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Weird

Erotic Waffle Shop In Spain Under Fire For Genitalia Nativity Scene

The racy pastry scene in the holiday shop window in the city of Seville is no joking matter in the traditional Catholic country. Now "Josephallus" and family might land this local wafflemaker in court.

Photo of La Vergueria's erotic waffle nativity scene

La Vergueria's very own nativity scene

La Vergueria Sevilla via Instagram

La Vergueria is a small shop located in the heart of old Seville and its specialty is waffles — erotic waffles, to be more precise. Their desserts are shaped either into vaginas (vergofre) or penises (chochofre) and covered in the topping of your choice. Their unusual menu, which gained them some national notoriety and steady LGBTQ+ support, also includes other kind or sexually-referenced sweets, such as boob-shaped lollipops or fruit-flavored ice pop penises for summer.

On normal days, La Vergueria's window is decorated with an assortment of random stuffed genitalia, but as Christmas approached this year, the owner went for a very un-traditional nativity scene with his X-rated products. So now in the store window, passersby see a "Josephallus" and "Vagina Mary" looking over the little holy one.


Needless to say, the off-color biblical adaptation was not appreciated by all. A formal complaint against the shop was filed by the far-right Vox party and the Foundation of Christian Lawyers, reports Spanish daily La Rázon. The applicants consider this nativity scene an offense to religious sentiments, a form of blasphemy, and the lawyers’ association claims the intention was to ridicule traditional figures and consciously hurt believers, as well as exposing children to pornographic images.

Photo of La Vergueria's shop window in Sevilla, Spain

La Vergueria waffle shop in Sevilla

Augusto Gomez Serrano via Facebook

Derision of religious feelings

In Spain, where some 68% of the population identifies as Catholic, joking with faith is risky. In fact, the Penal Code clearly mentions derision of religious “feelings” as a punishable crime in article 525.1: "They will incur the penalty of a fine of eight to twelve months those who, to offend the feelings of the members of a religious confession, make publicly, orally, in writing or through any type of document, derision of their dogmas, beliefs, rites or ceremonies, or vex, also publicly, those who they profess or practice them.”

The possible existence of a criminal offense.

Judging that there was indeed a “possible existence of a criminal offense”, a Seville court has agreed to open preliminary proceedings against the waffle shop. The second complaint, filed by Vox, has also been taken up by the courts.

The shop was also subjected to a popular blasphemy “trial” of sorts on social networks, where many users expressed their outrage towards a “grotesque” representation of the nativity scene, and pointed the finger at the pastry shop’s bad taste. “Is it respectful of the beliefs of many citizens? ” asked a woman on Twitter.

The Christian lawyers’ group, Abogados Cristianos, is confident that the courts will force La Vergueria to withdraw said Bethlehem scene. Interviewed by Antena 3, shop owner Andrea Suárez defended his decoration by saying “Joseph, Mary and Jesus have genitals. And if they procreated Jesus, then they made it the only way we know how, right?”

Well, it seems Suárez may be mixing up the details of the Gospels, though he also expressed his own personal holiday feelings: “I think we should take it all with a little more joy and humor.“

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Geopolitics

Journalist Spy, Subversive 13-Year-Old: Law And Order In Totalitarian Russia

Even beyond the bloodshed of its war in Ukraine, lesser acts of aggression by the state are a clear expression of the intentions of Vladimir Putin's Russia.

Photo of an anti-war drawing by a 13-year-old girl

Incriminated drawing by Maria, 13

Pierre Haski

-Analysis-

They are "minor” incidents compared to the bloody frontline near Bakhmut, or the missiles raining down on Ukrainian cities. But these same incidents say a lot about what is going on in Russian society, behind the relatively normal facade that has been preserved for a year.

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Two arrests occurred Thursday, one of a Russian citizen whose story is one of aberrant cruelty; the other of an American journalist turned hostage in the proxy confrontation between Moscow and Washington.

Aleksei Moskalyov is a single father of a 13-year-old girl, Maria, a status which is in itself considered abnormal in Russian society. But above all, Maria was taken away from her father and placed in an orphanage for having drawn an anti-war picture at school. Her own teacher reported her to the authorities.

The father was sentenced to two years in prison for having criticized the Russian army. He fled, but was arrested in Minsk, the Belarusian capital, probably betrayed by the activation of his cell phone. He risks an even harsher sentence, and likely will not see his daughter again for years.

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