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SWEDISH TRADITIONS

Will Sweden’s Christmas goat survive this year?

The straw goat beloved of arsonists in Gävle might stand a chance of survival this Christmas season thanks to its recent move from the city’s Slottstorget. Here’s a look at the history and stats of Gävlebocken and its chances for 2022.

Photo of Gävle's Christmas Goat
Mats Åstrand/TT Gävlebocken in its new temporary place at the inauguration at Rådhusesplanaden in Gävle.

The Gävle Goat is a giant version of the Swedish Yule Goat traditionally built with straw on a wooden frame and inaugurated on the first day of Advent in late November or early December each year. From that day till the end of Christmas time, it is the subject of a thrilling battle between the municipal authorities and arsonists to see if it can be saved from destruction.

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Although it is technically illegal to burn or damage the goat in any way, since its inception in 1966, the goat has been burnt to the ground more times than it hasn’t, despite all kinds of security measures.

In its first few years, ironically, it was constructed by the Gävle fire department and in a poetic turn of events it was first set on fire by an anonymous arsonist the very first New Year’s Eve after it was erected. The perpetrator was later found and convicted of vandalism.

Traditionally, if the goat is burned down before 13 December, the feast day of Saint Lucia, it is rebuilt. The skeleton is then treated and repaired, and the goat is reconstructed on top of it using straw which the Goat Committee has pre-ordered.

The saga continues, with some people proud of the huge goat, and others bent on destroying it, while bets are made on when and how much damage it might sustain, and inventive methods are employed on how to protect or destroy it. 

In 2001, an American man visiting from Cleveland, Ohio was put in jail for 18 days and asked to pay a fine of 100,000 kronor after being accused of setting the goat on fire. The court confiscated his cigarette lighter with the argument that he clearly was not able to handle it. He stated in court that he was no “goat burner” and believed that he was taking part in a completely legal goat-burning tradition. After he was released from jail, he returned to the US without paying his fine.

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On the Gävle goat’s 40th anniversary in the Christmas season of 2006, it was fireproofed with solvent bases and substances used on airplanes for maximum protection. The goat managed to remain undamaged that year.

Despite the authorities’ efforts, the goat has been damaged or destroyed a total of 38 times. On November 27th, 2016, an arsonist equipped with petrol burned it down just hours after its inauguration.

After a few flame-free years under 24-hour security, the goat was again burned on 17 December 2021. The fate of this year’s Gävlebock is yet to be decided.

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DANISH TRADITIONS

Why is Maundy Thursday a holiday in Denmark and Norway but not in Sweden?

People in Denmark and Norway have the day off on Maundy Thursday, but people in Sweden still have to work. Why is this?

Why is Maundy Thursday a holiday in Denmark and Norway but not in Sweden?

Maundy Thursday marks the Last Supper, the day when Jesus was betrayed by his disciple Judas at a Passover meal, and depending on whether you’re speaking Swedish, Danish or Norwegian, It is known as skärtorsdagen, skærtorsdag, or skjærtorsdag.

Historically, it has also been called “Shere” or “Shere Thursday” in English with all four words “sheer”, meaning “clean” or “bright”. 

In the Nordics, whether or not it is a public holiday not depends on where you are: workers in Denmark, Norway, Iceland, and the Faroe Islands get the day off, but those in Sweden and Finland don’t.

The difference goes back to Sweden’s split from Denmark with the breakup of the Kalmar Union in 1523, and then the different ways the two countries carried out the Reformation and the establishment of their respective Lutheran churches. 

When Denmark’s King Christian III defeated his Roman Catholic rival in 1536, he imposed a far-reaching Reformation of the Church in Denmark, initially going much further in abolishing public holidays than anything that happened in Sweden. 

“Denmark carried out a much more extensive reduction of public holidays in connection with the Reformation,” Göran Malmstedt, a history professor at Gothenburg University, told The Local. “In Denmark, the king decided in 1537 that only 16 of the many medieval public holidays would be preserved, while in Sweden almost twice as many public holidays were retained through the decision in the Church Order of 1571.”

It wasn’t until 200 years later, that Sweden’s Enlightenment monarch, Gustav III decided to follow Denmark’s austere approach, axing 20 public holidays, Maundy Thursday included, in the calendar reform known in Sweden as den stora helgdöden, or “the big public holiday slaughter”.

Other public holidays to get abolished included the third and fourth days of Christmas, Easter and Pentecost, ten days celebrating Jesus’ apostles, and the three days leading up to Ascension Day. 

“It was only when Gustav III decided in 1772 to abolish several of the old public holidays that the church year here came to resemble the Danish one,” Malmstedt said. 

At the time Finland was simply a part of Sweden (albeit one with a lot of Finnish speakers). The other Nordic countries, on the other hand, were all part of the rival Denmark-Norway. 

So if you live in the Nordics and are having to work on Maundy Thursday, now you know who to blame.  

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