Barcelona Day 84.

Sunday December 8th, the last Sunday. These lasts are getting more and more depressing, but it means getting closer and closer to going home.

I’m writing this post so late that I can’t even remember what I did on Sunday! Sunday feels like forever ago, but in reality, today is Tuesday which makes Sunday only a few days ago. Gearing up to returning home has meant a whole lot of packing, stressing out about my clothes not fitting, and even more packing. But Sunday I needed a break from all that and also needed to continue my Christmas shopping! Yes I know I just complained about how my clothes won’t fit, but I’m still going to buy Christmas presents, because I feel that they are extra special coming from Barcelona. Most of my presents are little knick knacks that I’ve been finding from street vendors, but those are the best because they’re unique to Barcelona. Since it’s Christmas time, street vendors have set up all over the place making it a nice, but hectic, stroll through all the booths. The one thing that I need to, and will explain, is Tio de Nadal.

A very common Catalan Christmas symbol is Tio de Nadal. At every Christmas market in Barcelona you are bound to see a few hundred Tio de Nadals amongst the various different booths. So what exactly is Tio de Nadal? It’s a pooping long. The story goes that everyday starting with the day of Immaculate Conception little children are to feed the log with food, so come Christmas it can poop presents. Once Christmas day arrives, the children are allowed to hit the log with a stick then are sent away by their parents, who are secretly putting the presents under the log. The children come back to the log and voila there are the presents! Some traditions also call for a special Tio de Nadal song to be sung to the log. After learning about this Catalonian tradition, I thought it was completely silly, but very awesome at the same time. This is definitely a tradition that I would love to bring back home and introduce to family in the states. Now who wouldn’t love a pooping log on Christmas? Adios!