Page "Caganer" Paragraph 1

The exact origin of the Caganer is lost, but the tradition has existed since at least the 18th century.

According to the Friends of Caganer group ( Amics del Caganer ), it is believed to have entered the nativity scene by the late 17th-or early 18th-century, during the Baroque period.

An Iberian votive deposit was found near Tornabous in the Urgell depicting a holy Iberian warrior defecating on his falcata.

This began a short-lived series of polemics between the Institut d ' Estudis Catalans and the Departament d ' Arqueologia in the Conselleria de Cultura of the Generalitat de Catalunya as to whether the find can be regarded as a proto-caganer ( which would place the origin of this tradition far earlier than previously thought ) or just a pre-combat ritual.