Every year in Sweden, a town puts up a giant straw statue of a goat. It's to mark the beginning of the holiday season. Then they wait — and sometimes bet — on whether the goat will make it to Christmas. Because in the town of Gävle, someone always tries to burn down the goat.

For hundreds of years, people in northern Europe have had big festivals in December. These festivals are known as Yule. Those traditions became part of Christmas celebrations in places like Sweden. One of these traditions is the Yule goat. In some stories, Christmas elves would ride the Yule goat door to door to deliver gifts to sleeping children. Just like Santa Claus does today.

In 1966, the town of Gävle wanted something fun and Christmas-y for the town square. A giant Yule goat seemed like a great idea. It wasn’t. It also wasn’t great that the giant statue was made of super-flammable straw. Still, the first Gävle goat actually made it all the way to New Year’s Eve before being burned down.

Goat statues in other years haven’t been so lucky. In the past 56 years, the Gävle Yule goat has been destroyed at least 35 times.

The town of Gävle is stubborn. Over the years, they’ve been urged to stop building the goat. Or at least stop using the traditional straw. But they’re proud of their Yule goat. It’s been in the Guinness Book of World Records — for its size, not the fires. And every season, people visit the goat and take part in Yule celebrations. Part of the reason people come may be to see how long the goat will last. Still, every year they promise that this goat will go the distance.