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A citizen of Gävle here! The goat is a spectacular tradition, and as glorious aflame as it is intact. I’m always happy to see our big straw goat get some recognition. 😌
Hi, There is a youtube channel called Radio Dead Air that does an annual "Goat Watch" segment keeping us informed weekly about whether or not the goat has been set alight.
As a Swede, who also lives near Gävle, i get more surprised when it doesn't burn down, like last year it didn't get burned, but it got eaten by birds instead. also I love it when i get to see more videos about Sweden keep it up.
Since you are a Swede. De har uppgraderat sättet att vakta bocken. Nu för tiden så finns det två staket, en hund patrull och straffet är modbrand nu för tiden. Mordbrand kan landa dig 10 år i fängelse
@@Toonrick12Pop. 103.000. Became a city in the 15th century. It is a northern coastal industrial town which previously hosted a garrison. A lot of towns were built on the coast next to river outflows, like in other parts of the world.
My gratitude to the narrator for actually looking up how to pronounce the name of the town. That's about as close as you could expect from a non-native speaker.
The story you told the beginning of 'Thor's journey to Utgarde' is a very excellent tale all around and it shows on how the Aesir are insanely powerful, but can still be tricked and aren't omnipotent.
@@funakfunak2740 Valhall is a series of Danish comic albums retelling various stories from the perspective of these two kids as they work menial jobs at Valhall. It might be the home of the gods but someone still has to sweep and change the linen.
Interesting. We went _julebukk_ (which translates to yule goat) as children in Norway in the 90s, dressed up in costumes (any kind of costumes, so in that respect it was like Halloween) and going from house to house singing carols in exchange for candy. Not many do that anymore, sadly.
In bible college we had a similar tradition, though not intentionally tied to any traditions. But ours was a big, plastic Joseph from a nativity set for a front yard, and it ended up everywhere. My favorite places were up in the attic crawlspace with his face peeking out, and in one of the girls' bathrooms. Someone finally threw him in the lake, but several months later he started showing up again.
The small elf like creatures aren't called "tomte" in Danish, they are also called "nisse", like in Norwegian (just pronounced differently from Norwegian). It's in Swedish they are called "tomte"
Both tomte and nisse have been present in Sweden (regional differences), though tomte is more common - still, this is how Sweden managed to make "tomtenissar" a thing.
I'm from farther north in sweden and can agree, the tricky umlaut-a (ä) was very well handled in this one. Makes me wonder if they had a language coach on hand for that bit.
My family has their own weird Christmas tradition: the Christmas elephant! During their first solo Christmas, my parents didn’t realized they bought every decoration BUT a tree topper. Luckily, my sister’s preschool did “E is for Elephant” that exact same day, complete with an elephant cut out with a finger- or tree top- sized hole for the trunk. Up it went and my mom justified it by saying that since the wisemen were from the east, they theoretically could have ridden elephants to get to Bethlehem. We’ve had elephant tree toppers ever since!
At least in Sweden the Yule Man is called 'Jultomten', with 'tomten' referring to a type of Nordic house god. A Tomte/Nisse was a tiny man with red or grey cap, magical abilities and short temper, who cared for the farm and its animals (unless you pissed him off, in wich case he could become a huge problem). Jultomten was seen as a bigger, friendlier version of a tomte, who only appeared during Jul/Yule to give gifts to the children. Interestingly the farms tomte was given sacrifice precisely once a year. At Jul. You left a bowl of oatmeal for him, with a bit of butter in the middle (this detail was important), called Sun Eye. It likely referred to the pre-christian tradition of Midvinterblot, when you at Jul made animal, and sometimes even human, sacrifices for the sun to return. You pronounced Gävle correctly! That is definitely not to be expected.
Not to mention how the god Odin was referred to, in Yule season, as "Jólnir", which translates closest into "the Yule-er". This leads some to theorize that Jultomten isn't just the tomte of Yuletide, but Odin in disguise (a common trope in his tales), coming to give and take.
@@MinecraftRick There may be a connection there, especially as the goat-clad people running into peoples houses and picking up more members definitely reminds me of The Wild Hunt. It is odd that ghost-like warriors would became goats, but merging of cultural elements happens now and then. Odin, or Oden as he is known where I come from, was a god associated with kingship, war, death, liminality, magic and sacrifice through hanging. All but the first two are relevant to the Midvinterblot. Winter was seen as a time of death, the solstice a liminal time between the suns disappearance and return, and the ritual sacrifices through hanging were acts of magic. 'Sejd' song-magic may or may not have been part of it. It would be quite funny of those Christmas songs had their roots in pagan song magic as part of blood sacrifice.
I'm from Gävle and it was a nice suprise to see my hometown and local history displayed in my favorite chanel, also really nice pronunciation of the town name. Apart from that for those interested, in Gävle the burning of the goat is seen as a sort of sport, it's not uncommon to bet on the date of the eventual burning. Unfortunently on the later years the goat has stood unburnt many times and the tradition of burning it seems to fade. As of writing this on 09 dec the goat still stands. (Ps we once sold it to china instead of burning it) (pss there is also a tradition that the Vasa school (major higschool) students build a "small" (ca 4m) goat next to the goat)
Our sweet dog (who wait and sleeps in dog heaven now) had a favorite toy pig. Whenever it needed to be washed (or repaired) she waited before the machine. After the wash and dry it needed to be fluffed up again (me brushing the plushy) and she absolutely loved it smelling like her human. It was so sweet.
