Christmas' log

In the Christmas' fair there's many cute logs with a smily face, big, small, even tidy ones. Another thing that I've never seen before.
I asked and is another local tradition.

This is what Wikipedia say about it.

The Tió de Nadal (roughly "Christmas log"), also known as "Tió" or "Tronca" ("log"), is a mythological character in relating to a Christmas tradition widespread in Catalonia.

The form of the tió de Nadal found in many Catalan homes during the holiday season is a hollow log of about 0.3m length, typically standing up on two or four little stick legs with a broad smiling face painted on the higher of the two ends and often a three-dimensional nose.

On the eight of December one gives the tió a little bit to "eat" every night and usually covers him with a little blanket so that he will not be cold at night.

On Christmas day or, depending on the particular household, on Christmas eve, one puts the tió partly into the fireplace and orders it to "shit" (the fire part of this tradition is no longer as widespread as it once was, since many modern homes do not have a fireplace). To make him "shit", one beats him with sticks, while singing various songs.

The tió does not drop larger objects, as those are brought by the three wise men. It does leave candies, nuts and turrons. Depending on the part of Catalonia, it may also give out dried figs. What comes out of the tió is a communal rather than individual gift, shared by everyone present.

What's with this people and poo??