El Nadal - segon parte

Ok, the second of my Christmassy posts is about another Catalan Christmas tradition which is a little less potentially profane yet still related to poo. I spent a good portion of my time in Barcelona desperately asking people 'why the obsession with it?!', and I never really got an answer but I think it's interesting nonetheless.

As well as a 'caganer' for the crib, Catalans also have a 'cagatió' in their home at Christmas. They come in varying sizes and are made from a log or stick with legs, a very happy face and a traditional Catalan hat. This bit isn't so odd. Until you find out that 'cagatió' means 'pooing log'. The log is hollowed out and over advent the log is fed various treats/small gifts (nuts, fruits, sweets, turrón etc.) and on Christmas Eve or Day the log is hit so that he poops out the treats whilst shouting 'cagatió!' (a command to 'poo log!') and songs are sung. The Catalan word 'tió' (log) is not related to the Castilian for uncle (though hitting a log and shouting 'poo uncle, poo uncle!' would be equally amusing I think.) I saw a massive version of the cagatió with chidren queuing up to hit him in the same way we would go to a Santa's grotto and it really was quite bizarre!




I also brought some mini ones back for friends and they were just totally baffled as to why I had brought them a little log that traditionally poos things, and also as to why this had anything to do with Christmas. Here is an example of a cagatio song,

Caga tió,
caga torró,
avellanes i mató,
si no cagues bé
et daré un cop de bastó.
caga tió!

Which translates as,

Poop log,
poop turrón,
hazelnuts and cottage cheese,
If you don't poop well,
I'll hit you with a stick.
Poo log!



The tradition also extends to Aragon where it is called 'tizón de Nadal' and Occitania where it is called 'cachafuòc', although it is less faeces orientated here! A log comes in and distributes presents to people and the oldest and youngest people in the room say the following rhyme:

Bota fuòc, cachafuòc - Light Up, Yule Log

(Occitan)
Bota fuòc, cachafuòc,
que nos alegre,
que nos fague la jòia d'èstre aquí l'an que ven,
e se sèm pas mai,
que siaguem pas mens!

(English)
Light up, Yule log,
Delight us,
Give us the joy to be here next year,
And if we aren't more numerous,
Let us not be less!

I think it's interesting how logs have become a part of Christmas traditions the world over, even if not in this context: we have a yule log cake, as does France and Spain. I imagine its origins are something to do with a log traditionally being a good thing to be given as a gift because of it's use as a heat source, but I love how nobody else has used their logs like the Catalans!