Yule goat
The Julbock ( Swedish "Weihnachtsbock" also Julgumse (Julwidder); Danish : Julebuk , Juleged (-ziege) Nytårsbuk (New Bock); Norwegian : Julebukk , Finnish : Olkipukki (straw Bock); Estonian : Joulosak ; Latvian : Joulopuk ) is today primarily a billy goat figure made of straw , which is a popular Christmas decoration in Denmark, Norway and Sweden in particular. The Yule goat used to bring the presents before being replaced by Santa Claus (Danish: Julemand , Norwegian: Julenisse , Swedish: Jultomte ). In Finland today, Joulupukki is synonymous with Santa Claus. Various Yule goat rituals were widespread throughout Scandinavia until the middle of the 19th century . In Denmark and Sweden there were also Julbock cakes. The billy goat as a Christmas symbol has its roots in the Germanic religion . He stands for the annual fertility of the earth (grain buck) and was originally an embodiment of the thunder god Thor . In Germany it has its counterpart in the Habergeiß of the Alpine region, the rattling goat on Usedom or the Capra in Transylvania.
regional customs
Up to the middle of the 19th century there were various Yule goat representations for Christmas (Yule games) .
In the most original of these depictions, young boys disguised themselves as terrifying yule goats, whose masks and disguises were provided with attributes of the goat, often with straw, but also with all sorts of demon attributes. So the disguise was not recognizable as a buck in all areas. There are descriptions that are more reminiscent of unreal, tooth-reinforced birds of prey. In this guise, the young men embodied the Yule goat, thought of as a ghostly creature, of ancient Germanic mythology . They imitated the grumbling of a goat, jumped the buck, frightened children and especially girls and amused the Christmas party with all sorts of foolish pranks. Girls who heard the Yule goat first were advised to marry soon. Often the Yule goat had to be appeased with a present, some fruit, a spoonful of grits or a Yule beer. In southern Sweden the goat was symbolically slain, but then brought back to life with a song. These rituals reveal the previously serious religious background of the pre-Christian Yule festival as a solstice celebration, during which the return of fertility for the crops, the cattle and the people was invoked for the following year.
In the more recent, more Christian “softened” representations, it was common for a group of peasant children to roam between the farms to perform plays or songs. One in this group was always disguised as a Yule goat. As a thank you for their performance, the children were given food and drink at a gathering between Christmas and New Year .
Another custom was to secretly hide the Yule goat with his neighbor in the yard. It was now his job to bring the animal back unseen. In the 19th century it became common in middle-class families for one person to be a Yule goat handing out presents, just as Santa Claus does today. Since the Scandinavian Yule goat has almost completely lost its position to Santa Claus today, it is only a decorative accessory in the festively decorated household.
The Yule buck made of straw has a long tradition in various areas. Such a ram was thrown into a group of dancing people, for example, and shouted to them to quickly grab the Yule ram, which in turn should bring good luck for the next grain harvest, if the ram was caught. It also happened that the straw buck was placed under the table and that something was symbolically given to it from the Christmas buffet ( julbord ) .
mythology
According to various Scandinavian legends, the Yule goat was imagined as a demonic creature with horns that “generally resembles a goat ” , but is only significantly larger than a goat. In summer it hides in deep forests or inaccessible mountains, only to get a little closer to the courtyards every day during Advent, until it penetrates people's homes on Christmas Eve. His arrival is usually preceded by strange light phenomena and in the house he often sat down behind the stove first (like a house ghost). Even if the Yule goat was originally thought of as a terrifying demon - the z. B. resented imitations by people and brought small children if one did not appease him with a sacrifice - he was still a positive symbol of fertility. The saga critics point out that the sagas are literary texts, only indirectly historical sources.
origin
The Yule goat tradition is to be seen in connection with the worship of the goat (and the ram ) which is widespread among many Indo-European peoples as the embodiment of the annual fertility given by the gods. Corresponding evidence goes back to the Bronze Age . The goat was either assigned to a mother goddess (examples: the Roman goddess Juno , who appears everywhere with a goat, or the three- figured goat on the back of the Aufanian matron monument of the Bonn Altar No. 7 ) or was itself regarded as the goat-shaped embodiment of a god. According to the research of Franz Rolf Schröder , the Germanic god Thor once had the shape of a billy goat. Later he was also referred to by the nickname "hafra dróttin" - Lord of the Goats . Analogous to the deity Nerthus , (north. Possibly Njörd) his chariot is pulled by two billy goats, known as Tanngrísnir ('Tooth Fletscher') and Tanngnjóstr ('Tooth Grinder') . According to one story, they are slaughtered for supper, but then rise again. In addition to this recurring fertility, various relationships to lightning and thunderstorms are documented, the symbol of which are often goat horns. Goats killed by lightning could not be eaten, they were considered to be Thor sacrifices. After the Christianization of the Teutons, the billy goat was outlawed as an animal of the devil .
Knecht Ruprecht , who is called Krampus in the German-speaking Alpine countries , also plays a role similar to that of the Julbock . The appearance of a Krampus is similar to the Norwegian "julebukklaufen". However, the Krampus appears on St. Nicholas Day, while the Julebukk runs between the homesteads between "Jul" and New Year's Eve.
Yule goat in Gävle
Since 1966, an oversized Yule goat has been set up on the centrally located Palace Square (Slottstorget) in Gävle (Sweden) at Christmas time. It is usually 13 meters high, 7 meters long and weighs about 3.5 tons. Despite intensive efforts by the initiators (a local trade association and a science school association) to protect the buck, it is the victim of arson attacks almost every year . This fact was seen as a tradition by foreign tourists and exchange students, so that they actively participated in the destruction of the Yule goat. For the 40th anniversary, the Yule goat was impregnated with a fire protection agent for the first time in the winter of 2006 and was able to withstand an attempted attack.
literature
- Martin Hannes Graf: Studies on germ. * Haäraz and related problems , dissertation at the University of Zurich 2005 (PDF, 307 pages, 1.9 MB).
- Wilhelm Mannhardt: Ancient forest and field cults from northern European tradition explained , 1877
- History and current facts about the largest Yule goat on Gävles Schlossplatz
Web links
Individual evidence
- ^ Julbock - Capra - Habergeiß Banater Zeitung, December 18, 2013.