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zdashamberI'm in Oakland instead of Denver because the weather chose Wednesday for its once-in-a-decade "Hey, what are you doing complaining about the cold, you're from Colorado" nincompoopery. I tell you, blizzards are kinda warm. It's those nights with nothing between you and the endless vaccuum of space but a great booming void of sky... Those are cold.
Those, and the Bay Area. How many times in the last couple weeks have you sat in your house in fleece pants, wool slippers, wool sweater, wool dressing gown, fleece hat, and wool scarf, and still had your hands so white with cold that you could hardly type? For me, it's been about four. Tonight, thank goodness, the heater is able to handle it.
But life is good; I find tonight in the San Francisco Chronicle a story about how poop is a big part of Catalan Christmas celebrations. So of course I look up "el caganer" ("the crapper") on Wikipedia, and find at the Tió de Nadal (Nativity Log) page a song sung to get presents out of the log as you beat it with a stick:
And then you reach in, get the cheese, and share it out amongst the party. So! Awesome! I mean, who could invent something so awesome? Only the long accretion of years... It's like a pearl.
Even more awesome, though, from the caganer wikipage: "Other mentions of feces and defecation are common in Catalan folklore. One popular Catalan phrase before eating says "menja bé, caga fort i no tinguis por a la mort!" (Eat well, shit strong, and don't be afraid of death!)."
I like it even better in English, where the lack of rhyme makes it brasher. Seriously, what a great toast! What a great motto!
Those, and the Bay Area. How many times in the last couple weeks have you sat in your house in fleece pants, wool slippers, wool sweater, wool dressing gown, fleece hat, and wool scarf, and still had your hands so white with cold that you could hardly type? For me, it's been about four. Tonight, thank goodness, the heater is able to handle it.
But life is good; I find tonight in the San Francisco Chronicle a story about how poop is a big part of Catalan Christmas celebrations. So of course I look up "el caganer" ("the crapper") on Wikipedia, and find at the Tió de Nadal (Nativity Log) page a song sung to get presents out of the log as you beat it with a stick:
| caga tió, caga turró, avellanes i mató, si no cagues bé et daré un cop de bastó. ¡caga tió!" |
Shit, log, shit torrons, |
And then you reach in, get the cheese, and share it out amongst the party. So! Awesome! I mean, who could invent something so awesome? Only the long accretion of years... It's like a pearl.
Even more awesome, though, from the caganer wikipage: "Other mentions of feces and defecation are common in Catalan folklore. One popular Catalan phrase before eating says "menja bé, caga fort i no tinguis por a la mort!" (Eat well, shit strong, and don't be afraid of death!)."
I like it even better in English, where the lack of rhyme makes it brasher. Seriously, what a great toast! What a great motto!
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Date: 2006-12-23 07:50 pm (UTC)That shit log story is...special.
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Date: 2006-12-26 05:47 am (UTC)Will you be at the Slimy house New Year's party?
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Date: 2006-12-26 07:17 am (UTC)