Size 4" x 5 1/2" (width - height)

The goose was one of the earliest domesticated animals and has long been a subject of folklore. They came to symbolize the solar year, fertility and rebirth due to their "miraculous" seasonal disappearance and reappearance along with other migratory birds. The wild goose was assumed to be an intermediary between this world and the next since it "vanished like the sun when the days grew shorter, only to reappear as they lengthened."  By the 18th century, the goose had replaced the boar of the medieval banquet and assumed the position of being the centerpiece of the Christmas dinner.