Uncle Jazzbeau’s Gallimaufrey

els pessebres de catalunya

Thanks go out to Mr Bali Hai of the Eye of the Goof blog for a comment he left on my xiuxiueig entry below. He brought up two of Catalunya’s scatological Xmas customs: el caganer (best translation I’ve found, ‘the pooping shepherd’), a traditional Nativity figurine, and caga tió (the shitting log). A quick trip to Google revealed a wealth of information online, but my favorite has to be the joco-serious Amics del Caganer (in Catalan, English, and Castillian). A caganer is most commonly a man in a red cap, smoking a cigarette or a pipe, who is squatting, pantsed, and relieving himself. A coiled turd finishes off the scene. Because the figurine must be placed out of direct line of sight of the Infant, there’s a “Where’s Waldo?” quality to the positioning of the caganer in the manger. Children often ask their parents: On és el caganer? (Where’s the shitter?). Well, Bruxelles has its manneken-pis and my adopted city of Bonn has its Bröckemännche. The caga tió, on the other hand, involves a log filled with gifts, covered with a blanket, and the children of the house whacking it with sticks until it relieves itself of its contents. Singing accompanies this activity. Finally, there’re the tifas special Xmas cakes in the shape of a little pile complete with sugar flies. Tifa is derived from pastifa which is glossed: “persona que no fa polidament la seva feina.” I have always wanted to visit Catalunya, and this just cinches it that it must be during December.

[Addendum 01/21/04: Trevor, over at Follow the Baldie dot com, has an over the top entry in response to this one, complete with vomiting eagle monographs and defecating devils woodcuts. And thanks to Margaret at Transblawg for pointing us at one another.]