Christmas traditions
I love Christmas. I love the sparkles that light the nights here on our island and the sparkles that light a child’s eyes. Sometimes, the sparkle can be bigger than one expects, like the time a holiday sparkle almost lit our house on fire, but that’s another story. This month let’s explore traditions.
A Cayman Island Tradition
On our island, my favorite first breath of the season is the Pink Ladies Christmas Bazaar, held the last Saturday in November. Once again, this year, it was filled with people of all ages who enjoyed tea and dessert as they shopped and watched the constant entertainment on the stage featuring both young – the Children’s Choir, and old – the Cayman National Choir. For more than forty years, the entry price has been $5, with all proceeds donated back to the community by the Pink Ladies. Now that is Christmas Spirit.
The Barcelona Poop Story
While perusing various countries’ traditions at this time of year, I came upon an interesting one from Catalonia. Called Caga Tio, or Tio de Nadal, the Catalonian way of welcoming in the season is with a log. The log starts showing up in early December. He – let’s presume it is a he – has a drawn-on face with a big smile and a jaunty red hat. You feed scraps of food to him, and he poops presents when you hit him with a stick and sing a song.
After feeding Caga Tio for weeks, on December 24th, a blanket is placed on the non-face (poop) end, and the singing and beating commence. The kids are sent into another room, and when they reappear, the blanket is lifted, revealing presents and a specialty candy called turron. True story. Apparently, Caga Tio is like Santa. You take the presents and don’t ask questions.
Sing-along Poop Song
In case you would like to find a log to beat this Christmas in hopes that it will poop candy (and not salted herring), here is the little jingle you need to sing to it:
Caga tio, (poop log)
Tio de Nadal (log of Christmas)
No caguis arengades (don’t poop salted herring)
Que son massa salads (they are too salty)
Caga torrons (poop turrons)
Que son mes nons! (they are much better!)