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Caga Tío: the poop log

Posted on January 8, 2014 Updated on January 8, 2014

Here in Catalonia, the locals have an ongoing tradition a bit different from old Santa Claus. They have inherited Saint Nicholas, don’t get me wrong, but their original tradition is way weirder than a fat man climbing down your chimney in the middle of the night. Tío de Nadal, aka Caga Tío (sh**ing log) is a hilarious tradition that Catalonia celebrates. We were lucky enough to acquire one in our apartment. The story starts by buying a log and, as they do nowadays, decorating it. Throughout the week, you feed him citrus, such as mandarins and orange peels until he needs to relieve himself of all the fruits. On the 5th of January, we beat Tío with a stick while singing this traditional song: (translated from Catalán for your enjoyment)

poop, log,

poop nougats,

hazelnuts and cottage cheese,

if you don’t poop well,

I’ll hit you with a stick,

poop, log!

At the end of the song, we hit him once super hard and check under the blanket covering his butt, to find candy, dried fruit, and small presents, all supposedly all shat from his behind. We could not possibly make this stuff up!  After our hilarious and delicious experience with Caga Tió’s poop, we realised that this is one tradition we would like to continue from now on in the US.

Merry Pooping!