Catalans get ready for Christmas with decorations depicting Barcelona players pooing

If you've somehow managed to reach adulthood without knowing what a caganer is then you're about to be educated. A caganer is a Christmas decoration popular mainly in Catalonia. It's a figurine placed on a more traditional nativity scene which shows a character in the process of defecation.

Yep, you read that right.

Catalans are fond of placing figurines showing people pooing on their nativity. It's a tradition which dates back hundreds of years and one which is enthusiastically followed by many, so much so that a group called 'The Friends of Caganer' exists, and they presumably help keep up the custom of pooing figures surrounding more holy nativity characters.

Naturally, it's the norm to have Barcelona players as part of this and their caganers are very popular. The 'must-have' pooing figure this year is Tito Vilanova. Basically, you know you've made it in Catalonia when your personal caganer becomes a big-seller.

Special thanks to Catalan newspaper Mundo Deportivo, without their excitement about this year's Vilanova caganer we'd never have known about this wonderful (er, you sure?) tradition.

We did a little Google search and here's some of the best/worst caganers around...