The story behind the world’s most bizarre Christmas tradition

Last updated on: March 13, 2015 at 4:13 pm by Deacon Greg Kandra

The story behind the world’s most bizarre Christmas tradition 2015-03-13T16:13:37-04:00 Deacon Greg Kandra

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That would be this fellow, who is perched on my desk at work — a gift from a priest colleague with a wicked sense of humor. I won’t show you the backside, but he’s doing just what you might imagine.

The good people at TIME magazine wrote about this little Christmas treat a few years back:

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

Reasons for his existence vary. The BBC has done some serious digging with one local in Barcelona explaining that, “It’s typical of Catalonia. Each house buys one for Christmas, I don’t know why (we do it), it’s just a tradition.” More specific still is Joan Lliteras, who can certainly call himself a caganer connoisseur. “There 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,” he said, claiming that the figurine is a symbol of fertility and good fortune.

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. “The caganer is never in the front of the nativity scene. That would be a lack of respect. He’s always hidden in a corner, under a bridge or behind a tree and every morning the children play a game, hunting for the caganer.”

Wikipedia adds:

According to the society Amics del Caganer (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. An Iberian votive deposit was found near Tornabous in the Urgell depicting a holy Iberian warrior defecating on hisfalcata. This led to a brief altercation between the Institut d’Estudis Catalans and the Departament d’Arqueologia in the Conselleria de Cultura of the Generalitat de Catalunya as 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.

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. Eminent folklorist Joan Amades called it an essential piece and the most popular figure of the nativity scene. It can also be found in other parts of southwestern Europe, including Murcia, the region just south of the Valencia in Spain (where they are called cagones), Naples (cacone or pastore che caca) and Portugal (cagões). There is a sculpture of a person defecating hidden inside the cathedral of Ciudad Rodrigo, Province of Salamanca, though this is not part of a nativity scene. Accompanying Mary, Joseph, Jesus, the shepherds and company, the caganer is often tucked away in a corner of the model, typically nowhere near the manger scene. A tradition in the Catalan Countries is to have children find the hidden figure.

Where does the Church stand?

The practice is tolerated by the Catholic church 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.

People continue to debate whether or not the image is blasphemous, distasteful, comical, or — believe it or not—spiritually edifying:

“The caganer was the most mischievous and out-of-place character of the pessebre’s [otherwise] idyllic landscape; he was the “Other”, with everything that entails, and as the “Other”, 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’s 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,” wrote Agustí Pons.

Another writer adds: “The caganer seems to provide a counterpoint to so much ornamental hullabaloo, so much emotive treacle, so much contrived beauty.”

Meantime, if you want something that’s really mind-boggling, check out this image of the world’s largest caganer, 19-feet high, in Barcelona.

That’s a lot of, um, Christmas spirit, isn’t it?

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