Spain it turns out really isn't one country, it is actually a number of small countries stuck together. What we think of as Spain, the bull fights, paella and flamenco dancing is actually mainly from only one part of Spain, its largest region, Andalucia in the south. The regions are all very very proud and generally people in Spain don't see much of a reason to leave their region for any real period of time. Travelling for a prolonged period isn't the big deal it is at home. Sometimes it's really inspiring that they take so much pride in their home and it makes different parts of the country truly different. Different food, traditions and attitudes. Sometimes its really annoying, when they treat something an hour down the road as foreign. I thought I'd try and paste together a brief discription of each, starting with Navarre, Catalonia and Galicia. So strap in for am exciting journey through Spanish regionalism. Generalization ahoy.
Navarra, my own little corner of Spain.
POPULATION: 620,337
FAMOUS FOR: Bull running mentalness, The Sun Also Rises
FAMOUS PEOPLE: Miguel Indurain (5 Times Tour de France Winner), Manuel Almunia
Navarra is small, rural and sparsely populated. It gets to be autonomous due to the fact that a mere few centuries ago it was an independent state, that actually joined Spain through mutual constent. I say mutual consent, they were at the end of the sword, but let's not quibble. Thus they are basically left to govern themselves and have their own president, Miguel Sanz. It's one of the strangest things about Spain, that to keep all the regions happy they devolve so much power that the Spanish government only controls about 40% of Spain's finances. Navarra leads Europe in renewable energy and is boldly attempting to be 100% renewable by the end of this year. It's not going to happen but theres nothing wrong with outlandish claims. Its people are regarded as being reserved, it takes a long time to become friends but when you do you have a friend for life.
Catalonia
A CAR ACCIDENT: Every 19 seconds
FAMOUS FOR: Arcitecture, Barcelona FC, Art
FAMOUS PEOPLE: Salvador Dali, Antoni Gaudi, Joan Miro
Catalonia and Madrid have been in eternal rivalry and will be forever due to their tendacy to automatically choose the opposite side in every debate on principle. The current example is bull figthing, Madrid declared it an art form to be defended as an iconic image of Spanish culture, swiftly Catalonia swore to destroy it and are in the process of banning it. They need each other, like Holmes and Moriarty, to destroy the other would be to destroy themselves. Catalonia also has its own language which can annoy other Spaniards so claim that in Barcelona events are advertised in Catalan and English but not Spanish, ouch. Barcelona is a city full of immigrants many who become so attatched they become honourary Catalans, Colombus, Picasso, Sam Bloomfield. Johan Cryuff the great footballer became so attacthed that he waged a war on the state to get his child's name spelt in Catalan, Jordi, rather than the Spanish, as Catalan was banned. How did Jordi pay his father back? By having his own football career that ended in Malta, it must be terrible to be so horribly horribly outshone by your father. I get the same feeling when I play my dad at Risk, "SIAM IS WEAK MARK!!" Catalans also have a reputation of being tight fisted and romantic, a strange combination.
Galicia
FAMOUS FOR: The Way of Saint James, emigrating,
FAMOUS PEOPLE: Franco, Amancio Ortega Gaona (founder of Zara, Spains richest man and 10th richest in the world)
Galicia (the bit above Portugal) is cold, windy and desolate. It is cut off from Spain by mountains and is closely related to the Celts. They have their own language Gallego, which is the first language over Spanish. It is poorer than a lot of Spain despite having its richest man, and is superisitous and are often the butt of jokes like the Irish in Britain. People say they never give a straight answer and never allow someone to know what they are thinking. Due to being poorer they are big emigrants. So much so that in Argentina and Uruguay Spanish people are called Galicians. There are more Galicians in Buenos Ares than Galicia. Descendents of Galician emgriants include Fidel Castro, Enrique Iglesias, the Sheens and most importantly Emilio "the mightest duck" Estevez.
There you are three complex regions reduced to nothing before your very eyes.
TODAYS POST WAS SPONSORED BY THE NUMBER 5 AND THE LETTER K
love love love x
2 comments:
Bona nit! That's only the third or fourth time I've been mentioned in the same breath as Picasso and Cruyff.
Any Catalan you speak to will swear blind they're banning bullfighting on animal cruelty grounds. They do love winding up the Castillians though. I found a shop the other day that only sells 'Antimadridista' merchandise and you can still hear the occasional firework after Real just got knocked out of the Champions...
Only the third or fourth? Mr Bloomfield you surprise me.
Other parts of Spain are cruel to bulls. At least here they are given a shot to nail someone before the slow death. My Basque housemate could barely control himself when Madrid got knocked out, hyperventilating through tears of joy...
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