The Colombian singer share a family photo on her twitter with her son Milan and her partner Gerard Pique of the unique Catalan Christmas tradition of “Caga Tio.”
*Milan and his first “Caga Tio”( Christmas tradition from Catalan) at her great grandmother’s house! Shak
The family seems to follow this tradition since Pique also shared last year an image of the “Caga Tio” when Shakira was around 8 months pregnant.
Feeding the Poop Log: A Catalan Christmas tradition
Caga Tio, pronounced “Cacka-tee-oh” is a wooden log with a smiley face painted onto one end. Caga Tio also wears a traditional Catalan red hat and is basically the Catalan equivalent of Santa Clause. Any one with a little Spanish knowledge, knows that “tio” means “uncle“, however it also means “log” and Caga Tio translates to “poo Log.“
The idea is that Caga Tio is “looked after” by the kids from the 8th of December to Christmas Eve. They cover his rear end with a blanket to keep him warm and feed him with candy, turron and orange peels every evening. The more they feed him, the more Christmas presents he will “poo-out” for Christmas.
The children are given a stick with which they hit the “Caga Tio” and they sing a special song:
“Caga Tio avellanes I torró
Si no vols cagar
Et donanem un cop de pal.”
This translates as:
“Caga Tio hazelnuts and turron
If you don’t want to poo
We will hit you with a stick”
The children then reach inside the Caga Tio’s blanket and find sweets and small toys. Similar to the sorts of treats that children receive in their stockings from Santa Claus. When everyone has collected their gifts from the Caga Tio, the family burns him for warmth.
Hopefully Milan received a lot of presents and sweets from his own Caga Tio.
Originally published on VOXXI as Shakira shares with her son the Christmas tradition of ‘Caga Tio’
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