Holy Shit!

Literally!

I just received this great forward. For the season, enjoy.

Hola a todos!

As some of you may already know Catalonia has some rather unique Christmas traditions - here is a little background, which I thought might interest you, on two of the most peculiar...

The Caganer - a wholesome and fun Catalan addition to the typical Christmas creche figurine family of baby Jesus, Mary, Joseph, the three kings and shepherds etc. The traditional Caganer is an old Catalan man with a red hat or "barretina" and canvas shoes squatting and "taking a dump" in the manger. This traditional figure is generally viewed as the "immemorial fecundator, whom nature calls even as the Messiah is born. Robert Hughes writes:

"Nothing can distract him from the archetypal task of giving back to the soil the nourishment that supplied it to him".

If you look closely at Joan Miró´s 1921-22 painting "La Granja, Montroig" you will see a child squatting a la Caganer.

Over time, the theme has expanded to include sumo wrestlers, Santa, the Devil, the Pope, Dalí, and recently Barcelona football players such as Eto and Ronaldinho, just to name a few.

There's a good site describing them, and selling about 60 different varieties.

The second tradition unique to Catalonia is that of the Caga tio.

The Caga tio is a cross between a Christmas log and a Mexican Piñata and comes in many sizes painted with a smiley face and typically standing up on two or four little stick legs. Customs surrounding Caga tio differ, but all agree, Caga tio means "shit log." Here is more or less the Caga tio ritual.

Fifteen days before Christmas, Caga tio makes his appearance in the dining room, where he must be fed at least once every day. He likes oranges, crackers and sweet wine. In some families, Caga tio starts small, but grows as the days progress toward Christmas.

At some point, Caga tio is moved out of the dining room, into the living room, and covered with a blanket to keep him warm. On Christmas Eve, before the traditional Christmas dinner, the kids are sent to their rooms to say three Our Fathers, which gives the elders enough time to stash presents under Caga tio's blanket. After their prayers are done, the kids return to the living room and start beating the poor Caga tio with big sticks. And they sing a song. One version goes "Shit, log, shit! If you don't shit well, we will whack you !" Another goes "Log, log, shit candy! If you don't shit for Christmas, we will whack you once more!"

"Caga tió,
sinó et donaré un cop de bastó!

Tió de Nadal,
caga torrons
i pixa vi blanc!

Tió de Nadal
caga neules i torrons
i pixa xampany!"


"Caga tio
sino te daré un golpe de bastón!

Tío de navidad,
caga turrones,
y mea vino blanco!

Tío de navidad
caga nueces y turrones
y mea champagne!"

After the children have gotten their fill of flogging the log, the blanket is removed to determine Caga tio's state of digestion. Typically, a miracle has occurred, and the log has pooped wrapped gifts, which are called "the shits." Often one of the shits will be something weird, like an egg, to let everyone know that it was the last one deposited by Caga tio. . . .

Have fun!

(Name of sender omitted.)