1.
Catalan language
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Catalan is a Romance language derived from Vulgar Latin and named after the medieval Principality of Catalonia, in northeastern modern Spain and adjoining parts of France. It is the national and only language of Andorra, and a co-official language of the Spanish autonomous communities of Catalonia, the Balearic Islands. It also has status in the commune of Alghero, situated on the northwestern coast of the island of Sardinia. All these territories are often called Catalan Countries. 4% with Catalan and 47. 5% only Spanish, in order to integrate newcomers, the Generalitat de Catalunya spends part of its annual budget on the promotion of the use of Catalan in Catalonia and in other territories. Catalan evolved from Vulgar Latin in the Middle Ages around the eastern Pyrenees, during the Low Middle Ages it saw a golden age as the literary and dominant language of the Crown of Aragon, and was widely used all over the Mediterranean. The union of Aragon with the territories of Spain in 1479 marked the start of the decline of the language. In 1659 Spain ceded Northern Catalonia to France, and Catalan was banned in both states in the early 18th century, 19th-century Spain saw a Catalan literary revival, which culminated in the 1913 orthographic standardization, and the official status of the language during the Second Spanish Republic. However, the Francoist dictatorship banned the use of Catalan in schools and in the public administration, there is no parallel in Europe for such a large, bilingual, non-state speech community. Catalan dialects are relatively uniform, and are mutually intelligible and they are divided into two blocks, Eastern and Western, differing mostly in pronunciation. The terms Catalan and Valencian are two varieties of the same language, there are two institutions regulating the two standard varieties, the Institute of Catalan Studies in Catalonia and the Valencian Academy of the Language in the Valencian Community. Catalan shares many traits with its neighboring Romance languages, thus, the similarities are naturally most notable with eastern Occitan. Nouns have two genders, and two numbers, pronouns additionally can have a neuter gender, and some are also inflected for case and politeness, and can be combined in very complex ways. Verbs are split in several paradigms and are inflected for person, number, tense, aspect, mood, in terms of pronunciation, Catalan has many words ending in a wide variety of consonants and some consonant clusters, in contrast with many other Romance languages. The word Catalan derives from the territory of Catalonia, itself of disputed etymology, in English, the term referring to a person first appears in the mid 14th century as Catelaner, followed in the 15th century as Catellain. It is attested a language name since at least 1652, Catalan can be pronounced as /ˈkætəlæn/, /kætəˈlæn/ or /ˈkætələn/. The endonym is pronounced /kə. təˈɫa/ in the Eastern Catalan dialects, in the Valencian Community, the term valencià is frequently used instead. The names Catalan and Valencian are two names for the same language, see also status of Valencian below. By the 9th century, Catalan had evolved from Vulgar Latin on both sides of the end of the Pyrenees, as well as the territories of the Roman province of Hispania Tarraconensis to the south
Catalan language
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Homilies d'Organyà (12th century)
Catalan language
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Catalan
Catalan language
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Fragment of the Greuges de Guitard Isarn (ca. 1080–1095), one of the earliest texts written almost completely in Catalan, predating the famous
Homilies d'Organyà by a century
Catalan language
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Official Decree Prohibiting the Catalan Language in France
2.
