Catalan Christmas Tradition

Christmas in Barcelona is really something quite magical. On December 8th streets and buildings everywhere go through a transformation. Christmas lights are everywhere and very large Christmas trees are placed inside the malls, airports, and etc. Truly, I have never seen so many lights - and they all come to life on the 8th, not a day before or after. Most importantly, the elaborate nativity scenes, which take several days to construct, are unveiled on this day. The intricate Nativity scenes displayed around the city are not to be missed!

The Nativity is one of the most important features of the Christmas traditions. The nativity not only includes the manger scene, but the entire village of Bethlehem. Great pains have been taken to make the display as authentic as possible. The nativities are truly works of art. It is obvious the care and love that has been poured into every minute detail. Villagers of Bethlehem are all in various stages of travel, on their way to see the baby Jesus. The three wise men (known here as Los Tres Reyes - "The Three Kings") are carefully placed and moved each day as a kind of Advent calendar. As each day passes, the kings are moved closer to the manager and finally arrive on January 5. I absolutely love this tradition. I have decided to adopt this as one as my own. What a great way to remind us of the reason for the season!

Outside Barcelona Town Hall, the Nativity takes center stage on the cobblestones. Mary, Joseph and the shepherds are all gathered around the baby Jesus in his manger, as speakers send out the occasional moo or baah. But this is Catalonia, and no nativity is complete without one additional figure. He is known in Catalan as the caganer. This translates most politely as 'little pooper.'

A caganer  is a small figurine (well except in the case of the one below) of a person squatting down with his pants around his knees to answer nature's call. They have been around since the 17th century. The original caganer is a wooden or clay figure of a peasant wearing the traditional floppy red Catalan cap with a black band (barretina). The following pictures are thanks to Kat Morrell for the inspiration tip!

The caganer is a symbol of fertility and good fortune. There is this legend that if you did not put a caganer in the nativity, you will have a bad harvest the following year. There is etiquette when placing the caganer into the nativity. 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 the children have fun trying to find where the caganer has chosen to do his business.

But the caganer is not the only poo-related tradition here. The markets are piled high with Caga Tiós - the original yule log. Caga Tió translates to 'poop log'. Tió is Catalan for log and not to be mistaken for uncle in Spanish. The caga tió is literally a log with a face painted on it and a 3D nose. He is wearing the traditional barretina. Caga Tió appears on December 8th (Feast of The Immaculate Conception). Children then care for the caga tió as if he were a pet. He is covered with a banket to keep him warm and every night fed turron (nougat like candy). This is to ensure that he is nice and full so that he will poo out lots of treats on Christmas Eve! On Christmas Eve children get a stick and beat the caga tió and sing the following song until he "poops" out candy.


Caga tió, caga torró, avellanes i mató, si no cagues bé et daré un cop de bastó. caga tió!
(poop log, poop torrons, hazelnuts and cottage cheese, if you don't poop well, I'll hit you with a stick, poop log!)

The gifts pooped from the caga tió are communal and to be shared by all. Once caga tió has sufficiently supplied all with candy, he is ceremoniously tossed into the fire and burned like any good piece of fire wood should be.

Those of you whom are South Park fans, will recognize Caga Tió as the lovable Mr. Hankey the Christmas Poo. For those of you not familiar with Mr. Hankey, I guess you will just have to take my word for it.

Lots of small markets can be found throughout Barcelona at Christmas time. However, by far the largest and most popular is the Fira de Santa Llúcia, located outside Barcelona Cathedral in Plaza de la Seu. With lots of gift ideas in a stunning setting, it is the perfect place to make you feel thoroughly festive.The Fira de Santa Llúcia runs from December 8 until Christmas Eve.  Here you will find all sorts of hand made gifts, intricate nativity scene figurines and the Caga Tió log (something you'll struggle to find anywhere else!).

December 8th - This is the holiday of Immaculada (Feast of the Immaculate Conception) which marks the beginning of the Christmas celebrations.

