It's been a little sad to wander around the blog world and realise that there are so many people out there who hate Christmas. And I don't mean just a general dislike of commercialisation, but a really deep loathing of the season and anything to do with it. Has Scrooge taken over the world? Is "Bah! Humbug!" the new black? Or have I missed something?

I have always loved Christmas. From the sundrenched and lazy summer days of my childhood and early adulthood in Adelaide to the dark, snowy deep winter nights in Sweden I think it is a magical time. It's a time to put the "me" part of myself on the back burner and take the time to think about others, to take a step back from ordinary life and step into a world that is a little more caring and loving than usual. It is a time of remembering family and friends, of tinsel and lights, of giving and sharing. It is always a fervent hope of mine that the goodwill generated during Christmas can spill over into the real world come New Year.

Speaking of thinking of others, Melbourne blogger Daniel had an interesting post this week about Christmas consumerism and a new initiative to try and help those who are living in poverty in the far corners of the earth.




This year, it appears that "aid organisations are wooing the ethical shopper with pictures of cute goats wearing Christmas hats and promises of helping the poor in developing countries". However, this has sparked a huge debate about whether the gesture in fact is doing more harm than good. There are claims that by sending livestock to already marginal areas they will add to the problems of drought and desertification. Anyway, isn't "cute goat" an oxymoron? I really hate goats, which is pretty funny as my star sign is Capricorn! I've always feared them since being chased by one on my aunt's farm near Truro. I'm fairly certain it was attracted by the bright red jumper I was unwisely wearing at the time, but nevertheless, it terrified the bejesus out of my poor seven year old self and I have never recovered.

This poses somewhat of a dilemma here as the Christmas goat (julbock) is a really big Christmas symbol in Sweden. It is believed that the origins of this date back to the legends of Norse mythology where goats were said to have drawn Thor's chariot. That's Thor the god of thunder, by the way.

In past times, the julbock was the bringer of gifts to the Swedish children. This all changed in Sweden with the advent of Christianity. The church complained about the julbock's pagan heritage, and so he was slowly demoted to a Christmas elf or gnome.

It's not just coincidence that the astrological month of Capricorn the Goat begins on December 22, the first day of winter in the northern hemisphere and just three days before Christmas.

These days, many people have one of these figures you see pictured to the left as part of their Christmas decorations.

The straw julbock is a really popular julskomme figure (a small braided, plaited or bent straw figure formed into an animal shape) that Swedes like to place under their Christmas trees. It is believed that these small figures were once made from the very last shafts of the harvest crop and thus symbolised the power of rejuvenation and fertility. So a lot of this tradition is tied up with the old pagan rites of season changes.

While I have a general aversion to goats, I do rather like these straw figures and I am thinking that I might get one at the Christmas markets this weekend. I'm sure the birds will be overjoyed :)

One Swedish straw goat, though, has become well known all over the world. It is the Gävle Julboken. For the last forty years, this 13 metre (42½ foot) tall, 7 metre (23 foot) long, 3 tonne straw goat has been erected during advent in the main square of the town of Gävle by the local merchants. It is quite a dominating sight and there is a link to a live webcam here where you can watch it night and day.





"So why would I want to watch it?" you are asking yourself, "After all, it's a straw goat - all it's going to do is stand there." Well, perhaps not. You see this goat has become famous not for being the biggest straw goat in the world, but for being burnt to the ground in what has become something of a national sport. I'm sure there are a lot of Swedes out there laying odds on how long this year's goat will last. I used to think that the powers that be at Gävle ought to take a cue from the Three Little Pigs and build their goat out of brick.

This year however, they plan to outsmart the vandals and would-be arsonists by treating the goat with a special flame retardant. Now... perhaps it's just me, but I think that declaring that "Not even napalm could set fire to the goat now" is just asking for trouble. Surely, someone must remember what happened after someone said of the Titanic, "God himself could not sink this ship!"

It reminds me of the time when the emergency phones on the South-Eastern freeway through the Adelaide Hills were continually being vandalised. The telephone company installed some fancy new phones then, like the complete tools they are, announced that they were totally vandal-proof. Who could resist a challenge like that? Within a week they had been destroyed with explosives, shotguns, chained to big rigs and hauled away - the inventiveness was quite amazing. They should have kept their mouths shut.

I have a strange deja-vu feeling about this....

Last year, the goat was destroyed by two people, dressed as tomte and a gingerbread man, who fired blazing arrows into the straw. They were never caught. You can just imagine the police report "I ran, ran as fast as I can, but I couldn't catch the gingerbread man".