Valencian
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Valencian is the variety of Catalan as spoken in the Valencian Community, Spain. In the Valencian Community, Valencian is the language and is co-official with Spanish. It is considered a language from Catalan by a slight majority of the people from the Valencian Community, however. A standardized form exists, based on the Southern Valencian dialect, Valencian belongs to the Western group of Catalan dialects. Under the Valencian Statute of Autonomy, the Valencian Academy of the Language has been established as its regulator, the AVL considers Catalan and Valencian to be simply two names for the same language. Some of the most important works of Valencian literature experienced a golden age during the Late Middle Ages, important works include Joanot Martorells chivalric romance Tirant lo Blanch, and Ausiàs Marchs poetry. The first book produced with movable type in the Iberian Peninsula was printed in the Valencian variety, the earliest recorded chess game with modern rules for moves of the queen and bishop was in the Valencian poem Scachs damor. The official status of Valencian is regulated by the Spanish Constitution, article 6 of the Valencian Statute of Autonomy sets the legal status of Valencian, providing that, The official language of the Valencian Community is Valencian. Valencian is official within the Valencian Community, along with Spanish, everyone shall have the right to know it and use it, and receive education in Valencian. No one can be discriminated against by reason of their language, special protection and respect shall be given to the recuperation of Valencian. The Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua shall be the normative institution of the Valencian language, Valencian is not one of the recognized languages of the European Union. Valencian is not spoken all over the Valencian Community, roughly a quarter of its territory, equivalent to 10% of the population, is traditionally Castilian-speaking only, whereas Valencian is spoken to varying degrees elsewhere. Although the Valencian language was an important part of the history of this zone, the survey simply collects the answers of respondents and did not include any testing or verification. The statistics hide the fact that in the areas where the language is still strong, moreover, according to a survey in 2008, there is a downward trend in everyday Valencian users. The lowest numbers are in the cities of Valencia and Alicante. All in all, in the 1993–2006 period, the number of speakers fell by 10 per cent, however, some children of Valencian speakers go to private schools run by the church where the curriculum is in Castilian and consequently this becomes their preferred language. For more general information on the features of Valencian, see Catalan language, note also that there is a great deal of variety within the Valencian Community, and by no means do the features below apply to every local version. Valencian has a system of seven stressed vowels /a/, /e/, /ɛ/, /i/, /o/, /ɔ/, the vowel /e/ is retracted and /o/ is advanced both in stressed and unstressed syllables
Valencian
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Knowledge of Valencian according to the 2001 census. Note that the light green areas inland and in the southernmost part are not historically Valencian speaking (large).
3.
Catalan grammar
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Catalan grammar, the morphology and syntax of the Catalan language, is similar to the grammar of most other Romance languages. Catalan is a synthetic, fusional language. The grammar of Catalan is similar to other Romance languages, features include, Use of definite and indefinite articles. Nouns, adjectives, pronouns, and articles are inflected for gender, highly inflected verbs, for person, number, tense, aspect, and mood. Word order is freer than English, Catalan has two types of article, definite and indefinite. They are declined for gender and number, and must agree with the noun they qualify, as with other Romance languages, Catalan articles are subject to complex elision and contraction processes. The inflection of articles is complex, especially because of frequent elision, Catalan has more preposition–article contractions than Spanish, like dels, but fewer than Italian. The tables below summarize the forms of the article, its elisions. The masculine singular form is el, the initial vowel is elided before a vowel or h, yielding to l. El is not elided if the word begins with semivocallic i-, the hiatus The masculine plural form is els. Both el and els combine with the prepositions a to, de of, el does not contract with the aforementioned prepositions if the following word begins with vowel or h. The feminine singular form is la, the final vowel is elided before a vowel or h, yielding l. The grandmother La is not contracted if the word begins with unstressed i-, La is not elided with the words una one, host hueste, and ira wrath, as well as with words beginning with the Greek prefix a-, like asimetria asymmetry. The feminine plural form is les, feminine articles are not contracted with prepositions. Forenames and surnames must carry a definite article, in addition to the ordinary singular forms, alternative forms derived from the Latin vocative domine can be used. The elision rules are the same for el and la, in Western Catalonia the dialectal versions lo and los are used instead of el and els. In some regions, especially in the Balearic islands, the definite article derives from the Latin determiner ipse and these forms are referred to as articles salats. Similar forms are found in Sardinian and some varieties of Occitan, the table below summarize the forms of the indefinite article
Catalan grammar
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Logo of the Institut d'Estudis Catalans
4.