Only in Scandinavia would someone think, “this goat is nice, but you know what would make it even better? FIRE.” Well, maybe not JUST Scandinavia. Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year, Extra Historians!
Yeah, I'm from from the Netherlands, and if there was a giant, flammable thing erected near me, it'd turn into a bonfire. The primal urge to set things alight goes deep ^^
8:32 tomte? I am danish and I’ve never heard of those. I think the tomte is swedish, cuz we also call them nisser in Denmark. Although there are many different kinds and only one of them leaves presents. But that is often not their main goal. Just wanted to clear that up, hope it helps:)
dudes pronunciation game is on point! the Gävle sounded beautifull! also as a swede from Happaranda i had almost no idea aboutmost of this, crazy how traditions change.
Sweden here. Towards the end of the video you talk about tomtar (american gnomes) and in Sweden we call santa "Jultomten" or in direct english "Christmas gnome". When the idea of this figure first started in Sweden it was believed that it actually was a gnome that came around christmas and gave gifts to people. We only adopted the american style for commercial purposes. We also traditionaly leave out pourage for the tomte as with any other tomte that takes care of the farm for example. Sweden was also the first with having those tomtar and the actual jul GNOME on christmas cards in early 1800s. Thanks for reading. Just wanted to clear that up.
And the "American" santa was created by a Swede... (Americans have a tendency to rewrite history, claiming they started/won/created stuff others did long before they did.)
Just a friendly reminder that Finland isn't actually a Scandinavian country. Yes we are right next to it and have lots of Scandinavian influences in our culture but we have our own thing going. I do kinda appreciate that we're marked with slightly different shade of green but I don't think it's enough of a distinction.
Technically you guys are not Scandinavian but Nordic ❤ no offense. It is cultural. But! Finnish culture is so influenced by Swedish and Vice versa that the distinction should never happen. Finland is and will always be a brother country to Sweden as much as Norway and Denmark, if not even more. Finlands sak är vår.
Finland is Scandinavian by association from being part of Sweden for 700 years. But yes. Technically. Scandinavia is only Sweden, Norway and for some reason, Denmark despite its not even connected to the Scandinavian Mountains. Like Finland is. And Finland IS included in the Scandinavian Peninsula.. you know. to make this extra confusing xD
@@Malkuth-Gaming No the Scandinavian Peninsula is only Sweden and Norway (and small parts of Finland and Russia). Scandinavia is Sweden, Norway and Denmark because of a scared intelligibly of our languages. Edit: Wish I would sometime see people arguing for adding Russia too to Scandinavia.
One big reason is that goats in general are a lot more popular, especially here in the US. People back in the 1800's and into the 1900's really hated goats and the people who raised them. They were considered smelly and weird, and had false stories that they ate garbage and destroyed grass spread about them by cattle owners. But then first earth people and hippies started to like goats a lot, including my parents, and then with the internet you had images of silly goats looking cute or doing goofy things, and now they are nice and popular as they should be. Last year I bought a goat Christmas ornament, and I really want to get a Yule Goat for a decoration.
hey jew here, the thing in the end is not a menora its a hanukia, the diffrence is that a menora has 7 candle slots including the middle one and a hanukia has 9 candle slots including the middle one, oh and also that the menora was is an ancient symbol that was in the second temple and a hanukia is what we use in hanuka. so merry Xmas hanuka sameach and just have fun to everyone else 9:27 .
Costumes, home invasion, drunken partying, present giving, scaring the sht out of small children... where do I sign up? This is the tradition we should have kept.
08:29 Wrong! Tomte is Swedish for nisse, not Danish. 08:43 Also wrong! Nisser did not adopt the red hat of Santa, Santa adopted the red hat of nisser, and added some fur trim. That syle of hat is one of the most common types of late 18th/early 19th century Scandinavian apparel. It features across Scandinavia as a common part of regional folk costumes. For example on the website of Dansk Folkedragtsforum of the 26 regional types of Danish folk dress for men they've depicted, 19 have that type of hat and of those 17 are red.
Interestingly, tomte or just tomt means a plot of land, which likely means there is a connection there what with it being a spirit connected to the specific plot of land or the house.
@@hostergaard Indeed. The full name is Tomte-Gubbe. Gubbe being sort of a male Rå, seein how there where also a belief in Kvarn-Gubbar (being guardian spirits of Mills (Kvarn) and Skepps-Gubbar (Being guardian spirits of ships). For those of you outside of Scandinavia, Rå is a female mythological creature. Said to be very beautiful, but dangerous and you needed to respect here. Skogsrå (The Wood or Forest Rå) is the most famous one, but there is also Gruv-rå (the Mine-Rå) that guarded Mines and caves. It's a bit like japanese Kami and Yokai in a sense. That these creatures where said to be caretakers of farms/forests as well as sort of an emodiment of that palce etc. And could be malicious, but kind if treated with respect.
I have two small replica Gävle goat's hanging on my tree. I love finding out how the Swedes have managed to destroy it every year. I'm sad there's no official merch store this year. Last year they had a Gävle goat fire blanket, which was hilariously self-aware.
