Pooping Logs
I just got home from my second coffee meeting with Albert. Albert is a "language volunteer," who has offered to speak Catalán with me for an hour a week through a program sponsored by the University here. Tonight I struggled to understand as he explained a Catalán Christmas tradition. From what I gathered, parents place a large log outside the door, ring the bell, then scurry inside as their children run to greet the log. The children then feed the log, not sure what, but it's a large amount becausethe following day they sing "Poop log, poop log, poop lots of pineapples and nougat." In real time now, I am going to confirm that this is true. Hold on....
OK, apparently, traditions vary a bit (some children beat the log,) but I did understand correctly. There is a pooping log tradition and there's even a video on YouTube about it. I don't think even I could have invented this as a language misunderstanding! By the way, there's a big series of xmas booths on the Rambla here, many of which are selling logs such as those depicted here. However, the traditional logs evidently have no faces. Just a log.  ¶ 8:46 PM