{"id":36807,"date":"2014-12-19T14:52:18","date_gmt":"2014-12-19T19:52:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/?p=36807"},"modified":"2015-03-13T16:13:37","modified_gmt":"2015-03-13T20:13:37","slug":"the-story-behind-the-worlds-most-bizarre-christmas-tradition","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/2014\/12\/the-story-behind-the-worlds-most-bizarre-christmas-tradition\/","title":{"rendered":"The story behind the world’s most bizarre Christmas tradition"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

That would be this fellow, who is perched on my desk at work \u2014 a gift from a priest colleague with a wicked sense of humor. I won\u2019t show you the backside, but he\u2019s doing just what you might imagine.<\/p>\n

\"caganer\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The good people at TIME magazine<\/a><\/strong> wrote about this little Christmas treat a few years back:<\/p>\n

For at least the past two centuries, the traditional nativity scene in Catalonia \u2014 you know, the usual suspects of Mary, Joseph and the shepherds gathered around the baby Jesus in his manger \u2014 has been enhanced by a character called a caganer. There\u2019s no delicate way of putting this so the most polite translation is \u201cthe defecator\u201d as, despite an innocuous-looking appearance from the front, its buttocks are bare with each one containing a small, brown deposit beneath. Charmed, we\u2019re sure.<\/p>\n

Reasons for his existence vary. The BBC has done some serious digging with one local in Barcelona explaining that, \u201cIt\u2019s typical of Catalonia. Each house buys one for Christmas, I don\u2019t know why (we do it), it\u2019s just a tradition.\u201d More specific still is Joan Lliteras, who can certainly call himself a caganer connoisseur. \u201cThere was the legend that if a countryside man did not put a caganer in the nativity scene, he would have a very bad year collecting vegetables,\u201d he said, claiming that the figurine is a symbol of fertility and good fortune.<\/p>\n

Lliteras has a not inconsiderable collection of some 600 caganers as well as being the founder of an association so he knows of what he speaks. \u201cThe caganer is never in the front of the nativity scene. That would be a lack of respect. He\u2019s always hidden in a corner, under a bridge or behind a tree and every morning the children play a game, hunting for the caganer.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Wikipedia<\/a><\/strong> adds:<\/p>\n

According to the society\u00a0<\/span>Amics del Caganer<\/a>\u00a0(Friends of the Caganer), it is believed to have entered the nativity scene by the late 17th or early 18th century, during the Baroque period.<\/span>\u00a0An\u00a0<\/span>Iberian<\/a>\u00a0<\/span>votive deposit<\/a>\u00a0was found near Tornabous in the\u00a0<\/span>Urgell<\/a>\u00a0depicting a holy Iberian warrior defecating on his<\/span>falcata<\/a>. This led to a brief altercation between the\u00a0<\/span>Institut d\u2019Estudis Catalans<\/a>\u00a0and the Departament d\u2019Arqueologia in the Conselleria de Cultura of the\u00a0<\/span>Generalitat de Catalunya<\/a>\u00a0as to whether the find can be regarded as a proto-caganer (which would place the origin of this tradition far earlier than previously thought) or just a representation of a pre-combat ritual.<\/span><\/p>\n

The caganer is a particular and highly popular feature of modern Catalan nativity scenes. It is believed to have entered the nativity scene by the late 17th or early 18th century, during the Baroque period.<\/span>\u00a0Eminent folklorist\u00a0<\/span>Joan Amades<\/a>\u00a0called it an essential piece and the most popular figure of the nativity scene. It can also be found in other parts of southwestern\u00a0<\/span>Europe<\/a>, including\u00a0<\/span>Murcia<\/a>, the region just south of the\u00a0<\/span>Valencia<\/a>\u00a0in\u00a0<\/span>Spain<\/a>\u00a0(where they are called\u00a0<\/span>cagones<\/i>),\u00a0<\/span>Naples<\/a>\u00a0(<\/span>cacone<\/i>\u00a0or\u00a0<\/span>pastore che caca<\/i>) and\u00a0<\/span>Portugal<\/a>\u00a0(<\/span>cag\u00f5es<\/i>).<\/span>\u00a0There is a sculpture of a person defecating hidden inside the cathedral of\u00a0<\/span>Ciudad Rodrigo<\/a>,\u00a0<\/span>Province of Salamanca<\/a>, though this is not part of a nativity scene.<\/span>\u00a0Accompanying\u00a0<\/span>Mary<\/a>,\u00a0<\/span>Joseph<\/a>,\u00a0<\/span>Jesus<\/a>, the\u00a0<\/span>shepherds<\/a>\u00a0and company, the caganer is often tucked away in a corner of the model, typically nowhere near the manger scene. A tradition in the\u00a0<\/span>Catalan Countries<\/a>\u00a0is to have children find the hidden figure.<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Where does the Church stand?<\/p>\n

The practice is tolerated by the\u00a0<\/span>Catholic<\/a>\u00a0church within the areas where the Caganer is popular. Although the tradition generally has popular support, opinion is divided as to whether it is wholly appropriate and not all nativity scenes in Catalonia include caganers.\u00a0<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

People continue to debate whether or not the image is blasphemous, distasteful, comical, or \u2014 believe it or not\u2014spiritually edifying:<\/p>\n

\u201cThe caganer was the most mischievous and out-of-place character of the pessebre\u2019s [otherwise] idyllic landscape; he was the \u201cOther\u201d, with everything that entails, and as the \u201cOther\u201d, was accepted, in a liberal vein, as long as he did not aim to occupy the foreground. The caganer represented the spoilsport that we all have inside of us, and that\u2019s why it is not surprising that it was the most beloved figure among the children and, above all, the adolescents, who were already beginning to feel rather like outsiders at the family celebration,\u201d wrote Agust\u00ed Pons.<\/p>\n

Another writer adds: \u201cThe caganer seems to provide a counterpoint to so much ornamental hullabaloo, so much emotive treacle, so much contrived beauty.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Meantime, if you want something that\u2019s really mind-boggling, check out\u00a0this image of the world\u2019s largest caganer<\/a><\/strong>, 19-feet high, in Barcelona.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s a lot of, um, Christmas spirit, isn\u2019t it?<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

That would be this fellow, who is perched on my desk at work \u2014 a gift from a priest colleague with a wicked sense of humor. I won\u2019t show you the backside, but he\u2019s doing just what you might imagine. The good people at TIME magazine wrote about this little Christmas treat a few years […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":132,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[49],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-36807","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-this-that"],"yoast_head":"\nThe story behind the world's most bizarre Christmas tradition<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"That would be this fellow, who is perched on my desk at work \u2014 a gift from a priest colleague with a wicked sense of humor. 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