"The Gävle Goat lives a dangerous life," says Maria Wallberg, his spokesperson. "But we are full of hope that he will survive this year."

Wallberg is on the committee that oversees the construction of Gävlebocken, Gävle Goat, the name given to the 42-foot, 3-ton straw goat built every year in Gävle, Sweden, since 1966. This year, if traditions hold, Gävle has about a 50/50 chance of being burned to the ground.

Or having a rod driven through him, or being hit by a car.

That's because destroying the Gävle Goat has become nearly as regular a tradition as constructing it in the first place. Every year for the past 51 years, townspeople cautiously wait to see if an