@@Elora445 ... I mean it's not my country, but if it's only not been burned 16 times, it seems like there's more of a tradition TO burn it. Or stop the burning, either way, the goat has become sacrifice
@@StonedtotheBones13 But that's not what it's there for. It's only that some people are awful people and keeps on burning it even though they are not supposed to.
@@Elora445 Awful people? It's a monument to capitalism designed by an advertising executive and subsequently funded by a merchants guild. The people don't want it. In fact, it's become a superstition that the goat surviving is bad luck - the first time it survived 3 years in a row, Covid struck, and many years that follow it's survival have had major incidents happen. It's only survived 18 times since 1966, the tradition is it's destruction. It's become something of a high stakes game. The council put up webcams, the public launch a DDOS attack. They fireproof it, the public hit it with a car. Gävle don't mind their 15 minutes of fame every year and the boost to their tourism, but no-one really wants the goat. It's partly based on the myth of Thor burning his goats each night. Partly based on how even pre-internet memes could propogate. "If the goat survives we will have bad luck." And tbf, it has also been destroyed by the weather and last year, hilariously, by birds, so it seems like the will of the universe that the goat be destroyed.
About that nisse and tomte business, in Sweden, we kind of have both. And in the context of Christmas, Santa is called Jultomten, and his helpers are called Tomtenissar.
Can we do one next year about "saint nick" and how he became what he came, as well as the patron saint of.... other interesting things. Its a crazy neat story
They actually made an Extra Mythology episode about Santa's origins a year ago. Starting from Saint Nicholas of Myra. Episode is named "Santa Claus: A Superhero Origin Story - Extra Mythology"
It made me fear that it might be one of those videos that misinforms people that burning the goat buck is a tradition. Fortunately, it turned out not to be one of them. It is not allowed to burn the Gävle buck with fire and yet the number of foreign tourists trying to set it on fire has increased due to internet misinformation.
"Nisse" is Danish too. I think "tomte" is Swedish. Nisser had some kind of reputation. Taking care of the health of animals on the farm and so on, but one had to treat them with respect. That included a bowl of porridge - with a lump of butter - at jul. Failure to do so could cause violent revenge like murdering the livestock. The sometimes battled the nisse on another farm. Origin: Murky. When moving to a new place to start a new life, the nisse was said to move along (that does not make that much sense - but). That has turned into a saying "Nissen flytter med" - The Nisse moves with you. Meaning that it seldom helps to start afresh if the problem is you.
You know, I think the podcast Something True said it best, "If Gavle Sweden is going to be remembered for anything, better the Gavle Goat than the Gavle Boy...who was an absolute piece of sh*t."
1:30 as a dane i love when none native people try to use hygge to describe something but mmm the grammar in this sentence makes no sense 😂 the "hygge" form is more like coziness than cozy so it sounds more like youre saying "as we get coziness by the fire" and not "as we get cozy by the fire". nice surprise nonetheless
I am a Dane, and In all my 32 years we have called the Nisser, just as the Norwegians. Tomte is as far as I know a Swedish thing. I am however not an expert in these myths, as my historical expertise is directed towards other fields 🙂
Learned something new. In finnish Santa Claus = Joulupukki = Christmas Goat. Never ralized that before. And we do have those straw goats at home every christmas. Never saw the connection before.
My understanding of the MODERN Gavlebocken is that the town leaders put it up as a tourist attraction, and the people who LIVE in the town did not WANT tourists, so they burned it down. If you want an annual Goat-Watch, head on over to Radio Dead Air, where Nash and Tara track the goat every year and see if it’s been burned.
In fact, here in scandinavia, we have developed a tradition of “TV chrismas-kalender’s” (a name/description i just mad up) which are chrismas TV-Series, With one episode evry day, from the 1st to the 24th of december (here in scadenavia we celebrate Christmas on the evening of the 24th december, chrismas eve, instead of on chrismas-day, on the 25th, like the rest of the world does!)
Before tv-advent calendar's there were paper calendar's, which originate from Germany. And still we have also paper or chocolate, tea, coffee, candy and so on calendars along the tv calendars.
I love how the entire household gets freaked out by these random goat people barging in, then the dad's just like "Oh hey guys! Yep I'm ready, let's go!!"and just leaves with them😂
As a Swedish person I LOVE this video and this is a thing I've heard of this jul goat or Julbocken that we call it here in Sweden also we have a straw goat in my house also we don't call him julman (julmannen) we call him jultomten
in my opinion, the only thing missing is Mari Lwyd from Welsh Christmas/winter folklore, who almost seems like a cross between Jack Skellington (from Tim Burton's animated film "The Nightmare Before Christmas") and a "my little pony" character: like the spirit of the "dead snows" (a bit too macabre but it seemed "adequate" enough to me) Let's hope 2025 is better, and not a "scapegoat" for a "wolf year"
Got my Extra History calendar yesterday. Mine came with an extra month of July. 😆 It's larger than I thought, and the pages are sturdy. Definitely a finely made calendar.
