Wacky 'toilet' Christmas traditions from Catalonia

Around the world, many are getting ready to celebrate Christmas, and most are preparing with the traditions everyone has heard of, such as a letter to Santa Claus or minding your Elf on the Shelf, for example. However, there is one country, a tiny little one called Catalonia (legally, it is part of Spain, but Catalans prefer their region be referred to as a country), that has some of the most hilarious and unique Christmas traditions.

While American kids are super excited for their Elf on the Shelf to arrive, Catalan kids are excited for the age-old tradition of the arrival of their Caga Tió, a.k.a the pooping log!

A few weeks before Christmas, the Caga Tió will appear! The Caga Tió is a log dressed up in a traditional Catalan hat with a face painted on it. Often he will appear at the children's door one morning, or sometimes, the children must go on a nature walk to find where their Tió is hiding.

Once the Caga Tió arrives, Catalan children wrap him up in a blanket in their home and take very good care of him. They feed him and give him water (Caga Tió is particularly fond of old mandarin peels) to fatten him up and keep him warm until Christmas.

Then either on Christmas eve or at midday on Christmas day, it is time to make the Caga Tió go number 2!

In this amusing tradition, the children ensure he is well wrapped up, and then they pick out a nice stick to beat their Caga Tió with. At the same time, while the kids are picking out their sticks, a sneaky adult will slip some sweets (turrón a nougat is traditional) and small toys under the Caga Tió blanket.

Then the children gather around their beloved pooping log and sing a traditional song, asking the Caga Tió to defecate while beating him with their sticks.

Photo: Slastic – Vlastní dílo, Volné dílo / Wikimedia

When the song is over, they remove the blanket and see what the Caga Tió pooped for them! Who needs an Elf on the Shelf when you've got a log that poops your presents?!

You might think this is just some tiny, old-fashioned tradition, but it is not! Most primary schools have a few Caga Tiós for the children to care for and then beat close to the holidays, and everyone learns the Caga Tió song at school.

Photo: By univgirona - 1a Festa de Nadal de la UdG, CC BY-SA 2.0,

In addition, most towns and cities hold public Caga Tió events, usually with an extra-large Tió, big enough for many children to beat simultaneously and excrete lots of sweets! Caga Tió is a huge part of Christmas culture in Catalonia.

Now, if one excrement-related Christmas tradition wasn't enough for you, fear not! Catalans also have another beloved Christmas tradition related to going to the toilet! Meet the Caganer!

The Caganer, the pooping man or the pooper in English, is a traditional little clay figure of a farmer wearing a red Catalan hat called a "barretina" squatting down doing his business.

This figure is placed in the nativity in the homes of Catalans as well as in public nativities, even those set up by churches!

Photo: By Slastic - Own work, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=12597241

The exact origin of the Caganer tradition is not clear. However, the Caganer has been bringing us giggles to many for hundreds of years.

The "Amics del Caganer" society (Friends of the Caganer) says that the Caganer first appeared in the late 17th or early 18th century.

Catalan nativity scenes are much larger than in other countries and often depict the surrounding town and countryside. These elaborate scenes are the pride of many families, communities, and churches.

Some say that the Caganer was introduced into the nativity scene as a reminder that Christ was born, but life still went on.

According to information from ethnographer Joan Amades on the 'Amics del Caganer' website, the Caganer, by creating feces, is nourishing the Earth.

Amades writes, "...in the 19th century because people believed that this deposit [symbolically] fertilized the ground of the nativity scenes, which became fertile and ensured the nativity scene for the following year...Placing this figurine in the nativity scene brought good luck and joy, and not doing so brought adversity."

Children and adults alike delight in Caganers, and it is a tradition to search for the Caganer every time you see a nativity scene, as they are always a little bit hidden.

In recent years, selling Caganer figurines of well-known politicians, movie stars, and even football players has become increasingly popular!

In the Catalan capital of Barcelona you can buy just about any public figure as a Caganer, from Shakira to Queen Elizabeth II....

....to Putin and Zelensky! Even children's television show characters exist as Caganer, you can buy a Peppa Pig Caganer for example.

People will buy Caganers of famous people they both love and despise, and many see the depiction of famous people going number 2 as a way of levelling them down.