Christmas Around the World, Part 1 – Spain!

During this Advent season, we are continuing our tradition of taking a trip around the world, exploring Christmas traditions from different countries. Last year, we visited Scandinavia, Colombia & Venezuela, Nigeria, and the Philippines. This year, we’ll begin our journey in Spain, specifically the region of Cataluña, where Barcelona is located.

Cataluña is the home of the fascinating tradition called Caga Tió (CA-gah tee-YOH), which translates as “poop log.” Yes, you read that correctly: Caga Tió is a log that poops candy on Christmas.

The origins of Caga Tió are a bit murky, though it seems to descend from a pagan tradition honoring the gifts of warmth and light which the earth provides. Today, the tradition involves a log with a smiling face painted on one of its ends, sticks for legs, and a red hat on its “head.” You can make your own Caga Tió if you’d like – though the tradition is complicated, the log itself is pretty simple, and you can find some great reference pictures here.

From December 8th until Christmas Eve, the kids of the house are responsible for taking care of him. They feed him things like bread, orange peel, and dried beans, and if they do a good job caring for him (in some homes he might even grow bigger as the month progresses!), they are rewarded with gifts like candy or dried fruits.

Here’s where it gets even more interesting: on Christmas Eve, Caga Tió is covered with a red blanket. While the kids find and wet a stick, the adults hide gifts under the blanket. When the kids return, they hit Caga Tió with the wet stick and sing to him, literally asking him to poop out candy. You can listen to the song and watch this part of the tradition in action here.

Then the gifts are revealed! A common gift for Caga Tió to “produce” is turrón, an almond nougat candy. If you’d like to make your own, there’s a great recipe on the food blog Spain on a Fork. Of course, if you’ve exhausted your DIY abilities with the log painting, you can also buy some from Latin foods distributor Amigofoods.

When Caga Tió runs out of gifts, he often produces an onion or a herring to signal that the well has run dry, as it were. The inclusion of both the sweet and the...not so sweet seems appropriate for a holiday tradition that features a pooping log. If your family chooses to undertake the care and feeding of your own Caga Tió this year, we hope you’ll find it more sweet than anything else. And please, share pictures with us on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram!