The 2008 Goat

The Gävle Goat (known in Swedish as the Julbocken i Gävle or Gävlebocken) is a giant version of a traditional Swedish Yule Goat figure made of straw. The goat has famously been the target of frequent arson attacks andvandalism, so much so that over the years they have been guarded by the police, webcams, soldiers, volunteers and dogs; whilst the city officially discourages the attacks on the goat, they have brought it recognition and tourism from around the world.
The first goat was built 1966 and since then it has only survived 11 times. It's been burnt down 22 times.
The tradition sais the goat is built and is inaugurated on the Sunday of The Christmas Fair which is most often the 1st of Advent. This years goat was built on Thursday and will declared "open" this afternoon. The plan is that he will stand there until New Year. We'll just see what happends.

This year he has no fire proof, so we'll see how long it takes til he goes up in flames!!
The tradition sais that if he is put on fire before Lucia (13th Dec) he will be rebuilt. I don't know what they have said this year.

The 2008 goat is dressed in straw coming from the barley used at the local Whiskey Distillery, Mackmyra!

Some Goat facts:
Total weight: 3,6 tonnes (of which straw is 1,3 tonnes)
Total height: 13 meters
Height of back: 7,6 meters
Length: 7 meters
Red Ribbons: 79,5 meters
The Goat's legs: 2 meters in diameter
Lights in the horns: 24



Unfortunately all the lovely snow we got in the ned of last week and the beginning of this week was taken away by the rain and high temperatures we got a few days ago. The poor Goat has to do with a gray rainy day on his big day!!
I went there this morning when it's still "light" to get some great pictures of him for you.



If you wish to read more about the Worlds biggest Christmas Goat and keep an eye on him through the webcam please visit the following links.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gävle_goat
http://www.gavle.se/ - press the english flag and find "The Christmas Goat" in the meny to the left.

Happy 1st Advent!