14 DAY TRIAL // The Swedish town of Gavle has a particular Christmas symbol that never makes it until the holidays. Their 40ft-tall (12.20m) straw-made goat stands tall every beginning of December until a group of vandals comes and burns it to the ground.
In their attempt to stop the vandals from burning down the goat, last year's symbol was made from straws soaked in anti-flammable substances, but this made it last just until December 12, when the goat went up in smoke again.
This year, officials found a material that is stronger and harder to burn, hopping that the symbol will finally make it until the holidays. The tradition dating back to 1966 involves a gigantic straw goat built in the middle of Gavle town square, but each year the story repeats itself when a couple of pranksters torch the good-luck symbol to the ground.
“But we're aware that the goat is only famous because it gets burned. It would be great if it didn't actually burn down this year, because that would be the most unexpected result. Then we might really get a lot of attention,” a spokesman from Gavle tourist office said according to Global Times.
The stories surrounding the goat symbol are quite funny, one year someone tried to steal the enormous goat with a helicopter and a few years ago a US tourist was charged with arson and spent some time in jail after setting the goat on fire believing that was the tradition.
The burning goat story is so famous that people actually believe this to be the real deal. What they don't know is that locals are desperately trying to keep the goat from burning down. All kinds of bets concerning the life expectancy of the giant goat emerge among the Gavle locals in December.
