Recently, the Tió faces au fait with two or four stick legs with a broad smiling face painted on its high-end, enhanced by red sock hat (a miniature of the standard barretina) and infrequently a three-dimensional nose.
They add those accessories only in recent times, altering the more traditional and rough natural appearance of a dead piece of wood. The story has it that Caga Tió arrives at the doorstep in early December, usually around the time of the Feast of the stainless Conception on 8 December.
Those he visits are expected to require him in and be sure of him within the run-up to the national holiday. This is often where it becomes fascinating. so as for the Caga Tió to supply his gifts, they instruct children to beat him with a wooden stick and sing to him, ordering him to poop presents. a typical Catalan version of the song goes like:
‘Poop, log, poop nougats (turrón), hazelnuts and mató cheese, if you don’t poop well, I’ll hit you with a stick…’ The tradition says that before beating the tió all the children should leave the space and visit another place of the house to hope, soliciting for the tió to deliver lots of presents.
Nowadays, the praying tradition has been left behind. Still, children visit a distinct room, usually the kitchen, to warm their stick next to a hearth. This makes the proper excuse for the relatives to do the trick and put the presents under the blanket while the youngsters are praying or warming their sticks.
The tió doesn’t drop larger objects, as they consider those being brought by the Three Wise Men. It leaves candies, nuts and torrons, and tiny toys. betting on the region of Catalonia, it should also give out dried figs. What comes out of the Tió may be a communal instead of an individual gift, shared by everyone there.
