DescriptionThe Yule Goat is a Northern European Yule tradition with origins from Germanic paganism existing in many variants during history. Typically made of straw and one of the oldest Scandinavian holiday symbols. It even predates Christianity in the region. While its origins are unclear, one theory is that the celebration was connected to worship of the Norse god Thor. He rode the sky in a chariot drawn by two goats, Tanngrisnir and Tanngnjóstr. During the 19th century its role shifted towards becoming the Christmas gift-bringer. With one of the men in the family dressing up as goat called Joulupukki.Created from the last sheaf of grain bundled during harvest, this wheat was believed to have magical properties. It contained the spirit of the harvest. This connects to ancient proto-Slavic belief where the Koliada Festival honours the God (Dažbog) of the fertile sun. Which was represented by a white goat. The Koliada festival always has a person dressed as a goat, demanding offerings in the form of booze & presents. During Christmas Epiphany young men would gather, singing songs, enacting plays, & performing pranks in costume. The group of Christmas characters would often include the Yule Goat, a rowdy and sometimes scary creature demanding gifts.In Sweden, people regarded the Yule Goat as an invisible spirit that would appear some time before Christmas to make sure that the Yule preparations were done right. Objects made out of straw or roughly-hewn wood could also be called the Yule goat, and in older Scandinavian society a popular Christmas prank was to place this Yule goat in a neighbour’s house without them noticing; the family successfully pranked had to get rid of it in the same way.
