Caganer

This pessebre is often a reproduction of a pastoral scene—a traditional Catalan masia (farmhouse) as the central setting with the child in a manger, and outlying scenes including a washerwoman by a river, a woman spinning, shepherds herding their sheep or walking towards the manger with gifts, the Three Wise Men approaching on camel back, a scene with the angel and shepherds, the star pointing the way, etc.

It can also be found in other parts of southwestern Europe, including Murcia, the region just south of Valencia in Spain (where they are called cagones), Naples (cacone or pastore che caca) and Portugal (cagões).

[5] There is a sculpture of a person defecating hidden inside the cathedral of Ciudad Rodrigo, Province of Salamanca, though this is not part of a nativity scene.

[6] Accompanying Mary, Joseph, Jesus, the shepherds and company, the caganer is often tucked away in a corner of the model, typically nowhere near the manger scene.

Possible reasons for placing a figure representing a person in the act of emptying his bowels in a scene which is widely considered holy include: Further opinions:[10] The Caganer is not the only defecating character in the Catalan Christmas tradition—another is the Tió de Nadal, which also makes extensive use of the image of faecal matter (it is a log, i.e. tió which, having been "fed" for several weeks, is told to defecate on Christmas Eve and "magically" produces candy for children, a candy that has supposedly come from its bowels).

[16] A digital greeting card depicting a caganer can be produced using the christmas package in R, a free software environment for statistical computing.

He suggested including the caganer but also placing a figure of a police officer with a pen and clipboard next to him, writing a ticket for the infraction.