I always get so upset when I see that there's a new video on extra history and it's just a short but every time I'm surprised and get a actual video I get so excited😅
Dane, here! As an added bonus, the yule goat (or julebukken) in Denmark specifically was a yuletime and new year's game that families would play around the feast - a servant or otherwise would dress up in a goat's skull and a carpet and proceed to air everybody's dirty laundry. The idea was to get a good laugh in at all your friends and family, but also to step into the new year free of sin, so the goat would not just drag everybody for their mess-ups, he'd also metaphorically take them with him when he left - just like a different famous kind of goat we're all familiar with, the scapegoat! Oh, also, they're also called "nisser" here, "tomter" is more of a loan-word from Sweden and Norway.
I’m always fascinated by Christmas traditions from other countries. Whether it’s a log who poops presents or a goat made of straw, Christmas figures are as unique as the countries where they came from.
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Have a Happy Holiday!
Wow ok
yay!!
The holidays are not complete until the seasonal Extra History video comes out! 🌟
You're the Best 😊😊😊😊
Thanks For this Guys! Happy holidays 🎄🎄🎄🎄🎄
A citizen of Gävle here! The goat is a spectacular tradition, and as glorious aflame as it is intact. I’m always happy to see our big straw goat get some recognition. 😌
Hi,
There is a youtube channel called Radio Dead Air that does an annual "Goat Watch" segment keeping us informed weekly about whether or not the goat has been set alight.
Vi får se om den överlever i år. God Jul från Uppsala! 🎅
You Swedes are a goofy bunch aren't you? (In the best way possible)
I'm hoping to see some fire this year 🙏 🔥
@@jellysharkbat Last year the goat was eaten by birds due to large amounts of seeds in the straw used to build the goat.
As a Swede, who also lives near Gävle, i get more surprised when it doesn't burn down,
like last year it didn't get burned, but it got eaten by birds instead.
also I love it when i get to see more videos about Sweden keep it up.
Yeah, there was nothing left to burn ... 😂
Eaten by birds? They don't eat straw as I know.
Even your birds think it's funny to break the goat!
@@magnemoe1 yeah. but due to weather reasons messing up the harvest somewhat , the straw that year still contained a lot of grain.
Since you are a Swede.
De har uppgraderat sättet att vakta bocken. Nu för tiden så finns det två staket, en hund patrull och straffet är modbrand nu för tiden.
Mordbrand kan landa dig 10 år i fängelse
As a Swede I know that when Gävlebocken is in the News it will be good Christmas
As a Swede, I am so fucking here for the Gävle slander. "Gävle's only other claim to fame" please keep it up!
They do have one of the oldest hobby shops in Europe though
@@desertranger7575 Does their hobby shop change legislation for the whole country like ours does?
@@desertranger7575that somehow has commercials in mid-2000s in Florida that is broadcasted in Norfolk!
Could you compare the town to an American city, if possible?
@@Toonrick12Pop. 103.000. Became a city in the 15th century.
It is a northern coastal industrial town which previously hosted a garrison.
A lot of towns were built on the coast next to river outflows, like in other parts of the world.
My gratitude to the narrator for actually looking up how to pronounce the name of the town. That's about as close as you could expect from a non-native speaker.
Yeah but he didn’t for hygge. I’m not even Danish (I’m Swedish) and it will always annoy me
The story you told the beginning of 'Thor's journey to Utgarde' is a very excellent tale all around and it shows on how the Aesir are insanely powerful, but can still be tricked and aren't omnipotent.
@@funakfunak2740 Valhall is a series of Danish comic albums retelling various stories from the perspective of these two kids as they work menial jobs at Valhall.
It might be the home of the gods but someone still has to sweep and change the linen.
Interesting. We went _julebukk_ (which translates to yule goat) as children in Norway in the 90s, dressed up in costumes (any kind of costumes, so in that respect it was like Halloween) and going from house to house singing carols in exchange for candy. Not many do that anymore, sadly.
Do you have Saint Lucia in norway or is that just a Sweden thing?
@@kadper yes, santa lucia tog included
@@kadper Yup, we do :)
Just barely, it is not nearly as big as in Sweden
My Granddad told me they did it as children Skåne Sweden 1940s :)
I love this tradition! We used to learn about it in class everyday and we all made mini yule goats. Nice video my man. ❤
I want to hear the story of the pickle ornament 🤫
We should do that here in America
In bible college we had a similar tradition, though not intentionally tied to any traditions. But ours was a big, plastic Joseph from a nativity set for a front yard, and it ended up everywhere. My favorite places were up in the attic crawlspace with his face peeking out, and in one of the girls' bathrooms. Someone finally threw him in the lake, but several months later he started showing up again.
@@ecurewitz No we shouldn't. But, if you want to bad enough, what's stopping you?
The small elf like creatures aren't called "tomte" in Danish, they are also called "nisse", like in Norwegian (just pronounced differently from Norwegian). It's in Swedish they are called "tomte"
Both tomte and nisse have been present in Sweden (regional differences), though tomte is more common - still, this is how Sweden managed to make "tomtenissar" a thing.
Its also called "tomte" in norwegian. "Nisse" is effectively a danish loanword. I think he switched them by mistake in the video.
And Finnish has tonttu, from the Swedish tomte.
No the small elf like creatures are Nisse in Swedish also
I've always understood "tomte" as being the yuleman/santa claus in swedish.
