The Caganer, Castelling, and a Pooping Yule Log

November 19, 2022

Barcelona, Spain

This morning we went to Plaça Reial to meet our guide, Miguel, from Runner Bean Tours. There was a large group for this tour of Barcelona’s Gothic Quarter. Miguel was an excellent guide. His tour was elevated by his great personality, his love of Catalonia, and a healthy dose of humor.

Lamp post in Plaça Reial designed by Gaudí 

In this case, “Gothic” refers to medieval European architecture from the 12th to 16th centuries, characterized by pointed arches, large windows, and stonework tracery. The Gothic Quarter is the oldest part of Barcelona, where Roman ruins have been found. The “new” part of Barcelona is famous for the Modernist style, especially the vibrant works of Gaudí.

An artisans’ market at Plaça Santa Maria del Pi

A plaque such as this in front of a store indicated quality and consistency. They don’t do this any more, but many of the original stores with this plaque are still in business.

The Basilica of Santa Maria del Pi. This early Gothic building is massive and has the characteristic pointed arches over the entrance. The enormous rose window is covered in material while it awaits restoration.

The oldest part of Barcelona, the Barri Gòtic, contains Roman ruins, the old Jewish Quarter, and many medieval remnants.

St. Goerge

If you know where to look, you can see reconstructed towers and an entrance gate from Roman times, bits of the original Roman wall, and a piece of the Roman aqueduct system.

The Barcelona Cathedral has all the Gothic features you could ask for - pointed arches, stained glass, stone tracery, statues of saints, octagonal bell towers, prickly steeples - and exemplifies the Flamboyant style of Gothic architecture. This site was chosen by the Romans for the Temple of Jupiter. In 343 CE the Roman temple was replaced by a Christian cathedral. Around 1000 CE, a Romanesque church was erected in this spot. The current Gothic church was started around 1300 CE and took 150 years to complete. The Neo-Gothic facade, however, was added in the 1800’s.

Can you find Darth Vader?

This part of Barcelona is full of narrow alleys connecting small squares or plaças, bits of the old city wall, and interesting nooks and crannies. A significant Roman temple was discovered here when a building was being remodeled. Four Corinthian columns turned up inside the walls. They are now preserved in an airshaft amidst the apartments that were built around them.

Plaça Sant Felip Neri, is the site of a Baroque church and a school that was bombed during the Spanish Civil War. In 1938 Franco ordered aerial bombing of Barcelona, a city that supported the Republican faction. Sant Felip Neri was near some targeted government buildings and was bombed while many people were inside believing they could seek refuge there. Then the rescuers digging frantically through the rubble were bombed. Pock marks were left as a reminder of the 42 victims, mostly children.

The old Jewish Quarter was here, also, until the Pogrom of 1391, when Jews were forced to convert or leave. They leave hints of their presence here and there.

This was about 20 feet up on the side of a building

During the course of the tour, Miguel shared with us some “weird” (Miguel’s exact wording) Catalan cultural traditions. As an anthropology student long ago, I learned not to judge other cultures, so I am going to say “interesting” when Miguel said “weird.”

Perhaps the most surprising “tradition” involves the caganer. The caganer is a Santa-Claus-like character who wears a Catalan cap and likes to poop outdoors. Catalans like to hide caganers in their nativity scenes. Nowadays, a caganer can be any famous person - a football star, a celebrity, a politician, a former US president, a Star Wars character, etc. They just squat and poop on the ground. It’s considered good luck because it ‘s fertilizer. I’m not sure I believed Miguel until we passed by one of the stores that sells caganers. No shit; this is a real thing: Caganer.com.

Really!

The next interesting custom is castelling. This is a rather dangerous-looking human tower. It can be as high as 10 to 12 tiers in competitions. We didn’t see this in person, but there are numerous photos of it on the internet, such as this one:

The third custom I want to talk about is the pooping Yule log, also known as Tiò de Nadal or Caga Tiò. Children must take care of a log for a number of weeks before Christmas. They feed him sweets and keep him warm. On Christmas Day he is supposed to poop out presents. The children beat him with sticks to encourage him to poop. I don’t get it.

Curiously, we were hungry after all these stories about poop. We walked down almost to the beach and went to a bar that was almost a dive bar and almost a beach bar. They are called chiringuitos in Spain. Worth it!!!

Thousands of dollars worth of ham hang from the ceiling of every bar in Spain. There are little cups to catch any drippings that may occur during the aging process

Tapas: Fresh anchovies, patatas bravas, bread with fresh tomato. Salud!

Today’s color is black. Did you think I was going to say brown? We already had brown in Montalcino.