: Fired
2006: Survived with mild burns
2007: Survived
2008: Fired
2009: Fired
2010: Survived. The helicopter kidnapping was foiled.
2011: Burned within five days
2012: Fired
2013: Fired
2014: Survived. Later visited China.
2015: Burnt
2016: 50th anniversary of the goat. Burned
2017: Survived
2018: Survived
2019: Survived
2020: Survived
2021: Burnt. 40-year-old perpetrator sentenced to six months in prison.
2022: ??