Ah, the Yule Goat. I was hype for this one. There is on youtube a live, 24/7, livestream of the Yule Goat, to see if it thoes survive.
Yasss! Going to watch now!
Merry Christmas Extra History! You Guys Are The “Goat”
5:20 Not a bad stab at the pronounciation of "Gävle" there, as a Swede from around those parts you get my stamp of approval
I'm from farther north in sweden and can agree, the tricky umlaut-a (ä) was very well handled in this one. Makes me wonder if they had a language coach on hand for that bit.
@@jmalmsten Rob tries really hard and gets occasional help from patrons I believe
My family has their own weird Christmas tradition: the Christmas elephant! During their first solo Christmas, my parents didn’t realized they bought every decoration BUT a tree topper. Luckily, my sister’s preschool did “E is for Elephant” that exact same day, complete with an elephant cut out with a finger- or tree top- sized hole for the trunk. Up it went and my mom justified it by saying that since the wisemen were from the east, they theoretically could have ridden elephants to get to Bethlehem. We’ve had elephant tree toppers ever since!
That’s so cute
small correction: Nisse is danish, and tomte is sweedish.
Otherwise, great video. Love from Denmark ^^
I was about to write that
We do say tomtenisse though
@@felixhaggblom7562 I have never heard that phrase in my entire life. But maybe some parts of Denmark use it.
@@annesofiegrumsen105 I'm speaking for the swedes to be clear!
We still use nisse too!
Fascinating how traditions like this, Wassailing, and Mari Lwyd scatter across cultures.
Festive trespassing
I was just thinking how similar this is to Mari Lwyd, though missing the rap battle to gain entry
At least in Sweden the Yule Man is called 'Jultomten', with 'tomten' referring to a type of Nordic house god. A Tomte/Nisse was a tiny man with red or grey cap, magical abilities and short temper, who cared for the farm and its animals (unless you pissed him off, in wich case he could become a huge problem). Jultomten was seen as a bigger, friendlier version of a tomte, who only appeared during Jul/Yule to give gifts to the children.
Interestingly the farms tomte was given sacrifice precisely once a year. At Jul. You left a bowl of oatmeal for him, with a bit of butter in the middle (this detail was important), called Sun Eye. It likely referred to the pre-christian tradition of Midvinterblot, when you at Jul made animal, and sometimes even human, sacrifices for the sun to return.
You pronounced Gävle correctly! That is definitely not to be expected.
Not to mention how the god Odin was referred to, in Yule season, as "Jólnir", which translates closest into "the Yule-er". This leads some to theorize that Jultomten isn't just the tomte of Yuletide, but Odin in disguise (a common trope in his tales), coming to give and take.
@@MinecraftRick There may be a connection there, especially as the goat-clad people running into peoples houses and picking up more members definitely reminds me of The Wild Hunt. It is odd that ghost-like warriors would became goats, but merging of cultural elements happens now and then.
Odin, or Oden as he is known where I come from, was a god associated with kingship, war, death, liminality, magic and sacrifice through hanging. All but the first two are relevant to the Midvinterblot. Winter was seen as a time of death, the solstice a liminal time between the suns disappearance and return, and the ritual sacrifices through hanging were acts of magic. 'Sejd' song-magic may or may not have been part of it.
It would be quite funny of those Christmas songs had their roots in pagan song magic as part of blood sacrifice.
I'm from Gävle and it was a nice suprise to see my hometown and local history displayed in my favorite chanel, also really nice pronunciation of the town name. Apart from that for those interested, in Gävle the burning of the goat is seen as a sort of sport, it's not uncommon to bet on the date of the eventual burning. Unfortunently on the later years the goat has stood unburnt many times and the tradition of burning it seems to fade. As of writing this on 09 dec the goat still stands. (Ps we once sold it to china instead of burning it) (pss there is also a tradition that the Vasa school (major higschool) students build a "small" (ca 4m) goat next to the goat)
I also have a feeling people in general are loosing interest in the goat now that it haven't burned in a few years.
Our sweet dog (who wait and sleeps in dog heaven now) had a favorite toy pig. Whenever it needed to be washed (or repaired) she waited before the machine. After the wash and dry it needed to be fluffed up again (me brushing the plushy) and she absolutely loved it smelling like her human. It was so sweet.
Thanks!
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Only in Scandinavia would someone think, “this goat is nice, but you know what would make it even better? FIRE.”
Well, maybe not JUST Scandinavia. Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year, Extra Historians!
As a swede i agree
Yeah, I'm from from the Netherlands, and if there was a giant, flammable thing erected near me, it'd turn into a bonfire.
The primal urge to set things alight goes deep ^^
Find me a culture what doesn't have a fire tradition lol. Happy hols all
I mean we do enjoy fire. It's very nice to have when it's dark and cold outside. During Valborg we got bonfires
As someone who is currently checking on the Gävle Goat every day, this was so perfect
I was so fricking confused about "in Finland he is still called yule goat" until I realized Joulupukki is literally "Christmas goat".
3:58 the image of jesus feeding carrots to a goat is my favorite thing ever
8:32 tomte? I am danish and I’ve never heard of those. I think the tomte is swedish, cuz we also call them nisser in Denmark. Although there are many different kinds and only one of them leaves presents. But that is often not their main goal. Just wanted to clear that up, hope it helps:)
Thanks my fellow dane.
