Saturday, August 26, 2006

Souvenir Hunting in Catalonia


In 2004, I was living in Barcelona. My friend Jeff from Austin sent me an e-mail.

"If you see a George W. Bush caganer, can you pick one up for me?"

I did not then know what a caganer was, but in short order learned that caganers are ceramic figures that sit on the edge of Christmas nativity scenes. The caganer, for whatever reason, is mischievously taking a poo while baby Jesus sleeps in the manger under the watchful eye of Mary and Joseph.

The original caganer was a peasant sheperd, but caganers now include sumo wrestlers, Santa Claus, Dali, Satan, and Fidel Castro.

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