# Swedish Dopers:  Anyone Torch the Christmas Ram This Year?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/swedish-dopers-anyone-torch-the-christmas-ram-this-year/145096>\
**Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\
**Created:** [December 27, 2002, 4:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/swedish-dopers-anyone-torch-the-christmas-ram-this-year/145096 "2002-12-27T04:07:40Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Tuckerfan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@Tuckerfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tuckerfan)\
**Post date:** [December 27, 2002, 4:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/swedish-dopers-anyone-torch-the-christmas-ram-this-year/145096/1 "2002-12-27T04:07:40Z")

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I have an e-penpal who lives in Sweden, who for several years now has related the story of the Christmas Ram that’s built of straw and erected on the town square every year. And every year, someone sets it aflame, the moment the authorities backs are turned. Last year, it was an American who set it ablaze. :eek: (He got caught, too and was threatened with severe punishment.) I haven’t heard from my e-penpal yet, and probably won’t for at least another couple of weeks (his internet access is problemmatic at the moment), so I was wondering if anyone could tell me whether or not anyone’s bothered to uphold a fine and noble tradition? (I’ll be awfully disappointed if they haven’t.)

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**Author:** ![Juggler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/juggler/32/3194_2.png) [@Juggler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Juggler)\
**Post date:** [December 29, 2002, 6:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/swedish-dopers-anyone-torch-the-christmas-ram-this-year/145096/2 "2002-12-29T18:50:52Z")

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It’s still alive as much as it can be. It’s in the city Gävle. You can see the ram yourself on [http://epi.gavle.se/bocken/bild/t\_bockensida.asp](http://epi.gavle.se/bocken/bild/t_bockensida.asp)

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**Author:** ![chukhung](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e79b87/32.png) [@chukhung](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chukhung)\
**Post date:** [January 6, 2003, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/swedish-dopers-anyone-torch-the-christmas-ram-this-year/145096/3 "2003-01-06T20:52:53Z")

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Apparently it survived the holiday season intact. I found the following in this AP report on Yahoo, [http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story2&cid=816&ncid=816&e=12&u=/ap/20030105/ap\_on\_re\_eu/sweden\_christmas\_goat:](http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story2&cid=816&ncid=816&e=12&u=/ap/20030105/ap_on_re_eu/sweden_christmas_goat:)

> [@](#):
>
> Its predecessors have been burned with cigarette lighters, leveled by a car and rocketed by fireworks. But this holiday season, the giant straw Christmas goat built in this Swedish city escaped destruction for the first time since 1997.  
> …  
> The Christmas goat tradition was started in 1966 by merchants in Gaevle, 90 miles north of Stockholm. Since then, only 10 goats have made it through Christmas and New Year’s Day.