Happy Holidays Extra History! Another wonderful video as always!
dudes pronunciation game is on point! the Gävle sounded beautifull! also as a swede from Happaranda i had almost no idea aboutmost of this, crazy how traditions change.
The Christmas lights blinking in the background are such a nice touch
Sweden here. Towards the end of the video you talk about tomtar (american gnomes) and in Sweden we call santa "Jultomten" or in direct english "Christmas gnome". When the idea of this figure first started in Sweden it was believed that it actually was a gnome that came around christmas and gave gifts to people. We only adopted the american style for commercial purposes. We also traditionaly leave out pourage for the tomte as with any other tomte that takes care of the farm for example. Sweden was also the first with having those tomtar and the actual jul GNOME on christmas cards in early 1800s. Thanks for reading. Just wanted to clear that up.
And the "American" santa was created by a Swede... (Americans have a tendency to rewrite history, claiming they started/won/created stuff others did long before they did.)
@@GuinevereKnight Realy? is there a story about this i can look up? Any links or anything?
We leave snaps for jultomten !🥃
Just a friendly reminder that Finland isn't actually a Scandinavian country. Yes we are right next to it and have lots of Scandinavian influences in our culture but we have our own thing going.
I do kinda appreciate that we're marked with slightly different shade of green but I don't think it's enough of a distinction.
Technically you guys are not Scandinavian but Nordic ❤ no offense. It is cultural. But! Finnish culture is so influenced by Swedish and Vice versa that the distinction should never happen. Finland is and will always be a brother country to Sweden as much as Norway and Denmark, if not even more. Finlands sak är vår.
but of course as we all know, it doesn't matter because finland isn't real.
Finland is Scandinavian by association from being part of Sweden for 700 years. But yes. Technically. Scandinavia is only Sweden, Norway and for some reason, Denmark despite its not even connected to the Scandinavian Mountains. Like Finland is. And Finland IS included in the Scandinavian Peninsula.. you know. to make this extra confusing xD
@@Malkuth-Gaming
No the Scandinavian Peninsula is only Sweden and Norway (and small parts of Finland and Russia). Scandinavia is Sweden, Norway and Denmark because of a scared intelligibly of our languages.
Edit: Wish I would sometime see people arguing for adding Russia too to Scandinavia.
You sound salty. Scandinavians are not that bad.
As a Swede living in the USA it’s good to see some of our culture represented. 🇸🇪
One big reason is that goats in general are a lot more popular, especially here in the US. People back in the 1800's and into the 1900's really hated goats and the people who raised them. They were considered smelly and weird, and had false stories that they ate garbage and destroyed grass spread about them by cattle owners. But then first earth people and hippies started to like goats a lot, including my parents, and then with the internet you had images of silly goats looking cute or doing goofy things, and now they are nice and popular as they should be. Last year I bought a goat Christmas ornament, and I really want to get a Yule Goat for a decoration.
naa Sweden dont have culture
- merry christmas from Denmark :)
hey jew here, the thing in the end is not a menora its a hanukia, the diffrence is that a menora has 7 candle slots including the middle one and a hanukia has 9 candle slots including the middle one, oh and also that the menora was is an ancient symbol that was in the second temple and a hanukia is what we use in hanuka. so merry Xmas hanuka sameach and just have fun to everyone else 9:27 .
Don't forget about Wales! You should do your next one of these on Mari Lywd!
You never dissapoint! EH IS BEST CHANNEL ❤❤❤❤
Biltema made a joke where they placed Staw goats and match sticks beside each other in the store
Lmao
Recently, the Gavle goat also got EATEN BY BIRDS because there were seeds in the straw. That might be my favourite
That was last year. My favorite was the year it was stolen by helicopter.
0:21 😂😂😂😂 BANGBANGBANG hahahahaha narrator of the year award 2024 goes to …. 🎉😂😂😂
Costumes, home invasion, drunken partying, present giving, scaring the sht out of small children... where do I sign up? This is the tradition we should have kept.
They still have that in northern Japan with the namahage.
@ferretyluv I've seen that and fully support it, too.
08:29 Wrong! Tomte is Swedish for nisse, not Danish.
08:43 Also wrong! Nisser did not adopt the red hat of Santa, Santa adopted the red hat of nisser, and added some fur trim.
That syle of hat is one of the most common types of late 18th/early 19th century Scandinavian apparel. It features across Scandinavia as a common part of regional folk costumes. For example on the website of Dansk Folkedragtsforum of the 26 regional types of Danish folk dress for men they've depicted, 19 have that type of hat and of those 17 are red.
Yeah! I was like "What did he say the Danish people called them?" In Denmark we call them nisse too.
Also Gävle is know for something more famous than witch trials... GEVALIA COFFEE 🤦🏼♀️
They are called Tomtenisse in Sweden... Nisse for small and tomte is the race
Interestingly, tomte or just tomt means a plot of land, which likely means there is a connection there what with it being a spirit connected to the specific plot of land or the house.
@@hostergaard Indeed. The full name is Tomte-Gubbe. Gubbe being sort of a male Rå, seein how there where also a belief in Kvarn-Gubbar (being guardian spirits of Mills (Kvarn) and Skepps-Gubbar (Being guardian spirits of ships).
