The Little Men in Red Caps

Over the summer I took an enjoyable trip to Barcelona, Spain. My family and I wanted to see Gaudi's architecture, so we first went to Sagrada Familia. After seeing the unique architecture up close, we walked around the area near Sagrada Familia, encountering many strategically placed tourist shops. I, becoming the “typical tourist,” insisted on entering a few of the many stores because I wanted some souvenir to remember the trip (specifically a folding fan to match the ones at home that I had gotten from other countries.) 

The shop was rather large and full of other tourists, so we each went our own ways. As I was trying to find the folding fans, I came across a section of glass shelves with figurines placed on them.There were skillfully crafted miniature matadors, flamenco dancers, bulls, and famous buildings. My eyes finally reached the bottom shelf, which had many identical figurines of a little man in a red cap, squatted. I then realized that I was actually looking at figurines of a person pooping. The first thing I thought of was to look away. Should I give the tiny red-capped man his privacy? But why else would they be placed on that shelf if they weren’t to be looked at? For a moment, I was in this uncomfortable situation of not knowing where to look and where to go. Realizing that many other people were also in the shop, I thought that it would be too awkward if I stood there examining the figure. With this idea, I decided that I would browse the other nifty things, come back around to glance at the figurines again, and find some explanation for these odd little men.

I still hadn’t been able to find any folding fans, so I walk towards the shelf again and saw that the word “Catalan” was written on the grass upon which the man was squatted. I stepped back a bit to think about anything I knew that would explain this odd figurine. Being careful not to stand there for long, I took another round too find any indications of what this figure represented. 

When I came back around a third time, a salesman greeted me and asked if I was interested in buying one of the figurines. I hesitated. Do you just tell someone that you’re not interested in buying their pooping red-capped person? However, I now realize that wouldn’t resolve why I kept coming back around it. Although I didn’t realize that point at the time, my curiosity led me to respond with “oh, I was just wondering what this has to do with Spain.” He told me that it’s called a “caganer” and is part of a Catalan tradition. He then walked away to tend to another tourist.

Once I returned to the hotel I was staying at, I did a quick Google search to find that the Caganer is a Catalan Christmas Tradition, which has many interpretations. Also, children play a game where they find these these figurines, so next time you’re in a Catalonia, keep an eye out for them. Although I did not end up buying the figurine, I did manage to find a folding fan to add to my collection!