8. The Catalan Caganer
Where: Portugal, Spain, Italy, France
Cost: $40–$50 for a handcrafted Caganer on Etsy*
The Caganer is a crude and humorous figurine. This figurine is actually in the middle of using the restroom; his moniker, which translates as “The Pooper” in Catalan, does not fool you. There’s a bad trend for this peasant figurine to show up in Nativity Scenes.
In Catalonia, The Caganer ©Wikimedia/Roeland P.
He is located throughout Spain, Portugal, and Southern Italy, and since the 1700s, he has posed a threat. The Pooper must be taken out of the Nativity Scene if he is discovered there, but like Elf on the Shelf, he has a terrible habit of continually reappearing to cause trouble.