An early Christmas special
I think I promised in one of my last posts that I wouldn’t talk about Christmas until December. But with one thing and another I ended up discussing my Christmas plans for when I return to the UK, as well as spending the weekend talking about Christmas traditions in Argentina, Belgium, England and the US, it seems like a good topic for this latest post. Also, and perhaps most importantly, the trousers I’m wearing are a festive dark green.
So to summarise briefly:
I’m guessing you’re already familiar with Anglo-Saxon Christmas traditions. It’s more or less the same in Argentina, but with the heat turned up to 35 degrees outside and all the windows wide open while people sweat through the Christmas meal. Strange to imagine Christmas in the summertime, but nothing too surreal.
OK, so in the UK and US children believe in elves and flying reindeer, but I’ve normalised this from a childhood believing in the same. For me, it seems that Belgium take things to another level of crazy, with Sinterklaas arriving from Spain on a steam boat, ready to leave presents in shoes.
This is nothing compared to Catalan Christmas.
On the 8 December, a log is brought into the house, normally wearing a traditional catalan hat and cheerful smile.
The log is then fed every day. He is of course wrapped up in a blanket, lest he get cold in the night. Then on Christmas Eve, after the log has spent all December eating, he is beaten with sticks and encouraged to defecate, while children sing around him.
The song they sing is the following:
| Shit log,shit turrón, hazelnuts and cottage cheese, if you don’t shit well, I’ll hit you with a stick, shit log! |
Caga tió,caga torró, avellanes i mató, si no cagues bé et daré un cop de bastó. caga tió |
To the more delicate among you, I apologise for the graphic nature of the translation. It can only be blamed on the graphic nature of the original. Equally, I apologise for the images of violence against logs.
So there you have it, perhaps the strangest tradition I’ve heard of, and one that I fully plan to get behind this year, when the Caga Tió (as the log is known) arrives in my flat in a few weeks time. I can’t wait!
[Just in case you don’t believe me, check out this video of real life Catalan children abusing a harmless log for material gain]
Brings a new meaning to ‘crap presents’. Eh? Eh?
Barcelona Ramblings 