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Title: Ummm, Merry Christmas? Post by: Ed, Ego and Superego on December 05, 2008, 01:42:43 PM This is wrong on so many levels.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/topics/christmas/3545223/Caganers-figurines-of-defecating-world-leaders-in-Catalan-nativity-scenes.html?image=1 1) WHY would you have someone befouling the Nativity, I'm not at all religious and its STILL not right, 2) why would you encourage the kiddies to find the befouling member of the nativity? 3) Who wants a befouling world leading in their Nativity? Title: Re: Ummm, Merry Christmas? Post by: schmendrik on December 05, 2008, 02:23:12 PM 3) Who wants a befouling world leading in their Nativity? The Catalanonians, apparently. Seems the caganer is a long-standing tradition there. I agree, it seems a little odd. But so does the famous peeing-boy fountain (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manneken_Pis) in Belgium. Would I want to decorate my town square with an artistically sculpted boy peeing? Well, it wouldn't be my first choice... You could say "it's just wrong" or you could say "we have a cultural difference here". Title: Re: Ummm, Merry Christmas? Post by: Psycho Circus on December 05, 2008, 02:27:05 PM I done a doo-doo on your baby jebus... :twirl:
Title: Re: Ummm, Merry Christmas? Post by: Raffine on December 05, 2008, 02:28:35 PM Quote befouling :thumbup: I think I just found my new favorite word! Title: Re: Ummm, Merry Christmas? Post by: Ed, Ego and Superego on December 05, 2008, 02:33:41 PM You could say "it's just wrong" or you could say "we have a cultural difference here". True... We shall compromise. We have a cultural difference here, and I, persoanlly think that it is just plain wrong. Now to see if I can get the stocking stuffers here by the 24th! Watch your gifts and whom you open then with. -Ed Title: Re: Ummm, Merry Christmas? Post by: Rev. Powell on December 05, 2008, 05:11:48 PM I heard about these "Caganers" recently. The figurines aren't explicit and are actually sort of cutesy. It's a very old tradition, at least 3000 years. A very religious friend of mine defends it as a way of reminding people that Christ became fully human--i.e., "even Jesus poops" (though I guess if that was the point they could have actually depicted Jesus pooping).
An interesting bit of trivia from the Wikipedia article (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caganer): "In 2005, the Barcelona city council provoked a public outcry by commissioning a nativity scene which did not include a Caganer. Many saw this as an attack on Catalan traditions. The local government countered these criticisms by claiming that the Caganer was not included because a recent by-law had made public defecation and urination illegal, meaning that the Caganer was now setting a bad example." The most interesting thing about that quote is that it implies public befouling wasn't made illegal in Barcelona until 2005! Talk about cultural differences! I see no problem with the tradition. |