Cultural differences around the world produce the most interesting and enticing variations, but every now and then you have to wonder if there’s something in the water over there, or something.
In particular, what is it about Christmas and Pooping in Catalonia?
I’ve just learned about the Catalonian Christmas tradition of the Pooping Log, the Tio de Nadal
This might be one of the most bizarre holiday traditions out there: The “Tió de Nadal” or pooping log. This beloved Catalan custom involves a wooden log decorated with a face that is fed treats throughout December and kept warm under a blanket. On Christmas Eve, children beat the log with sticks and sing traditional songs to coax it into pooping candy and gifts.
You’re not alone if you’re thinking, “What the heck?” But for Catalan families, the Tió de Nadal is a cherished part of the holiday season, blending humor, joy and a unique sense of festive creativity.
It sounds like a Catalan spin on the piñata gone horribly wrong.
This is in addition to another Catalan tradition I learned about in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, of all places. Every year they set out an 18th century Neapolitan creche under a huge tree, with incredibly well-decorated and realistic figures. But one card told about the caganer
It’s not just an 18th century tradition – it continues to this day. In fact, there’s a company that will sell you caganers depicting not just Biblical shepherdds, but also political figures, cartoon characters, Marvel superheroes, and more, captured in the act of taking a dump. Robots like R2D2c and C3PO leave behind a pile of nuts and bolts. Yes, you can get a genuine Donald Trump caganer, if you want.:
https://caganer.com/en/
I am utterly, utterly amazed and bewildered. Can you get a Tio de Nadal stuffed with Caganers?
A Caganer (.mw-parser-output .IPA-label-small{font-size:85%}.mw-parser-output .references .IPA-label-small,.mw-parser-output .infobox .IPA-label-small,.mw-parser-output .navbox .IPA-label-small{font-size:100%}Catalan pronunciation: [kəɣəˈne]) is a figurine depicted in the act of defecation appearing in nativity scenes in Catalonia and neighbouring areas such as Andorra, Valencia, Balearic Islands, and Northern Catalonia (in southern France). It is most popular and widespread in these areas, but c...
But wait! There’s more!
The Caganer is not the only defecating character in the Catalan Christmas tradition—another is the Tió de Nadal menja bé, caga fort i no tinguis por a la mort! (“Eat well, shit heartily, and don’t be afraid of death!”). In his book Barcelona , architecture critic and locale historian Robert Hughes gives a good introduction to this earthy tradition.[11]
(from the above Wikipedia page on Caganers )
CalMeacham:
It’s not just an 18th century tradition – it continues to this day. In fact, there’s a company that will sell you caganers depicting not just Biblical shepherdds, but also political figures, cartoon characters, Marvel superheroes, and more, captured in the act of taking a dump.
If I haven’t been in their shop, it was certainly one that fits this description. Just off Las Ramblas in Barcelona. I was going to buy a couple of caganers as a joke, but jeez are they expensive for what they are.
j
ETA I was going to post their website, but discourse tells me that you already have, @CalMeacham . (So I was correct about going there, I guess).
I’ll post the address instead. Carrer de la Portaferrissa, 2, Ciutat Vella, 08002 Barcelona, Spain.
There’s a song to encourage the Log to Poop!!
Caga tió songA song is sung during this celebration. After hitting the tió softly with a stick during the song, it is hit harder on the words Caga tió! Then somebody puts their hand under the blanket and takes a gift. The gift is opened and then the song begins again. There are many Caga tió songs connected to the holiday and the log. The following variant[8] is one of the more popular versions of this song:
Catalan
Caga tió,
avellanes i torró,
no caguis arengades
que són massa salades,
caga torrons
que són més bons.
Caga tió,
ametlles i torró,
i, si no vols cagar,
et donaré un cop de bastó!
Caga tió!
English
Shit, tió,
hazelnuts and nougats,
do not shit herrings,
for they are too salty,
shit nougats
for they taste better.
Shit, tió,
almonds and nougats,
and if you don’t want to shit
I will hit you with a stick!
Shit, tió!
The Tió de Nadal (.mw-parser-output .IPA-label-small{font-size:85%}.mw-parser-output .references .IPA-label-small,.mw-parser-output .infobox .IPA-label-small,.mw-parser-output .navbox .IPA-label-small{font-size:100%}Catalan pronunciation: [tiˈo ðə nəˈðal]; 'Christmas Log'), also known simply as tió ('log'), soca or tronc(a) ('trunk'), is a character in Catalan mythology relating to a Christmas tradition widespread in Catalonia, Majorca (known as Nadaler), Occitania (Southern France) and Andorr Th...
solost
December 18, 2024, 8:30pm
5
CalMeacham:
a popular Catalan saying for use before a meal is menja bé, caga fort i no tinguis por a la mort! (“Eat well, shit heartily, and don’t be afraid of death!”).
