this is professional influencer-level framing. this is the EXACT spot they needed to take this photograph to make it seem like the gävlebocken has not been decimated by birds.
the angles. the lighting. gävlebocken is about to start doing sponsored posts.
I did not having getting catfished by the gävlebocken on my 2023 bingo card
Merry Christmeows!
Merry Christmeows 2023 ✨
I severely need a Yule log video of the goat burning, and the only one I found find on the internet is a grainy clip of old security footage. Can someone on this website who knows how to animate please make a Gävlebocken Yule log video? Please? I ask here for maximum begging reach.
Id love that too actually
update jeffiot made one!
So much crackling, aaaaaah. *_* (Is this what ASMR feels like??)
Just thought I'd let you all know that in lieu of being burned, nature itself has this year turned upon Gävlebocken and it is currently being devoured by a flock of birds
Goat update:
he's skeletal
Holy crap, I just checked the livestream. I feel like there have probably been fires in the past that were less successful.
We've reached the last day of Christmas, and there's so little left to burn it would be a pitiful affair even if it did still happen. I think by now it's safe to say nature won this round. XD
Decay exists as an extant form of life
DUTCH?????
LMAO
It actually IS funny as fuck when you speak Dutch, because "tändstickor" looks like one of those words that are basically identical between Dutch and Swedish, just pronounced all funky.
Except the Dutch version, "tandenstoker", means "toothpick", not "match".
My family has used this brand of toothpicks for as long as I can remember, and every couple of months-to-years all over again I have a moment where my brain screeches to a halt and I go "but these aren't... why would you... why the hell are Swedish matches called 'safety toothpicks????'".
So yeah, down here that meme reads extra hilarious. XD
The birds eating the Gavle Goat are jackdaws, which are corvids, but not crows.
People also call the family corvidae the "crow family" but that family includes ravens, jays, rooks, magpies, etc. So, I guess you could call jackdaws crows if you really want to, but if you're going to do that you should commit to that classification and call bluejays crows as well.
The jackdaws are, however, very cute, and very good for taking up the mantle of destroying the goat.
Important update: a duck is involved.
What about if someone used a big magnifying glass? Or a scale miniature of that building in London that keeps melting cars like a big death laser?
Fun fact! In Australia, there is a species of Falcon, the Karrkanj, that will start fires (by taking twigs from existing fires and carrying them to unburnt locales) to flush out prey. Think a few of those might be up to the task?
yeah probably, just gotta get them halfway around the globe
The goat is literally being Prometheus-ed. Prometheus brought us fire (the goat was burned repeatedly), Zeus, outraged at this, shackled Prometheus to a stone (The municipality of Gavle increased security massively, all but enclosing the goat), and then as punishment a great eagle was sent to tear at his liver (the gavlebocken is being torn to bit by birds).
We must then take up the role of Heracles and free our Prometheus from his chains (break through the security and burn the shit out of that fucking goat).
do this 👆👆
time lapse of all the birds yesterday
And this is what it looked like after they cleared the Snow in front of the camera today
I feel like the Gävle goat being eaten by birds is its most suitable fate yet, because it brings back two old traditions.
One is the yule goat as a gift giver. This was common in the 19th century, but then Jultomten/Santa took over.
Here's a picture from Elsa Beskow's old picture book "Petter och Lottas jul", with a family being visited by two separate yule goats bearing gifts.
The other pertinent tradition is the raising of a "julkärve", Christmas sheaf, for the birds to eat. This is still done, but not at all to the extent that it was in the mid 20th century.
In Alf Prøysens picture book "Den vesle bygda som glømte at det var jul" (The village that forgot that it was Christmas), it is a sheaf that makes a little girl remember that it's Christmas, and she then raises the sheaf in the flagpole to remind the rest of the village.
Hence, it is as though the Gävle goat has resumed its old position as gift giver, and has turned itself into a gift of a Christmas sheaf for the birds.
...Which also sounds uncomfortable like High Mass, when I think of it...
took matters into my own hands and burned my own goat in my little sketchbook. at least somewhere it has been brought justice.
BURN THAT FUCKER. BURN IT.
This is excellent