Have you ever heard of the giant straw Christmas goat? In some parts of the world, it’s a thing.

In Gävle [pronounced “yeah-vleh”], Sweden, they build a giant straw goat for Christmas every year. It’s big — at least 43′ high, up to 49′ some years, and it weighs 3 tons. I don’t know why they do this. One news article said the association of a straw goat with Christmas goes back centuries there, and now some residents don’t even know why. In some stories Christmas elves would ride the Yule goat door to door to deliver gifts to sleeping children. Another site associates this Yule goat with Thor, god of thunder, and sacred trees and fertility. Considering the modern take on Thor from The Avengers, it’s hard to see how a straw goat fits in. (Leave a comment if you can think of anything.)

Just a straw goat by itself is not so special (at least to people not familiar with the traditions), but there’s more to the story. There is a tradition that’s not supposed to be part of the tradition — burning the goat down. They have been building these giant ones since 1966, yet only 16 have survived past beyond Christmas day. I don’t know how the residents there feel about this, so no offense intended toward them, but the burning of it has happened before the internet existed, so it’s probably not just tourists wanting in on the action.

One year some people dressed up as Santa Claus and gingerbread men and they shot flaming arrows at the goat to burn it down. In 2010, someone attempted to bribe a guard so they could steal it with a helicopter, but their offer was rejected. (I’m against stealing, but it would be surreal to see it flying through the air.) One time someone ran into it with a car which made the legs collapse.

The staff here at Buffet o’ Blog have discussed the idea of building our own giant straw goat numerous times. It hasn’t happened yet, but here’s a highlight of a few of the ideas:

• Have a big one-night festival with it, selling burgers, hot dogs, hot chocolate, memorabilia, etc. Have live bands playing music in exciting styles. Then for the big finale, set the goat on fire for a giant bonfire. Could roast marshmallows and make s’mores. Sell tickets or parking fees to raise money for charity.
• Make the straw goat over 50 feet tall, to set a new Guinness World Record.
• Fill the butt of the goat with fireworks and smoke bombs, activated by remote, to start the bonfire. Picture that! It would be a memorable evening for everyone there!
• In a previous discussion, someone left a comment suggesting the belly of the goat be filled with fireworks and manure, so when the burning is almost done, it will be raining poop and everyone will know to go home. While it’s a creative idea, I am totally against this. That would certainly be memorable, but people would not come back the next year.
• The idea of our own festival is not to mock the tradition. It would just be fun to have a party and burn a 50-foot straw goat.

If you want to read more of the original discussions years ago, it was here, originally, and more here.

If you have any ideas to make this idea even more random and/or awesome, leave a comment. And if you can think of any connection between Thor and straw goats, share that too.