I subscribe to a wonderful electronic newsletter called “This is True“, where a guy by the name of Randy Cassingham collates all the weird and wonderful news from around the world, filters out the junk which cannot be verified, and publishes the rest.

This weeks newsletter features odd stories centred around that festivity that occurs this time of year in many Western nations.  What was it again?  Oh yes, Christmas.  Anyway, this story caught my eye:

YOU THINK YOUR STATE IS WEIRD?

Catalonia, Spain, boasts some of the most …uh… unique Christmas traditions. Nativity scenes there typically don’t just include a manger, but rather the entire town of Bethlehem. That is, in part, to make it harder for the people who delight in finding the caganer — or “pooper”.

The figurine depicts a man or woman, often someone well-known, in the act of defecating, and it’s been a tradition in Catalonian nativity scenes since the 17th century. ”People call from all over the world asking for us to make statues of their local figures,” says a spokesman for Terra I Mar, which makes the figurines.

But despite offering 150 styles of caganers and selling 20,000-25,000 of them each year, there is still “no way we could make everyone happy.” The spokesman notes the traditional farmer is their best-seller, followed this year by a pooping President George W. Bush. The pope is also a popular figure. (Der Speigel) …But the Pope’s easy to find, because he’s always hidden in the woods.

If you want to get a dose of this goodness each week, I highly recommend you subscribe to Randy Cassingham’s newsletter.