Exclusive Webcam Footage of the (?) 2007 Burning of the GÄVLE Goat

As you may or may not know, the Swedes are not only famous for their drunken fish, flower and fruit laden Midsommar festivities, but also for their Mid-Winter, uh … goat-burning rituals. No, they don’t really burn a goat. A real one, anyway. They really do burn a goat, but it’s a straw goat, (two straw goats actually) built some would say primarily for the purpose of burning it down again and again and again.

In any case, since 1966, it’s become a tradition in ye olde town of Gävle, with two warring factions, the Southern Merchants and the Natural Science Club building ginormous straw goats which the townsfolk and curious tourists from around the world then attack in a surprising variety of ways. All of this destruction has led to the goats being fenced, fireproofed, guarded by the police, soldiers, dogs, volunteers and of course - webcams.

In our exclusive webcam footage that has just now surfaced, the famed Swedish Yule goat, aka the GÄVLE goat, is attacked by Vikings and what appears to be a troll (judge for yourself) with swords, battleaxes and clubs before a boulder is launched at it from a catapult knocking it almost completely over. Later, the yule goat is lit on fire and burnt to ash.

Following intense anthropological study, our team of scientists who (for obvious reasons) wish to remain anonymous have theorized that the video is from 2007, when the Natural Science Club’s Yule Goat was toppled on December 13th, and then subsequently burned on the night of December 24th. See for yourself:

Credit Where Credit is Due:

This video was created using stop action animation techniques on our back patio using our son’s LEGO collection. Our daughter donated her IKEA GÄVLE Goat decoration for the incendiarie festivities.  No actual goats, trolls or vikings were harmed during the filming of this video.

Butt-end Vikings played by: Alex Martin, age 8

Head-end Vikings played by: Elizabeth Martin, age 7

Troll played by: Susan Martin, old enough to know better

Directed by: Susan Martin

Cameraman: James Martin (aka FrankenFingers)

Tags: GÄVLE, GÄVLE Goat, LEGO, Midsommar, Traditional Swedish Celebration, Vikings, Yule Goat

This entry was posted on Monday, October 12th, 2009 at 11:45 PM by Susan and is filed under IKEA Humor. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.