Nativity Scene

Question

Hola a todos! I am going to ask you about Spanish Christmas tradition. Namely, I know that the nativity scene, so called belén, is treated there with special care. But, nowadays, there is more carefree attitude towards it as on Spanish market places you can also get nativity scenes with figures resembling Obama or Zapatero. I may only guess that this is gaining more and more popularity among young people especially. I also know that in Catalu?a, there is this weird and funny figure of el caga?ero (I am not sure about the spelling)....You surely know what he is like but, surprisingly, he is to bring luck and money to the ones who have him at home. I think that in Poland such a figure would arouse a bit of controversies What are your feelings about this figure and nativity scenes? What do you think about their "politicized" version?

Answer 1

Wiki article on caganer

Now there is an odd tradition by anyone's standards.

Answer 2

I think that a good politician shoud maintain detachment from such things (it's all about the sense of humour, isn't it? ).

But anyway, looking at the Spanish holiday of las Fallas, I don't think so. They burn los ninots every year, sometimes famous celebrities and politicians. No one feels offended. If a politician's conscience is basically clear, they've got nothing to worry about and can only laugh at these figures. And this is actually the best they can do.

Answer 3

Yes, that is an interesting tradition.I wonder what Seitheach would say about the prebattle ritual portion of the entry.

Now I want to ask the original poster what is meant by the politicized version of that?

I think most people here in the US might think that figure a bit unusual at least and irreverent at best.But my guess is what some here might include in a manger scene might raise eyebrows elsewhere.

All I mean is that instead of Joseph's head, for example, you have Berlusconi's or another politician's. - bomberapolaca, Dec 21, 2009

Answer 4

Can you describe caganero? I can't find it in the dictionary.

Hehe, the frigure of cagańero is posted by gfreed above (this is the second one) Just look up the word "cagar" and you'll guess what the figure's back is like ;) - bomberapolaca, Dec 21, 2009

Answer 5

We have a very big department store in Spain which puts up a scene for children every year on one of their biggest shops. I went with the 5-year-olds and they had a great time, waving to the moving toys and singing.

All figures move and the children have a wonderful time, I guess this can also be considered a nativity scene

Answer 6

Apparently there´s a similar tradition in Naples (Italy). I was watching this video on BBC Mundo today about a Berlusconi figure appearing in the nativity scenes (you need to know that Berlusconi was recently punched in the face at the end of a meeting in order to understand the video). There are also "caganer" versions of Berlusconi, but maybe I shouldn´t post them here...

video

Parece que hay una tradición semejante en Napoles (Italia). Hoy miré un video en BBCMundo acerca de la aparición de muñecos del Presidente Berlusconi en los pesebres (para entender el video, hay que saber que aquél recientamente recibió un puñetazo en la cara al terminar de una conferencia). Tambien hay imágenes de muñecos de Berlusconi como caganer, pero tal vez no debiera ponerlos aquí...