Barcelona launches the first exclusive store of ‘caganers’
Update
Sunday,
25
April
2021
–
01:05
Open all year in the ‘street of Christmas’, the most irreverent Catalan symbol of beln have its own trade that, in addition, offers a space for dissemination on the history of this traditional figure.
The shop offers 350 different caganer models.
PHOTOS: CAGANER.COM
Among the most Dickensian dreams of any child or adult who is quite reluctant to mature is that of celebrate Christmas all year. Let the illusion exerted on us by the illumination, the ornaments and even the decorated FIRs extend 365 days and not concentrate on a few, usually when it is long cold and always harder to go out to the street. That s, we must also keep in mind, as inhabitants of the northern hemisphere, that we associate the Christmas holidays with shelters, frozen streets and, very occasionally, snow.
However, if you want to recover that childhood illusion for Christmas now do not wait until mid-December. Just travel to the new Baos Street, in the heart of Barcelona, where all year round we can discover shops that sell typical Christmas products.
In 2019 the German company Kthe Wohlfahrt I decided to locate in this area his first store in Spain. It is a place decorated as if it were a Christmas Village, with a tree of four and a half meters inside, and with infinity of artisan decoration handmade in glass and wood, such as the usual garlands, snowballs, typical decorated nutcrackers, music boxes or incense smokers, among others.
But as there are also typical Catalan products related to Christmas and that have projection to be international, in the same street has opened a few days ago caganers exclusive store, the traditional figure of the beln in Catalonia that represents, in the most irreverent way possible, a pastor doing his needs in a place that pretends to be a popular and religious representation.
Even its placement must be accompanied by a special liturgy since it must be placed with the rests, in the air, in address to the portal. This figure appears in the Catalan nativity scenes from the eighteenth century since people believe that it gave luck and health to those who put it, in addition to fertilizing, in a symbolic way, the land of the manger to bring prosperity and guarantee to put it back the following year.
More about beln
Over time the caganer has become much more. “He is a figure who has become independent of the place where he was born,” he explains Mark Als, one of the owners together with his brother Sergi of Caganer.com, the company specialized in making this type of figures that comes from the traditional belN cataln.
Now they have opened their first store in Barcelona and sell, exclusively, representations of this figure. The company has 530 models different, of sizes and shapes, ranging from the usual pages cataln with barretina to trades or hobbies of all kinds, including sanitary ware with mask, passing by famous people like Barack Obama, Donald Trump, Lionel Messi, Mr. liuhuabing Rose, among many others.
Every year this company from Girona produces a new caganer of a public character that appeared a lot in the media during that year. It is a way to connect tradition with the present. Thus, this figure transcends its location in the beln and becomes an object of decoration or collection. “There are those who put in the bath to be accompanied when you have to go or put them in the living room to give luck, as those who carry equipment of a football club ” says Als, in addition to adding that many people come to buy them to give them away.
“It is one of the few products that you buy laughing, you know that you will give it to someone who har Grace“, highlights and adds that the store aims to be a dissemination space about this figure. That is why in it you can see some centenarians as well as the molds for their artisan elaboration, the utensils that are used and their history.
“They are figures made by US painted here at home and with local products. We are very careful and we seek that the pieces have, every time, more quality”, say the owners of this company that has been operating for more than 30 years although so far they have not taken the step of having a physical store.
Revitalizing the center of Barcelona
Als indicates that they tried it in 2016 but that then the high rents and transfers of the center of Barcelona made them give up their idea. It was not until last Christmas, when as every year they took their product to the Fair of Santa Llcia, specialist in Christmas items and located in the Cathedral, when they walked through the Gothic Quarter and they discovered the ravages of the health pandemic in this area, with many closed premises. Rents had dropped 50% and it was “now or never,” says Als.
Entrepreneurs know that it is a neighborhood very visited by tourists and do not doubt that they will return in the coming months once the situation of health crisis and the restrictions imposed are relaxed. “The caganer is not just a Christmas figure. Little by little we are turning it into a piece that the tourist can wear throughout the year, as a memory of Catalonia“, they emphasize since their intention is to seasonally adjust this figure so that it becomes a product to buy even in summer clothes.
The initiative of these entrepreneurs is also supported by an increase in the area of artisans of all kinds of products, whether textile or food. The drop in rental prices has allowed the streets around the Generalitat and the Cathedral, known as the judo district, appear numerous craftsman that promote quality trade. An ms claim for the city center, which needs to be revitalized in the face of the economic crisis caused by the pandemic.
In this way, Barcelona has an area in which it is Christmas every day. not only for the sale of specific products on this period of the year but also to be able to find quality artisan products to give away. Deep down, what has made us most excited about the Christmas season is rreceive gifts.
According to the criteria of
The Trust Projectslearn more