I mean, as ‘words to live by’ go, you could do worse than that saying. I’m sure it works even better in its native Catalan, since it rhymes!
Someone should make a rhyming English version. Hmm, let’s see…
Eat well, shit wide and deeper, And don’t be afraid of the grim reaper!
Eh, pretty crappy. That rhyming idea was only half digested, you might say.
This “Log” you speak of-
Does it roll down stairs?
Is it great for a snack?
Yes, it is all true, and I can only wonder why you find our escatological traditions so bewildering. Didn’t you know that life’s a piece of shit when you look at it ? Just remember that the last laugh is on you and you’ll be fine.
Too late to ETA: Why tag this thread with Trump, btw? Just because everything he touches turns to shit is no reason to soil our ancestral traditions!
Don’t blame me – I’m not the one who constructed and sold an entire line of Trump Carganers.
I recall reading this in an Uncle Johns Bathroom Reader!
I must say I am bitterly disappointed in the definition of a pooping log. I though the log was going to be the recipient…
Chronos
December 20, 2024, 7:51pm
13
Whereas I would have thought that it was paperwork recording how often one moves one’s bowels.
Oh, and I removed the Trump tag.
markn_1
December 20, 2024, 11:03pm
14
No relation to Mr. Hankey, The Christmas Poo?
There is a Christmas Poop Log Activity kit.
Oddly, no.
I’d heard that Mr. Hankey was inspired by sentient poo characters in Japanese cartoons, but according to the Wikipedia page, it has nothing to do with that:
The Mr. Hankey character was based on an idea Trey Parker ’s father created when he was toilet-training Trey as a child.[1] Parker said he refused to flush the toilet as a child, so his father told him if he did not flush down his stool, which he called “Mr. Hankey”, it would come to life and kill him.[2] The concept stayed with Parker throughout his childhood; starting in elementary school and throughout his entire education, he would often draw the character in class, wearing a sailor’s hat instead of the Santa Claus hat he would later wear in South Park .[3] Parker shared the concept with future South Park co-creator Matt Stone when the two met at the University of Colorado at Boulder , and the duo immediately knew they wanted to create a film or production involving Mr. Hankey.[4] The two discussed filming a three-minute short film involving a boy who befriended the talking stool, but Mr. Hankey would not come alive for anybody else, prompting others to believe the boy was crazy. They planned for the boy’s parents to find him holding a stool in the bathroom and blame the child for smearing feces along the walls when it was actually Mr. Hankey’s fault; they also planned to have him visit a school counselor, where Mr. Hankey would leap into the counselor’s coffee mug and the boy would be blamed. At the end, it would turn out that the boy was indeed crazy and Mr. Hankey was not real at all, but a figment of the boy’s imagination. Parker and Stone never made the short film, but practically all of its elements were included in the future South Park episode “Mr. Hankey, the Christmas Poo”, with the notable exception of the ending.[3] Although the Mr. Hankey short film was never made, Parker and Stone made two Christmas-related animated short films called The Spirit of Christmas South Park series.
"Mr. Hankey, the Christmas Poo" is the ninth episode of the first season of the American animated television series South Park. It originally aired on Comedy Central in the United States on December 17, 1997. The episode follows Kyle as he feels excluded from the town's Christmas celebrations due to being Jewish, finding solace in Mr. Hankey, a sentient piece of feces. Mr. Hankey does not come alive in the presence of other characters, who consequently think that Kyle is delusional. Meanwhile, ...
Of course, there’s an entire TV Tropes page devoted to sentient poo characters:
... But what if they could? Sentient feces. Living dung. Intelligent droppings. Basically, poo that's alive. Doesn't necessarily have to speak, as long as it's sentient. Anthropomorphised doodoo is generally for comedic purposes, but there are …
kferr
December 21, 2024, 11:07am
19
solost:
CalMeacham:
a popular Catalan saying for use before a meal is menja bé, caga fort i no tinguis por a la mort! (“Eat well, shit heartily, and don’t be afraid of death!”).
I mean, as ‘words to live by’ go, you could do worse than that saying. I’m sure it works even better in its native Catalan, since it rhymes!
Beats the shit out of “Live, Laugh, Love”.
