One of this year's most popular Christmas Nativity addition, Barack Obama is seen here taking a crap in Alex's hand. The caganer (the "r" is silent) is a old figure in the Catalán Christmas tradition, and for you faithful, has been (grudgingly) approved by the Catholic Church. The original caganer is dressed like a Catalán farmer, with a typical red barretina, or beret. If you look closely at the pic, you can see that Obama is pooping: the defecating caganer is seen as a symbol of fertility and luck, and is usually placed somewhere outside Jesus's barn in the Nativity scene. I don't like to advertise for big companies, but for those of you who want your very own caganer, check this out.
Click on the picture to go to my Flickr page. (That's enough I-thought-anarchist-don't-believe-in-technology jabs.)
The caganer is also closely related to the cagatío, which is a log with a painted face, a barretina, and a blanket, which is something of a Catalán Santa Claus. Last night, at Alex's parents' house, we all gathered around the cagatío and in keeping with tradition, beat it with a stick until it pooped us out a gift. I'll put pics up later. The song you sing as you beat the cagatío varies by family and region, while the one we sang went like this:
"Caga Tío, d'avellanes i turrons; tu que ets el meu padrí, caga turrons per a mi!"
Which translates roughly into: "Poop out some almonds and chocolate, Uncle; as you are my godfather, poop some chocolate for me!"
If you didn't think that Catalán society was already scatalogical enough, get this: when Alex's baby nephew, Pau, happily crapped his pants, everyone rushed into the bedroom to watch him being changed, while I sipped a nice Rioja wine at the table with Alex's French-Algerian aunt, Marcelle. We laughed our asses off (no poop-related pun intended).
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