Tió de Nadal
The Tió de Nadal [ tiˈo ðə nəˈðal ], Tió for short , also Cagatió [ ˌkaɣətiˈo ], is a Catalan Christmas custom .
It is of pagan origin and originated in the eastern Pyrenees region . In the past it was also widespread in the Aragonese Pyrenees and in southern France , but is almost extinct, at least in Aragon. The corresponding Aragonese name is Tronca de Nadal , the Occitan Cachafuòc [ katʃoˈfjɔk ]. The Tió ("block of wood") is a dead tree trunk, which is usually decorated with two legs, a smiling face and a red cap ( Catalan barretina ). From the Conception of Mary on December 8th until Christmas, the children “feed” him every day with fruit, especially apples and bread. He is always covered with a blanket so that he does not catch a cold. On Christmas Eve , between the festive dinner and Christmas mass , the parents tell about the small gifts such as B. hid chocolate and other sweets under the blanket, that the tree trunk “shit” presents ( cagar in Catalan ) when the children cover the blanket. Before that, they sing a song and hit the tree trunk with sticks. Many cities and areas in Catalonia have their own songs about this. In Catalonia, as in the rest of Spain, the actual Christmas presents traditionally only take place on January 6th ( Epiphany ).
A Tió song from Igualada is reproduced below :
song
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Catalan Caga tió, |
German Shit, tió, |
Web links
- Description of the tradition in (German)
- Description of the tradition on the website festes.org (Catalan)
- Tió lyrics on the website of a Catalan tradition association ( Memento from December 25, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) (Catalan)