If you've seen a small goat made of straw sitting under a Scandinavian Christmas tree, you've met the Yule Goat. In Norway it's the julebukk, in Sweden the julbock. It's one of the oldest Christmas symbols in the north, and one of the hardest to pin down.
Here's what we know, what people only guess, and how the goat ended up on so many doorsteps.
What the Yule Goat is
The name covers two different things. One is a goat figure, usually made from the last sheaf of the grain harvest and bound into a goat shape. The other is a person in costume, often wearing a goat mask and skins, who went from farm to farm at Christmas asking for food and drink. In Norway that custom is called julebukking, and it's still alive: people dress up and visit neighbours between Christmas and New Year.
The best-known goat today is the giant straw Gävle Goat in Sweden, built every December since 1966. It has been burned down many times, which has become a tradition of its own.
Is it Thor's goats?
You'll often read that the Yule Goat goes back to Thor. The link people point to is in Snorri's Prose Edda (Gylfaginning), where Thor drives a chariot pulled by two goats, Tanngnjóstr and Tanngrisnir. Their names are usually translated as "teeth-grinder" and "teeth-gnasher". Some scholars think the Yule Goat could be a distant memory of those animals.
It's a theory, and nothing more. No Viking Age source mentions a Yule Goat, and the first records of the figure are much later. Other researchers point to harvest customs instead. In many parts of northern Europe the last sheaf was thought to hold the spirit of the harvest, and shaping it into an animal may simply have been a way of looking after that spirit through the winter. Both ideas are reasonable, and we don't think anyone can say which is right.
From straw goat to gift-bringer
By the 19th century the goat had changed jobs in many places. A man dressed as a goat would knock on the door and hand out presents, and in some households children were told the Yule Goat brought their gifts. Santa Claus slowly took over that role in the 20th century. The straw goat stayed on as a decoration, and you'll still find small ones in Swedish and Norwegian homes in December.
Why we like it
We had the julebukk at home when we were kids, so this one is close to us. The Yule Goat sits between mythology, farming life and plain household habit, and nobody has managed to untangle the three. We think that's part of its charm. If you want a bit of that Scandinavian midwinter feeling, our Yule Goat sweatshirt is our take on the figure, and the Christmas and Yule collection has the rest of our seasonal pieces. We ship worldwide, with free shipping on every US order.
Yule Goat FAQ
What does the Yule Goat symbolize?
Most often the harvest. The straw goat was made from the last sheaf, which people saw as holding the harvest's spirit. Some also connect it to Thor's goats, though that link is a modern theory.
Is the Yule Goat Norse mythology?
No. It's Scandinavian folk tradition, and it doesn't appear in the Poetic Edda or the Prose Edda. Thor's two goats do appear in the Prose Edda, but the Yule Goat is a separate, later custom that may or may not be related.
What is the Gävle Goat?
A huge straw goat put up each December in Gävle, Sweden, since 1966. It's famous for being set on fire in many of those years.
Did the Yule Goat bring presents?
In some parts of Scandinavia, yes, in the 19th and early 20th centuries. A costumed goat figure handed out gifts to children until Santa Claus took over.
Is julebukk the same as the Yule Goat?
Julebukk is the Norwegian word for it. It can mean the straw goat, the costumed visitor, or the custom of going door to door in costume.
For the wider season, see How to Celebrate Yule, The Yule Lads and our guide to the Norse wheel of the year. New guides and designs go out to the Rune Circle first, so join us if you'd like them in your inbox.