Somehow after what I saw and learned this summer, the notion that Swedes like to toast straw goats does not surprise me…

[www.usatoday.com]

STOCKHOLM, Sweden (AP) – Vandals set light to a giant straw goat Saturday night in a central Swedish town, police said, an event that has happened so frequently it has almost become a Christmas tradition.

It was the 22nd time that the goat had gone up in smoke since merchants in Gavle, 150 kilometers (90 miles) north of Stockholm, began erecting it to mark the holiday season.Police spokeswoman Margareta Olander said officers received a call just after 9 p.m. to report that the goat was ablaze.

…and it is, indeed, a Wicker Goat.