24th December - Christmas Eve is called Nochebuena in Spanish (Goodnight). Christmas Eve is a very important day for Spanish people. This is when they enjoy one of the most lavish meals of the Christmas period. In general the dinner begins with a soup, known as the Carn d’Olla. This is made with a large piece of meat that is cooked in stock for hours to ensure that it is thick and rich for a soup. The meat is then removed from the soup and Galets are added. These are large pieces of pasta that look like snail shells.
The meat that the soup was cooked with is then eaten as part of the main course. Most Spanish households eat this alongside various tapas dishes. These often include langoustines, jamón and eels- some of the most expensive foods. Since I am uneducated in the making of this soup, we had beef stew with the galets added. It was a huge hit with the kids and they would like to have it every day. After dinner they go out and meet their friends. They visit other families to wish them a Merry Christmas, often bringing gifts such as legs of jamón (Cured Ham). These things are outrageously expensive! During this period everybody drinks lots of Cava (Spanish equivalent of Champagne). We have no friends or family here in Barcelona so we decided to forgo the going out part. Lots of families make special instruments- the Zambomba (like a drum), Pandereta (tambourine) and Botella de Anis (a specific cut glass bottle to slide a stick up and down). These instruments are played while everybody sings Christmas carols (Billancicos) and get tipsy! Children often take their instruments and go from door to door, singing carols and receiving money or candy. We do have the proper glass bottle for the Botella de Anis but it is still in use holding the anis. We will make an instrument out of it once all the alcohol is gone.
25th December - Christmas Day is not a day of great celebration but rather a calm day when people go out for a walk, drop into a bar, etc. Gifts are not exchanged on this day. We opened all the gifts from Abeula and Poppa on Christmas day. Afterward we went for a walk on the beach.
28th December - This is the day of Santos Inocentes (Holy Innocents) and is the equivalent of April Fools' Day when people play practical jokes on one another.
31st December - New Year's Eve is known as NocheVieja (Old Night). It is a big celebration with street parties and celebrations in hotels and clubs everywhere.  On the stroke of midnight it is traditional to eat 12 grapes, one on each dong of the clock to bring good luck for the new year. For each grape you get down, you will have a month of good luck in the coming year.
1st January - A quiet holiday with people sleeping off their excesses or enjoying walks in the neighborhood with their family.
5th January - There are parades on this day where candy is thrown from floats to all the people who come out to watch. In Barcelona the procession starts shortly after five o'clock at Portal de la Pau and finishes around nine at Montjuïc. On this night, children leave a shoe in the window for the Three Kings to fill with candy (stockings are not needed in this Mediterranean climate!) I took the kids down to Port Vell to see the arrival of the Three Kings. In Barcelona they arrive by a 3-mast tall ship...very impressive. There was lots of entertainment at the port and the kids enjoyed all the craziness.
6th January - This is the Feast of the Epiphany when the Three Kings arrived in Bethlehem. For Spanish children this is the day when they wake up to find that Los Tres Reyes have left gifts for them. The Three Kings can be seen giving out gifts to the children in hospitals on this day as well.
7th January - The day after receiving their gifts children return to school, their parents go back to work and all the lights come down. Christmas in Spain is over until next year.

Today is day 4 in Barcelona

Here I am again. I have been mostly hanging in the apartment for the past two days. I will make some adventures out today. I spent most of the day yesterday researching schools. The kids need to get enrolled...soon!! This research actually began before I arrived in Spain. Ron had discovered that the public schools in Barcelona use Catalan as the first language. In case you are not familiar with this language, this is the language of this part of Spain. It is not used anywhere else in the world and has no use outside of these borders. With that said, we do not want the kids to have to learn Catalan. They are already at a disadvantage by having to learn Spanish. So the decision was made to look for private schools that the first language is English and the second is Spanish. Sounds like a good idea! I found a few British schools and a few American schools. The average cost will be $40,000. This is a little out of our price range for tuition into Kindergarten. When I learned the cost of private schools here, I started to panic and thought to myself...there is no way I will be able to home school the kids everyday, all day. Besides what about the need for time with other children and how would they ever learn Spanish if they were inside of this apartment all day. On top of all of that, the greatest panic came when I realized I may go insane trying to get the job done. After some slow deep breaths, I started to come up with plan C which is to hire a tutor to come in and help with teaching the kids Spanish and to offer me a sanity break. To get the time with other children, I can enroll the kids in dance, music, etc. I don't even know where to begin looking for a tutor, but I am going to try. I had this idea that maybe Ron's cousin in Mallorca could come and stay with us for a little while and be my personal assistant. He can help me through the language problems I have. Everyone please wish me luck in my task.

As for my language problems. I do understand some things said to me in Spanish and I know a lot of words in Spanish. The problem I have is putting the words I know into some kind of order that will make sense. I am sure I will get better with practice.

Now on to things I have learned.

Lesson #1 - Women here wear black almost always. I mean from head to toe. Sometimes I see brown but that does not happen too often. I guess I need to throw out all of my clothes with color. If I try to wear that stuff I will be sneered at and they will mumble under their breath (or maybe even out loud) "stupid American." We can't have that now can we? Oh, just forget it. I don't think I can pull off goth.

Lesson #2 - To get to the apartment outside court yard and play area, use the key to the building and go out the back door. I know this sounds obvious, but when there is absolutely nothing on the door to tell you where it might go, you just don't know what you may find behind some big metal door with no windows.

Lesson #3 - Spanish television is actually all American shows dubbed over in Spanish. I have yet to find a single channel on the television that has programs actually created in Spain. Well, at least I know what is going on. Most of the shows so far I have seen before. That really is something, considering I hardly ever watch television. I am still looking for the Spanish version of South Park. I have not found it yet but I have not given up.

Lesson #4 - In the grocery store the junk food is mainly American brands. Especially the chips. There are differences, such as the packaging is in Spanish, the price is cheaper than in Seattle, and Lays Potato Chips comes in the flavor of ham! Just so you know, ham is like the most prized food in all of Spain. The grocery store has a section dedicated to the many ways you can buy ham. The size of this section is about two times the size of your entire dairy section in the US.

Well it is time to go to the grocery store. Let's go see what I learn this time!