cdybedahl | Goat-Swallowing Thursday

Little-known holidays from around the world #5: Goat-Swallowing Thursday

Goat-Swallowing Thursday is celebrated on a handful of small island in the northern Baltic Sea, that are populated almost exclusively by descendants from one of the many more or less extreme Protestant sects that flourished in the area during the latter decades of the 19th century. The Goatists, as they are known, base their beliefs on what everyone but them agrees is a mistranslation of Matthew 25:32. Their version, which most likely was translated from Latin into Swedish, then Finnish, Sami and finally back to Swedish again, goes roughly All the nations will be assembled before him, and he will separate people one from another like a shepherd spares the sheep and swallows the goats. From this, they derive sanctitude for sheep, that must not be used in any way whatsoever, and permission to do whatever they like with goats. The climate on their islands, which is too cold for sheep but not for goats, may have influenced these beliefs.

Goat-Swallowing Thursday is celebrated on the thursday that falls on or just after Christmas Eve. On this day, the Goatists strive to be like Christ and eat as much goat as possible. Exactly how they go about this depends on if they're East Goatists (who live on the two larger islands, closest to Finland) or West Goatists (who live on the smaller island closer to Sweden). The East Goatists hold that the most important thing is to eat as much goat as possible, and therefore prepare the tastiest and most mouth-watering goat-based dishes they possibly can. Roast goat, boiled goat, goat sausage, goat's cheese and many other such things are eaten. The West Goatists, on the other hand, focus on being like Christ, and since it says in their Bible to swallow goats, that's what they attempt to do. They kill a goat, drive a spit through it, roast it (with skin, entrails and all) and then eat it using no tools but their own nails and teeth.

Needless to say, the East Goatist version of the holiday is the most popular one with the tourists.

(It's all Kitsune76's fault)