For those of you outside of Scandinavia, Rå is a female mythological creature. Said to be very beautiful, but dangerous and you needed to respect here. Skogsrå (The Wood or Forest Rå) is the most famous one, but there is also Gruv-rå (the Mine-Rå) that guarded Mines and caves.
It's a bit like japanese Kami and Yokai in a sense. That these creatures where said to be caretakers of farms/forests as well as sort of an emodiment of that palce etc.
And could be malicious, but kind if treated with respect.
I have two small replica Gävle goat's hanging on my tree.
I love finding out how the Swedes have managed to destroy it every year.
I'm sad there's no official merch store this year. Last year they had a Gävle goat fire blanket, which was hilariously self-aware.
It's honestly not just Swedes who burn it. I think one year it was an American who thought it was a tradition to burn it (there really, really isn't).
@@Elora445 I mean, there is a tradition, but it's not legal. xD
@@Elora445 ... I mean it's not my country, but if it's only not been burned 16 times, it seems like there's more of a tradition TO burn it. Or stop the burning, either way, the goat has become sacrifice
@@StonedtotheBones13
But that's not what it's there for. It's only that some people are awful people and keeps on burning it even though they are not supposed to.
@@Elora445 Awful people? It's a monument to capitalism designed by an advertising executive and subsequently funded by a merchants guild. The people don't want it.
In fact, it's become a superstition that the goat surviving is bad luck - the first time it survived 3 years in a row, Covid struck, and many years that follow it's survival have had major incidents happen.
It's only survived 18 times since 1966, the tradition is it's destruction. It's become something of a high stakes game. The council put up webcams, the public launch a DDOS attack. They fireproof it, the public hit it with a car.
Gävle don't mind their 15 minutes of fame every year and the boost to their tourism, but no-one really wants the goat.
It's partly based on the myth of Thor burning his goats each night. Partly based on how even pre-internet memes could propogate. "If the goat survives we will have bad luck."
And tbf, it has also been destroyed by the weather and last year, hilariously, by birds, so it seems like the will of the universe that the goat be destroyed.
God jul til extrahistory og alle i kommentarfeltet
God jul till dig med!
What happened to Extra Mythology its completely dropped off the radar :( I missed it, it was fun. But that aside, Merry Christmas, Blessed Yule :)
Our Extra Mythology artist retired from EH so the show is on hiatus for the moment.
@extrahistory oh I understand, I wish you luck in finding their replacement 😀
LOVE YOUR CONTENT GUYS! THANKS FOR THIS ❤❤❤❤❤
Great video! Always learning something new here, love it!
Merry holidays EH! You're truly the "GOAT"
2:23 And when they did try to go "too far north", well, ask Varus and his legions how that turned out.
Actually, in Finland, Santa/Yule Goat is often seen with deers pulling his sled. In Finland, he's said to live on Korvatunturi (literally Ear Fell).
Korvatunturi as Santa's home originates from Finnish children's radio program on 1927.
@Jackalbury Thanks for the reminder. Still, that was almost a century ago and has become an integral part of Finnish popular culture.
About that nisse and tomte business, in Sweden, we kind of have both. And in the context of Christmas, Santa is called Jultomten, and his helpers are called Tomtenissar.
Can we do one next year about "saint nick" and how he became what he came, as well as the patron saint of.... other interesting things. Its a crazy neat story
They actually made an Extra Mythology episode about Santa's origins a year ago. Starting from Saint Nicholas of Myra. Episode is named "Santa Claus: A Superhero Origin Story - Extra Mythology"
Goat Watch 2024 already. How time flies.
Hyvää joulua toivottaa joulupukki!
Glad jul till dig med!
Gotta love the Gävlebocken in the thumbnail! 🔥🔥🔥
Your pfp is a mood, i love it
It made me fear that it might be one of those videos that misinforms people that burning the goat buck is a tradition. Fortunately, it turned out not to be one of them. It is not allowed to burn the Gävle buck with fire and yet the number of foreign tourists trying to set it on fire has increased due to internet misinformation.
Fantastic video!
Got the calendar, LOVE IT! Happy Holidays!!
The goat art is AMAZING and SOOOOOO CUTE!! Great job Extra team!!
"Nisse" is Danish too. I think "tomte" is Swedish. Nisser had some kind of reputation. Taking care of the health of animals on the farm and so on, but one had to treat them with respect. That included a bowl of porridge - with a lump of butter - at jul. Failure to do so could cause violent revenge like murdering the livestock. The sometimes battled the nisse on another farm. Origin: Murky.
When moving to a new place to start a new life, the nisse was said to move along (that does not make that much sense - but). That has turned into a saying "Nissen flytter med" - The Nisse moves with you. Meaning that it seldom helps to start afresh if the problem is you.
You know, I think the podcast Something True said it best, "If Gavle Sweden is going to be remembered for anything, better the Gavle Goat than the Gavle Boy...who was an absolute piece of sh*t."
