Caga Tio
The Tió de Nadal (roughly "Christmas log"), also known as "Tió" ("log"), or "Tronca" ("trunk") is a mythological personage in Catalan mythology related to a Christmas tradition widespread in Catalonia.
Physically, the tió de Nadal found in many Catalan homes at the holiday season is a hollow log of about 0.3m length, typically standing up on two or four little stick legs, and with a broadly smiling face painted on the higher of the two ends, enhanced by a little red sock hat (a minature of the traditional Catalan barretina) and often a three-dimensional nose.
Beginning with the Feast of the Immaculate Conception (December 8), one gives the tió a little bit to "eat" every night, and usually covers him with a little blanket so that he will not be cold at night.
On Christmas day or, depending on the particular household, during a Christmas party, one puts the tió partly into the fireplace and orders it to "shit". (The fire part of this tradition is no longer as widespread as it once was, since many modern homes do not have a fireplace.) To make him "shit" one beats him with sticks, while singing various songs of Tió de Nadal.
The tió doesn't shit out big objects (those are brought by the Three Wise Men), only candies, nuts and torrons. Depending the location in Catalonia, it shits dried figs, and when it stops shitting (because nothing is left) it shits a salt herring, a head of garlic, an onion, or it pisses on the ground. What comes out of the tió is a communal rather than an individual gift, shared by everyone present.
In addition to the names listed in the opening paragraph, the additional nickname "Caga Tió" ("shit log") derives from the many songs of Tió de Nadal that begin with this phrase, which was originally (in the context of the songs) an imperative ("Shit, log"). The use of this expression as a name is not believed to be part of the ancient tradition.
The tradition of the tió could be related to that the Christmas tree.
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