Barcelona nativity scenes feature an unusual visitor

c. 2007 Religion News Service BARCELONA, Spain _ The Virgin Mary. The three kings. A few wayward sheep. These are the figures one expects to find in a traditional Christmas nativity scene. But a smartly dressed peasant squatting behind a rock with his rear-end exposed? Not so much. And yet statuettes of “El Caganer,” or […]

c. 2007 Religion News Service

BARCELONA, Spain _ The Virgin Mary. The three kings. A few wayward sheep. These are the figures one expects to find in a traditional Christmas nativity scene.

But a smartly dressed peasant squatting behind a rock with his rear-end exposed? Not so much.


And yet statuettes of “El Caganer,” or “The Great Defecator” in the Catalan language, can be found in nativity scenes throughout Spain’s northeastern Catalonia region, where for centuries symbols of defecation have played an important role in Christmas festivities.

During the holiday season, pastry shops around Catalonia sell sweets shaped like feces; on Christmas Eve, Catalan children beat the “tio,” a hollow log packed with holiday gifts, singing a song that urges it to defecate presents out the other end.

The caganer dates as far back as the 17th century, from an agricultural society where defecation was associated with fertility and health, said Josep Maria Joan, director of the Toy Museum of Catalonia, which boasts a collection of more than 250 caganers.

“The caganer was placed in the Christmas crib to bring luck,” Joan said. “By depositing his feces, the caganer fertilized the earth and ensured the coming year would be full of riches.”

He noted that the scatological tradition added a fun and earthly element to an otherwise serious religious holiday.

As a young boy in the 1940s, Joan and his family went from home to home viewing the neighbors’ nativity scenes and searching for the caganer, who was normally hidden behind a tree or a rock _ far enough from the cave where Jesus was born so as not to offend.

“Looking for the caganer was a game because his position in the nativity scene changed from year to year, or sometimes he even moved around within the same year,” Joan said.


Equally important was the beating of the tio, which usually took place after a midnight Mass on Christmas Eve, Joan said.

To this day, Catalan children leave food near the tio, which sports a painted face and a jolly red cap _ and the log grows fat with presents and sweets in the days leading up to Christmas.

“The tio is a magic trunk,” said Gerard Alvarez, a 7-year-old in Barcelona. “You feed him, and he poops out presents.”

“But he only eats when you’re not watching,” said Sergio Paretas, also 7. “If you film him with a security camera, he won’t eat.”

On Christmas Eve, children gather around the tio, who is covered with a blanket, and beat him with a stick until presents and sweets come out his back side.

The tio and the caganer are traditions peculiar to Catalonia, said Antoni Comalat, vice president of Barcelona’s Association of Nativity Scene Makers, which designed the city’s municipal Christmas crib in 2006. The ritual is as alien to the rest of Spain as it would be elsewhere in the world.


While the traditional caganer is a red-capped peasant, more modern renditions have gained popularity in recent years. Statuettes of famous people _ President Bush, Pope Benedict XVI and Spanish King Juan Carlos _ squatting to do their business are now available at Barcelona’s Santa Llucia fair.

After the traditional caganer, Bush is the No. 1 seller, said Marc Alos, a caganer craftsman. Alos and his family run a Web site _ http://www.caganer.com _ where Americans snap up more caganers than anyone else.

“Our American customers like to buy caganers of Bush and of religious figures like nuns,” Alos said.

But not everyone approves of the modern renditions.

“Collectors and artisans who make caganers of soccer players and politicians are degrading a little bit this lovely tradition,” said Joan, who prefers people stick to the traditional peasant figure.

In Barcelona, pranksters have been known to sneak into the Plaza de Sant Jaume at night to change the caganer’s position in the municipal nativity scene _ although authorities have yet to nab anyone, Comalat said.

“One day he is facing one way, the next another,” Comalat said. “The guard doesn’t know who is doing it.”


There was uproar in 2005 when then-mayor Joan Clos was quoted as saying the city had not included the caganer in its nativity scene because it could inspire “uncivic” acts, such as public defecation.

Comalat said the city had decided to bring the squatting figure back for Christmas 2006, but partially obscure him in the manger scene.

“We included him even though we’re not crazy about him,” Comalat said. “There are people who display him shamelessly with his rear-end in the air, but we have done it discreetly.”

Eds: This is a re-send for your convenience of a story that moved Nov. 29

Photos of caganers are available via https://religionnews.com.

Eds: Llucia in 16th graf is CQ

KRE DS END BERNSTEIN

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