--- title: Scandinavian Yule Christmas Goat Set on Fire By Arsonist description: Sweden's massive wood and straw Yule Goat didn't even last 24 hours canonical: https://time.com/4586075/war-on-christmas-rages-on-as-yule-goat-display-burns-to-ground/ author: Melissa Locker article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-11-30T18:52:33.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T07:39:02.539Z og:title: Swedish Yule Goat Torched By Arsonist in War on Christmas og:description: Sweden's massive wood and straw Yule Goat didn't even last 24 hours og:url: https://time.com/4586075/war-on-christmas-rages-on-as-yule-goat-display-burns-to-ground/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: TIME og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Swedish Yule Goat Torched By Arsonist in War on Christmas twitter:description: Sweden's massive wood and straw Yule Goat didn't even last 24 hours twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- # War on Christmas Rages on As Yule Goat Display Burns to Ground by [Melissa Locker](https://time.com/author/melissa-locker/) ## Melissa Locker Nov 30, 2016 6:52 PM UTC by [Melissa Locker](https://time.com/author/melissa-locker/) ## Melissa Locker Nov 30, 2016 6:52 PM UTC A Christmas tragedy has struck the town of Gävle, Sweden—someone has torched their beloved yule goat. Each year the citizens of Gävle go to great time and expense to build a giant [goat](http://time.com/4169926/friendship-between-tiger-and-goat-will-russian-zoo/?iid=sr-link4) effigy in the town’s Slottstorget square. For the holiday display, people decorate the massive wood-and-straw goat with lights and the town gathers together around the Yule Goat on the first day of Advent to kick off the holiday season. > [](https://twitter.com/Gavlebocken/status/802893064855502848) According to [_the Local_](http://www.thelocal.se/20161128/swedens-christmas-goat-burned-down-on-opening-day) this year marked the goat’s 50th anniversary and Gävle spent approximately 2.3m kronor (nearly $250,000) to construct the Yule [Goat](http://time.com/4561620/psychic-goat-picks-clinton/?iid=sr-link6) and throw the annual bash. Less than 24 hours later, [the goat](http://time.com/4321010/why-the-army-needs-foam-goat-heads/?iid=sr-link1) went up in flames. While this criminal act could be seen as another battle in the [War on Christmas](http://time.com/4145834/goats-sing-christmas-carols/?iid=sr-link5), it turns out that torching the goat is also a time-honored, if frowned upon, tradition. Several Yule Goats have been destroyed, usually by fire. Last year, a “drunken man” set it ablaze, according to _the Local_. The committee responsible for the goat enacted extra security measures this year in the hopes of [making the goat last](http://www.thelocal.se/20160921/swedes-rally-to-protect-arson-prone-yule-goat-christmas-gavle-sweden) the week, but arsonists had other ideas. Though they do hint it will rise from the ashes. > [](https://twitter.com/Gavlebocken/status/802997588387565568) \[H/T [Mashable](http://mashable.com/2016/11/30/arson-goat-sweden/?utm%5Fcid=hp-n-1#YTSKuwD3D5qE)\] ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4586075/war-on-christmas-rages-on-as-yule-goat-display-burns-to-ground/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4586075/war-on-christmas-rages-on-as-yule-goat-display-burns-to-ground/"},"headline":"War on Christmas Rages on As Yule Goat Display Burns to Ground","datePublished":"2016-11-30T18:52:33.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T07:39:02.539Z","description":"Sweden's massive wood and straw Yule Goat didn't even last 24 hours","url":"https://time.com/4586075/war-on-christmas-rages-on-as-yule-goat-display-burns-to-ground/","keywords":["Newsfeed","Crime","christmas","Holidays","sweden","holiday","Arson"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Melissa Locker","jobTitle":"","url":"https://time.com/author/melissa-locker/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4586075/war-on-christmas-rages-on-as-yule-goat-display-burns-to-ground/","name":"War on Christmas Rages on As Yule Goat Display Burns to Ground"}}]}] ```