In a country so infamously work-averse that there is literally a national napping championship, building a nativity set is attacked with all the vim and energy of NASA in the days before the moon landing. The one at my school is the size of a large ping pong table and has a full-on market scene, chicken coops, and rather ambitiously, an elephant on a rooftop.
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| About a quarter of the whole thing - I couldn't maneuver myself well enough to get it all in |
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| Uhh sorry for the focus on this picture - I have no excuses |
So given the seriousness with which belénes are contemplated here, imagine my surprise when my friend Irene told me the Spanish in-joke about the nativities: in each big nativity, if you look hard enough, there will be a peasant man, somewhere half-hidden, with his pants pulled down and his butt waving in the air, cheerfully taking care of business. As in, he's pooping. In the nativity scene. Next to baby Jesus.
At first I thought she was pulling my leg, like hazing for the newbies or something, but she assured me that she was not. I went back to the one at my school, and had a closer look, and finally, in the corner, look what I found:
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| I didn't have my camera so this is a borrowed picture - but it looked just like this |
The Spanish grow dearer to my heart every day.
I don't... even....
ReplyDeleteHilarious.
Unbelievable! Especially that last part at the end about the little old man. But I was also astounded that you have a nativity scene, the size of a ping-pong table (italicized for emphasis!) - in your school! That would be so taboo in the good ol' USA. And I do think a few people might be offended (nose up in air, sniff!) by the little old man. I do wonder where that "tradition" came from....
ReplyDeleteI think many Spaniards are baffled by the pooer, too. My "father-in-law" has a really nice, big, very Spanish Nativity Scene. We mustn't forget the pigs, after all.
ReplyDeleteLooks to me like he is sitting on a snake
ReplyDelete