#gavle

(From Wikipedia)

Ok folks, the Gavle Goat is up and waiting for a light from a nice friendly local or tourist.

For those of you who aren't familiar with this unique less-than-legal holiday tradition, every year since 1966 the city of Gävle, Sweden commissions a traditional Swedish Yule Goat (Christmas Goat), made of straw and wood, and puts it in the town square (or some other central location) for people to celebrate over. Unfortunately, for the goat, a drunk local inadvertently started an underground tradition when he thought it would be funny to "light it up". Ever since that fateful year, various pranksters from Sweden and around the world have made it a tradition to burn it down, steal it, or hold it for ransom. In one elaborate prank, a plan was hatched to bribe a guard to look the other way while a helicopter would be used to hook a line onto it and fly it all the way to Stockholm. Eventually the underground tradition, although highly illegal, has become more popular than the goat itself. After going viral on the internet, the Gävle Goat has become one of Sweden's biggest tourist attractions during the holidays. Although the city and the federal government have spent millions on security solutions, to little avail, and have never wavered in prosecuting hooligans and pranksters that violate their precious Yule Goat, the tourist revenue can hardly be ignored. Now the Gävle Goat is on Twitter, pretty much taunting people to burn it down.

By Geran de Klerk