Catalonia’s Christmas tradition involves beating a log until it poops candy

Tió de Nadal (Lady Kirschen/shutterstock.com)

In Catalonia, Christmas involves a hollowed-out log with a painted face, stick legs, and a little red hat. Children feed it nuts and dried fruit for weeks, keep it warm under a blanket, and then on Christmas Eve, they beat it with sticks while singing songs commanding it to defecate nougat.

This is the Tió de …