Last Friday I suggested on the BM Newswire that the dynamics underlying the war on terror might be mitigated if we worked towards adopting common pooping practices [1]. As if on cue, I received in that afternoon’s mail a package containing this figurine, depicting President Bush adopting the Mideastern squatter's position while cradling the world in an apparently loving embrace.
The figurine, it turns out, was not made in disrespect. It is an El Caganer ("The Great Shitter") from Catalonia, Spain. Catalonia has a tradition dating back to the Eighteenth Century of placing squatting shitter figurines in the vicinity of nativity scenes [2]. Placing El Caganer behind a bush in a crèche brings one good fortune, making the ground rich and fertile for the year's crops. A friend of mine who knows about my PoopReporting "hobby" hunted this down for me on a recent trip to Spain. (Thanks, Jan!)
With this I mind, I speak on behalf of PoopReport in wishing its readers a fertile year, filled with many productive dumps -- and all the good that comes from them.
