November 15, 2007: Caganer - the defecator in the Catalan Nativity scene

sandypossum · 11-15-2007, 12:16 AM

Elspode, it's something to do with bringing the family/village good fortune; bringing fertility to the land in the coming year, and therefore good crops etc. Maybe it has a pagan history to it, and got integrated into the Christian festival. I'm pretty sure some of our more common Xmas rituals are pagan leftovers too, although I can't remember which.

I also found this lovely article from BoingBoing about related pooey Catalan Christmas traditions.

11-15-2007, 12:16 AM	#22
sandypossum tri-continental dag hag Join Date: Nov 2005 Location: Australia Posts: 247	Elspode, it's something to do with bringing the family/village good fortune; bringing fertility to the land in the coming year, and therefore good crops etc. Maybe it has a pagan history to it, and got integrated into the Christian festival. I'm pretty sure some of our more common Xmas rituals are pagan leftovers too, although I can't remember which. I also found this lovely article from BoingBoing about related pooey Catalan Christmas traditions. __________________ you're never too old to have a happy childhood

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