This years Gavle Goat has already been set ablaze. The Gävle Goat was mentioned on the blue a few years ago. The Gävle Goat is a 13-meter (42+ feet) tall straw structure that’s built in the center of Gävle, Sweden at Christmastime every year. And every year somebody has tried to burn this giant Yuletide Goat to the ground. Often successfully. Well, it happened again today at 2:54 am. This year there is film of the fire as well as a live webcam of its charred remains.
posted by hubs on Dec 2, 2011 - 24 comments

Not in the headlines: Swedish parlor philosophy of fair play, law and order, slooowly explained by police chief John Lind. [more inside]
posted by Namlit on Dec 15, 2010 - 8 comments

Sure, we all know that Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer is broadcast every year in the US as a Christmas tradition, and that Sweden basically closes every year from 3:00 to 4:00 p.m. on December 24th to watch Donald Duck, but what about other countries? [more inside]
posted by DoctorFedora on Dec 22, 2009 - 33 comments

Sweden's bizarre tradition of watching Donald Duck (Kalle Anka) cartoons on Christmas Eve
posted by mr.marx on Dec 22, 2009 - 51 comments

Every Christmas since 1966, the Swedish town of Gävle has built an enormous traditional Yule goat of straw. And almost every Christmas, someone tries to set fire to him. [more inside]
posted by zamboni on Dec 16, 2009 - 31 comments