HISTORY OF THE CAGANER

This story happened years and years ago, but it has endured in our memories. Now we'll explain how it all unfolded, and you can judge for yourselves whether it was luck. Joan is the protagonist, a good Catalan farmer with a barretina (traditional Catalan hat) who started the now-respected tradition. He was tending the orchard and livestock on the family farmhouse he inherited when a terrible drought struck, making a harvest impossible. In that part of Catalonia, the land was parched, and it didn't rain. "What will I do to make the orchard bear fruit?" Joan wondered each day, sadly watching the dry ground as he sat under an oak tree. One day, his wife, Vicenta, forgot to lock the cow in the barn, and in the morning, she found that the animal, in a hurry, had defecated almost all over the field.

Instead of cleaning up the mess, the peasant woman approached it, pitchfork in hand, and with the arid soil, she shuffled everything. Days passed, from sunrise to sunset, and not a single drop fell. Meanwhile, good old Juan watered the garden with the hope of an optimist and the faith of one who believes in what he cannot see. Until, with the early crowing of a rooster, some green shoots began to emerge, right in the rows of soil around the farmhouse where she had hidden the animal waste. When the two peasants removed it, they couldn't believe the miracle. "That was the cow dung!" he exclaimed happily to his wife. And then he explained it to his husband, who had a good idea: "What we have to do, my love, is scatter cow dung everywhere!"

They organized themselves so that she cooked almost all day and he kept the soil moist. Both had to eat enough to be able to defecate around the farmhouse. And, in a different spot each time, they joyfully fertilized the fields. Their neighbors, also farmers, were amazed. Everyone wanted to know their secret, which Joanet shared with them. At the end of the harvest season, they celebrated together the abundance that Pepita the cow had brought them. Year after year, they repeated the ritual, every winter, leading up to Christmas. Since then, Vicenta and Joanet have been known, beyond their small village, as the ones who brought good fortune to the Catalan farmers, or as the Caganers couple. But, still not entirely satisfied, he, being quite the dreamer, suggested to his love: "What if we make more people smile?" She understood what he had in mind. No sooner said than done, the couple packed their bags and with one wish traveled the world: to spread happiness to everyone!