If you want presents on Christmas Eve, you’ve gotta do some work: Give your tió de nadal some tender lovin’ care. And if you’ve never heard of him… The tió de nadal is a log with a face on it. And he poops presents for Catalan children on Christmas Eve. So if you have a…
Category: Culture
The Caganer, Another Catalan Christmas Crapper
We’re in a poopy mess here these holidays. Here’s a curious Catalan Christmas tradition that has to do with the act of defecation (other than the caga tió). And that’s the caganer, the “crapper”, or bluntly, the “shitter”. It’s a ceramic statuette of a person or fictional character squatting over a pile of poop. And it’s meant…
Ten Reasons Why Barcelona is a Smart City
Barcelona is the first city in Spain coined a “Smart City” and is named the fifth overall in Europe in 2013 ahead of Paris, Stockholm, and London. And with all the noise about the Mobile World Congress this week (with Mark Zuckerberg as a keynote speaker), Barcelona will be the epicenter of technology and innovation come…
Balthazars of Spain, stop doing blackface.
I’m always curious to see what kinds of blackface I’m going to come across around Three Kings’ Day. So many blackface Balthazars make their appearance at kids’ schools and Three Kings’ Day parades across Spain. While many authentically black people do play Balthazar, not every city or pueblo in Spain has access to a black actor…
A Spanish Lesson: Body, Panty, Leotardo, and More
When I was pregnant, I started to make a list of newborn clothes that I’d need before my baby girl’s arrival. My mother-in-law (who’s Spanish) asked me if my daughter had enough bodys. Well course she’d have a body. A cute little baby body. I’m sure she didn’t mean to say cuerpo, the Spanish word for “body”. After some…
American Goods I Bring Back to Spain (and Foods I Make)
A few months ago, I sat down with my family to chow down on our routine weekend breakfast — homemade pancakes. I tipped over my bottle of American-imported maple syrup only to see a few piddly drops coming through. Gah. Unless I want to fork out 25 euros at my specialty health food shop, I’m just not…
Barcelona’s Non-Traditional Nativity Scene: Yay or Nay?
My family and I arrived at Plaça Sant Jaume to check out an awesome annual Christmas tradition in Barcelona. That would be the city’s official pessebre vivent, or living Nativity scene. It’s usually an extensive and elaborate pastoral landscape framing a grand moment in history — the birth of Jesus 2,000 years ago. We were looking forward to…
