By Isla Quinn
Here is the strangest thing at a Catalan Christmas market. A log. It has a smile, two stick legs and a red hat. Children are expected to feed it.
That is the Ti贸 de Nadal, “Christmas log” in Catalan, and it is still a living custom. NPR found logs stacked at a market in Girona. Wikipedia describes the tradition as practised in Catalonia, occasionally in Valencia, in Mallorca where it is called the Nadaler, in Aragon, in Occitania and in Andorra.
What the thing is
Wikipedia says the form found in many Catalan homes is a hollow log about 30 centimetres, or 12 inches, long. The painted face, the stick legs and the red hat are, the article says, recent additions. NPR describes the market version as a log with a drawn-on face, a big smile and a jaunty red hat. A hotel group’s blog calls the hat a barretina, the traditional Catalan cap.
So a traditional ti贸, according to Wikipedia, is a plain hollow log. The cheerful one is newer. That is a useful thing to know before you buy one as a keepsake.
Feeding it
The sources agree that the log is cared for and fed in the days before Christmas, and disagree about when that starts. Wikipedia says feeding begins on 8 December, with a little food each night and a blanket to keep the log warm. NPR says the log is fed scraps of food “for several weeks”. The hotel blog says only “in the days before Christmas”, with fruit peels, leftovers or sweets, until the night of 24 December.
NPR adds a memory from a turr贸n shop owner in Girona. When she was small she left oranges in front of the ti贸 at night, and in the morning only the peels remained.
The beating
Wikipedia says that on Christmas Day, or in some households Christmas Eve, the children hit the log with sticks while singing. The hotel blog puts it at the Christmas Eve dinner. NPR’s shop owner remembers 24 December, with a blanket laid over the back end of the log.
Before the beating, Wikipedia says, the children traditionally leave the room to pray for plenty of presents. When they return, someone has slipped gifts under the blanket. Wikipedia says the log is tapped softly during the song and struck harder on the key word, and that the song then starts again.
The song
The lyrics vary by family. NPR gives one version in English: poop log, Christmas log, do not poop salted herring, they are too salty; poop nougat, it is much better. The hotel blog’s version adds a threat. If the log does not deliver, it gets a blow with the stick. Wikipedia describes the same pattern: the song urges the log to produce sweets, nougat and almonds, not salted fish.
That is where the nickname comes from. Wikipedia says “Caga ti贸”, which NPR renders as “poop log”, comes from the opening words of the songs, but that the name is not part of the ancient tradition and its use is discouraged. We use it here because it is what visitors will hear and search for, and we note the article’s caution.
What comes out
Wikipedia lists candies, nuts, torrons (nougat), small toys and, in some regions, dried figs. Larger presents are credited to the Three Wise Men, and what the log delivers is shared. The hotel blog names torrons and neules, which are wafers.
NPR’s own visit ended differently. At a small party, its writer saw a set of watercolours and a chocolate egg come out from under the blanket, while the turr贸n arrived separately on a plate.
Where it comes from
Nobody has settled this. Wikipedia gives no definite origin. It links the ti贸 with the Germanic Christmas tree and with the British Yule log. It lists cousins under other names: tiz贸n do Nadal in Galicia, and three Occitan names including Cachafu貌c.
NPR went to the city of Barcelona’s department of popular culture. A pamphlet in its archive described a pagan tradition marking the winter solstice, in which rural Catalans chose a large trunk, burned it through the winter and honoured it as Ti贸 de Nadal. The hotel blog says something similar, that the ti贸 has roots in solstice celebrations and was once burned in the fireplace for warmth. NPR’s two city officials could not say why the log should “poop”, and one said: “It’s just a thing we do.”
Dates in order
- 8 December: feeding starts, according to Wikipedia.
- 24 December: blanket and song, according to NPR and the hotel blog.
- 25 December, or Christmas Eve in some homes: beating, according to Wikipedia.
Side by side
| Question | Wikipedia | NPR | Hotel blog |
|---|---|---|---|
| Feeding starts | 8 December | several weeks before | days before |
| Beating | Christmas Day or Eve | 24 December | Christmas Eve dinner |
| Origin | not established | pagan solstice pamphlet | solstice roots |
What kind of sources these are
Wikipedia is open to anyone. NPR is a news organisation, and its piece is a first-person visit with a few interviews. The hotel blog is promotional writing by a hotel group, dated December 2024, with no named author. None is a Catalan heritage body, and a cultural institution may state things differently.
Questions a buyer would ask
Is a painted log “authentic”? Wikipedia says the face and hat are recent, so a plain hollow log is the older form. Does it come with a song? Families have their own, so none of these sources fixes the words. We leave out prices and makers, and we say nothing about where to buy.
What we left out
The name of the nougat shop owner and the officials, because they are living people. Any religious reading of the 8 December date. Prices, opening hours and market dates.
Quick answers
What is the Ti贸 de Nadal? According to Wikipedia, it is a Catalan Christmas log, about 30 cm long and hollow, that children feed and then beat with sticks so it will produce small presents.
What does “Caga ti贸” mean? NPR translates it as “poop log”. Wikipedia says the name comes from the first words of the songs and is not part of the old tradition.
What does the Ti贸 give? According to Wikipedia, sweets, nuts, nougat, small toys and in some regions dried figs.
Roam first. Shop later.
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