1:30 as a dane i love when none native people try to use hygge to describe something but mmm the grammar in this sentence makes no sense 😂 the "hygge" form is more like coziness than cozy so it sounds more like youre saying "as we get coziness by the fire" and not "as we get cozy by the fire". nice surprise nonetheless
EH IS THE BEST CHANNEL! THANKS FOR THIS ❤️🔥❤️🔥
i spent the entire part about the repeated burning down of the goat statue
laughing myself to death.
legendary
I am a Dane, and In all my 32 years we have called the Nisser, just as the Norwegians. Tomte is as far as I know a Swedish thing.
I am however not an expert in these myths, as my historical expertise is directed towards other fields 🙂
Heck yeah I’m here for the goat! Får se om den överlever i år 😅
A goated video by a goated channel for a goated tradition. Truly the goat of all history videos 🐐
NISSE MENTIONED!!!!!!!!
Learned something new. In finnish Santa Claus = Joulupukki = Christmas Goat.
Never ralized that before. And we do have those straw goats at home every christmas. Never saw the connection before.
We did also little straw angels and tomtes to decorate Christmas tree. Now I wonder if those had some kind connection on the straw doll mentioned.
8:30 They're called nisser in Denmark aswell.
I love these traditions. I'm teaching my kids about the yule lads this year.
This makes me wanna move to Sweden. This is a Christmas spirit i can get behind
I absolutely adore you keep referencing caga tió, I'm catalan. Sou genials
Another swede checking in 🎉🎉
My understanding of the MODERN Gavlebocken is that the town leaders put it up as a tourist attraction, and the people who LIVE in the town did not WANT tourists, so they burned it down.
If you want an annual Goat-Watch, head on over to Radio Dead Air, where Nash and Tara track the goat every year and see if it’s been burned.
In fact, here in scandinavia, we have developed a tradition of “TV chrismas-kalender’s” (a name/description i just mad up) which are chrismas TV-Series, With one episode evry day, from the 1st to the 24th of december (here in scadenavia we celebrate Christmas on the evening of the 24th december, chrismas eve, instead of on chrismas-day, on the 25th, like the rest of the world does!)
Before tv-advent calendar's there were paper calendar's, which originate from Germany. And still we have also paper or chocolate, tea, coffee, candy and so on calendars along the tv calendars.
Extra vibes is confirmed!
I love how the entire household gets freaked out by these random goat people barging in, then the dad's just like "Oh hey guys! Yep I'm ready, let's go!!"and just leaves with them😂
As a Swedish person I LOVE this video and this is a thing I've heard of this jul goat or Julbocken that we call it here in Sweden also we have a straw goat in my house also we don't call him julman (julmannen) we call him jultomten
Yay Xmas vid!
Fun fact about Gävle, it has one of the oldest hobby shops in Europe
You always make My day 😊😊😊
I always love hearing about weird folkloric traditions like this.
in my opinion, the only thing missing is Mari Lwyd from Welsh Christmas/winter folklore, who almost seems like a cross between Jack Skellington (from Tim Burton's animated film "The Nightmare Before Christmas") and a "my little pony" character: like the spirit of the "dead snows" (a bit too macabre but it seemed "adequate" enough to me)
Let's hope 2025 is better, and not a "scapegoat" for a "wolf year"
Got my Extra History calendar yesterday. Mine came with an extra month of July. 😆 It's larger than I thought, and the pages are sturdy. Definitely a finely made calendar.
Happy holidays guys! Wish You all the Best 🎄🎄🎄🎄🎄🎄❄️❄️❄️❄️
Happy Hogswatch!
really fun video i got to say i am used to the clasic history vids
8:31 It's the other way around on the naming. Nisse in Denmark and Tomte in Norway
I always get so upset when I see that there's a new video on extra history and it's just a short but every time I'm surprised and get a actual video I get so excited😅
Gävlebocken! 🐐🔥
It’s nisser in Danish too, tomte is in Sweden 😊
ARE BUDGETS INCREASING? WHAT THE HECK ARE THESE TRANSITIONS AND ANIMATIONS AND WHY ARE THEY SO FIRE 🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥
Damn thats good art on the cat…
I’ve only heard the intro so far, but this sounds like *the* way to party!
Should check out the newfoundland tradition of mummering its quite interesting
GÄVLEBOCKEN as the title, lets goo!!!
Dane, here! As an added bonus, the yule goat (or julebukken) in Denmark specifically was a yuletime and new year's game that families would play around the feast - a servant or otherwise would dress up in a goat's skull and a carpet and proceed to air everybody's dirty laundry. The idea was to get a good laugh in at all your friends and family, but also to step into the new year free of sin, so the goat would not just drag everybody for their mess-ups, he'd also metaphorically take them with him when he left - just like a different famous kind of goat we're all familiar with, the scapegoat!
Oh, also, they're also called "nisser" here, "tomter" is more of a loan-word from Sweden and Norway.
I miss extra mythology
the small elf like beings with red hats and beards (mostly) are also called "Nisser" in Denmark.
06:00 one american flew to Sweden to light the goat on fire and was placed in jail.
I’m always fascinated by Christmas traditions from other countries. Whether it’s a log who poops presents or a goat made of straw, Christmas figures are as unique as the countries where they came from.
Always look forward to your videos! Thanks For this! Hearth please ❤️🔥❤️❤️❤️❤️
"Because it's flammable...and cause it's funny" was also quite funny.
Im from Sweden 🇸🇪