My Herd of Straw Goats

One day while I was eating my cheese sandwich for lunch, I came across a Pioneer Press article about Lindstrom, MN, a town where there are "herds of Dala horses and straw goats". This sounds like my kind of place. Can you imagine herds of straw goats roaming the streets freely? I had to herd my collection of straw goats home myself, ferrying them back to Farmington all the way from Ingebretsen's on Lake Street in Minneapolis.
The making of straw goats, or Julbock as they are know in Sweden, is an awesome Solstice tradition originated by the Vikings. Now that IKEA is here, I bought Christmas napkins with a picture of the traditional goat on them. Last year I was still using them in January and I apologized to my dinner guests for putting out Christmas napkins at a pizza party. One guest asked me why. He didn't realize that the goat had anything to do with Christmas. I should have just pretended it was art. "Oh yes, these are the the new napkins I picked up at the Walker gift shop."
I just recently finished removing my tiny straw goats from the Christmas tree. I carefully wrapped each goat in extra tissue paper and tucked it into a Ziploc bag for re-use next year.
I have a giant straw goat that sits on the mantel. He's from the Scandinavian shop down in Northfield. (As an aside here, I'd like to "give a shout out" to Rocky and Sarah, the nicest Northfieldians I know!) I snuggled my big goat into a special red and green tote so I can locate him again next Christmas amid the dozens of totes crowding the storage room under the stairs.
Below is a photo of a giant Julbock decorating a town square in Sweden. These goats are routinely set ablaze by vandals around the time of the Epiphany. I found an interesting USA Today article about a straw goat burning that occurred last Christmas in Gavle, 90 miles north of Stockholm.
If you're interested in acquiring your own straw goat herd, there are goats for sale year-round through Ingebretsen's on-line! Yes, now you can order your goat delivered to your doorstep so you don't have to herd it through the crowded streets of Minneapolis. Sometimes the blaring of horns and thumping of bass on Lake Street scares the goats.