Welcome to brain Stuff, a production of I Heart Radio, Hey brain Stuff, Lauren Boglebam. Here as crappy holiday traditions go, the Catalonians may have the rest of the world beat. That's because this northeastern outpost of Spain has some bathroom adjacent Christmas customs that may leave unsuspecting visitors scratching their heads, laughing, or both. Without further ado, we present to you the cagonet, a statue of a person pooping off in a corner
of a traditional nativity scene. This is not some recent cultural development that signals the downfall of modern society. Rather, it's a tradition that dates back at least two centuries. In Catalan Romance language from the region of Catalonia, Spain, the word caganet translates roughly to crapper, although some sources use rougher language. The most popular cagonet features a male peasant and a at hat crouched with his buttocks exposed and an unmistakable little brown pile at his feet. At
Christmas time. The caganet is sneakily hidden somewhere within an activity scene. A children make a game of trying to spot the pooping figure. As he crouches in the shadows, and the caganet is never at the front of the scene because that would be disrespectful. No one really knows what gave rise to this long lived tradition. Because fecal matter has been used as a fertilizer for agriculture throughout history, some say the statues are a fertility symbol of sorts.
By plopping a pooper in the midst of the scene, perhaps farmers will gain favor with Heaven, find favorable conditions for crops, and ultimately wind up with greater yields at harvest time. But there are a couple of other theories in play. Because the Christian faith states that Jesus literally became human in order to save followers from their sins,
perhaps the pooping statue is a reminder of humanity's common bonds. Furthermore, maybe the caganet purposefully portrays a rather undignified private moment in conjunction with a Nativity scene to reinforce our shared vulnerability in the presence of a higher power. No one really knows, but one thing is for sure. Caganets are a big business. The caganets turned towards fame, came into thousand three, when demand for Catalonian made statues was dropping
and cheap Chinese imports were cutting into the market. The company Elkganet took note that it was an election year and made caganets with politicians likenesses. Rather than take offense, these politicians gamely embraced the silly mockery and consumers loved it. The irreverent caganets became a huge hit, and now the company sells tens of thousands of the items every year.
Since then, the artists who make these figurines have been turning famous people like politicians and celebrities into pooping figures. Each year. They monitor news headlines and pop culture, introducing new faces that they think will sell well at has included Donald Trump, Shakespeare, Spock, Tiger Woods, Boris Johnson, George Michael, the Pope, Madonna, and a whole lot more. Then, the workers carve a likeness from plaster and construct a mold.
From that mold could come hundreds or even thousands of clay reproductions poop and all the little figures are painted by artists, which sometimes includes disabled people from local communities. The lesson at Christmas time in Catalonia whoop smells, but it also sells. Caganets aren't the only poopy caddle. On tradition, children also feed a teo, Dana Doll or Christmas log with treats. During the weeks leading up to Christmas, parents sneakily switch out the logs to make it seem as
though it's getting bigger. On the final day, the log takes a pinata form and kids hit it with a stick while singing a somewhat vulgar pooping song until the log whoops out treats galore. Today's SOD was written by Nathan Chandler and produced by Tyler Clang. For more in this and lots of other topics, visit how stuff works dot com. Brain Stuff is a production of I Heart Radio.
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