Barcelona Apartments - Akaza Holiday Apartments in Barcelona

In Spain we generally consider 8th December – the Feast of the Immaculate Conception, to be when Christmas begins. This is the day when the people in Spain start to put up the Christmas decorations. In most of the Spanish homes the nativity is one of the most important features of the decorations. The family enjoys building together the Bethlehem where the Baby Jesus is born.

You can find the biggest Christmas market in Barcelona in the Avenida de la Catedral, in front of the Barcelona’s Cathedral in the Gothic quarter of the old city. 2011 is the 225^th edition of the Santa Lucia market in Barcelona. You can find hundreds of “figuritas de Belén” which are the tiny figures to make the Christmas nativity scene called “pessebres”. You can also find crappers called “Caganers” and other Christmas decorations.

The Caganer is a feature of the nativity scene that you only see in Catalunya. It is a figure of Catalan man wearing traditional Catalan clothes. He is squatting with his trousers around ankles and pooing! This may seem strange, but it is a custom from the 18^th Century. His poo is seen a sign of good luck as it fertilizes the earth and ensures a good harvest for the coming year.

Caga Tio comes out on 8^th December. It is a small log with a smiley face, wearing the traditional red Catalan hat – the Barretina. The name Caga Tio means ‘Poo Log’. Every day between 8^th December and Christmas Eve, children look after the Caga Tio. They cover him with a blanketto make sure he is warm and they feed him Turron every evening. This is to ensure that he is nice and full so that he will poo out lots of treats on Christmas Eve!

A special day during the Christmas market are 13^th December – “Dia de Santa Lúcia” and the “Diada de les Tradicions u els Costums Nadalencs a Catalunya”, and 20^th December , which is the “Tió gegant” giant long day.

On Christmas Eve, after dinner, dessert comes courtesy of Caga Tio. The children are given a stick with which they hit the Caga Tio. They sing a special song:

“Caga Tio avellanes I torró

Si no vols cagar

Et donanem un cop de pal.”

The translation of this is: “Caga Tio hazelnuts and turron, If you don’t want to poo, We will hit you with a stick.”

The children then reach inside the Caga Tio1s blanket and find sweets and small toys. Similar to the sorts of treats that children receive in their stockings from Santa Claus.