The Catalans are very proud of their scatalogical Christmas culture and our Catalan friends have spent quite a bit of time talking to us about it.
Catholics like their nativity scenes, but if you look carefully at a Catalan version (pessebre) you might well spot the figure of a little man squatting in the corner with his trousers down. He is a caganer. Often it's a peasant-like figure, but sometimes it's a famous person such as a politician. There's one in the window of one of the butchers in our village.
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| The village butcher's caganer making his deposit, left |
There are lots of theories about why the caganer has appeared (just Google it), but most people just seem to think it's quite funny.
This evening Catalan children will be singing to the caga tió (shit log) which - after it's been hit with a stick a few times - will then poo out some presents for them.
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| Caga tió: might not be so cheerful after being hit with sticks by small children all evening |
You can watch Stephen Fry chuckling about Catalan Christmas on QI...
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