A brown Christmas

Christmas in Catalunya is perfectly normal.

Sure, they do the gift giving on January 6^th for Three Kings, but there’s still the Sweet Baby Jesus thing on the 25^th. It just happens that it’s then followed by Saint Stephen’s Day on the 26^th. While anyone British would recognize (recognise) this as Boxing Day, it’s also very much a Catalan thing that isn’t done in the rest of Spain. It’s crucial as in addition to giving another day of holiday, it also gives the opportunity to eat canelons (cannelloni), made with the meat people didn’t eat on the 25^th.

But otherwise, it’s all perfectly normal.

There’s a tree and there are gifts (again, given on the 6^th, not the 25^th) but it generally seems like any other Euro Christmas.

It’s not until your second Christmas or so that Catalans will fully let you in on the Caga Tió. You may miss it your first Christmas in the region as it starts a bit before the holidays as one begins to ‘feed’ it on the Day of Immaculate Conception which is December 8^th and apparently celebrates Mary, not Sweet Baby Jesus.

What is a Caga Tió? Shouldn’t it be obvious? It’s a log with a smiley face, some stubby little stick legs, and usually that traditional Catalan red cap or barretina. More important than its looks however is the fact that the Tió, is fucking hungry.