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The people of the Catalan region of Spain have a little game they like to play at Christmastime. It seems that nativity scenes in Spain are not these slapdash, American, one-manger-and-you’re-out kind of affairs. Rather, they are intricate recreations of the entire city of Bethlehem. These vast labrynths provide the perfect place to hide a figurine of a person who is in the act of relieving himself á la numero dos. Ergo, the Caganer. Yes, this sounds made up, but it’s not. It’s Catalunya. The part of Spain that says it’s not even Spain. Says Wikipedia:

Possible reasons for placing a man who is in the act of excreting solid waste from his posterior in a scene which is widely considered holy are as follows:

• Just tradition.
  
  
• Perceived humor.  
  
  
• Mythical Defecation by Dwarfs
  
  
• Finding the Caganer is a fun game, especially for children.
  
  
• The Caganer, by creating feces, is fertilizing the Earth. However, this is probably a posteriori explanation, and nobody would say they put the Caganer on the Nativity scene for this reason.
  
  
• The Caganer represents the equality of all people: regardless of status, race, gender everyone defecates.
  
  
• Increased naturalism of an otherwise archetypal (thus idealised) story, so that it is more believable, taken literally and seriously.

The Caganer is such a time-honored character that scores of celebrities are made into Caganer figurines each year. Some of our personal faves are:

Barack Obama

Freddy Mercury & Elton John

Various Star Wars characters


Soccer Legends Diego Maradona & Cristiano Ronaldo

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And Fidel Castro