History of the Catalan language
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Catalan originated from Vulgar Latin in the Pyrenees Mountains between France and Spain. It diverged from the other Romance languages in the 9th century, at that time, Catalan spread quickly throughout the Iberian peninsula when the Catalan counts conquered Muslim territory. By the 11th century, the Catalan language was present in several feudal documents, Catalan was present throughout the Mediterranean by the 15th Century. This was during a time when the city of Valencia was thriving, in 1659, the Treaty of Pyrenees was signed, beginning a suppression of the Catalan language. Louis XIV issued a decree prohibited the use of the Catalan language in Northern Catalonia. The repression continued during the French Revolution when the First French Republic prohibited the usage of Catalan in linguistic education, the repression continued until recently, when finally the French government in 2007 promoted the usage of Catalan publicly and in education. In Spain, the usage of Catalan was also prohibited, under Francisco Franco, Catalan was prohibited in the government and in education. It was initially prohibited in mass media but allowed during the early 1950s, nevertheless, the publishing of written works in Catalan continued. Then, when Franco died and a monarchy was instituted. In Spain, Catalan is now used frequently and can be heard in different television shows. From the 8th century on, the Catalan counts extended their territory southwards and westwards, conquering territories then occupied by Muslims and this phenomenon gained momentum with the separation of the County of Barcelona from the Carolingian Empire in 988 AD. During the 13th century, the Catalans expanded to the Land of Valencia and across to the Balearic Islands, according to historian Jaume Villanueva, the first attested Catalan sentence is thought to be found in an 8th-century manuscript from Ripoll that has since been lost. It was a note in 10th- or early 11th-century calligraphy. During the 11th century, several feudal documents written in macaronic Latin began to exhibit elements of Catalan, of special historical and linguistic importance is the Memorial of Complaints of Ponç I, featuring whole sentences in Romance. Catalan shares many features with Gallo-Romance languages, which are located in France. Old Catalan diverged from Old Occitan between the 11th and 14th centuries, Catalan lived a golden age during the Late Middle Ages, reaching a peak of maturity and cultural plenitude. Examples of this can be seen in the works of Majorcan polymath Ramon Llull, the Four Great Chronicles, by the 15th century, the city of Valencia had become the center of social and cultural dynamism, and Catalan was present all over the Mediterranean world. The belief that political splendor was correlated with linguistic consolidation was voiced through the Royal Chancery, during this period, Catalan was what Costa Carreras terms one of the great languages of medieval Europe
History of the Catalan language
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Les Homilies d'Organyà (12th century), first written in Catalan.
History of the Catalan language
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Catalan
History of the Catalan language
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Official Decree Prohibiting the Catalan Language in France.
5.
Catalan phonology
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The phonology of Catalan, a Romance language, has a certain degree of dialectal variation. Several dialects have a dark l, and all dialects have palatal l and n, phonetic notes, ^1 /t/, /d/ are laminal denti-alveolar. After /s z/, they are laminal alveolar, ^2 /k/, /ɡ/ are velar but fronted to pre-velar position before front vowels. In some Majorcan dialects, the situation is reversed, the realization is palatal. ^3 /n/, /l/, /ɾ/ are apical front alveolar, in addition, /n/ is postalveolar or alveolo-palatal before /ʃ/, /ʒ/, /t͡ʃ/, /d͡ʒ/, velar before /k/, /ɡ/ and labiodental before /f/, where it merges with /m/. It also merges with /m/ before /p/, /b/. ^4 /s/, /z/, /r/ are apical back alveolar, ^5 /t͡s/, /d͡z/ are apical alveolar. They may be somewhat fronted, so that the component is laminal denti-alveolar. ^6 /ʎ/, /ɲ/ are laminal front alveolo-palatal, otherwise, sources, like Carbonell & Llisterri generally describe them as postalveolar. Voiced obstruents undergo final-obstruent devoicing so that fred is pronounced with, voiced stops become lenited to approximants in syllable onsets, after continuants, /b/ →, /d/ →, /ɡ/ →. Exceptions include /d/ after lateral consonants and /b/ after /f/, e. g. ull de bou, additionally, /b/ fails to lenite in non-betacist dialects. In the coda position, these sounds are realized as stops except in many Valencian dialects. In some Valencian dialects final /p, t, k/ can be lenited before a vowel, in some dialects initial /ɡ/ can be lenited, gata. In many Catalan dialects, /b/ and /ɡ/ may be geminated in certain environments. In Majorcan varieties, /k/ and /ɡ/ become and word-finally and before front vowels, in some of these dialects, alveolar affricates, and, occur the least of all affricates. Instances of arise mostly from compounding, the few lexical instances arise from historical compounding, for instance, potser comes from pot + ser. As such, does not occur word-initially, other than some rare words of foreign origin, Standard Eastern Catalan also only allows in intervocalic position. Phonemic analyses show word-final occurrences of /dʒ/, but final devoicing eliminates this from the surface, in various other dialects, occurs word-initially and after another consonant to the exclusion of. These instances of word-initial seem to correspond to in other dialects, including the standard, xinxa, similarly, in most of Valencian and southern Catalonia, most occurrences of correspond to the voiced fricative in Standard Eastern Catalan, gel
Catalan phonology
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Vowels of Standard Eastern Catalan, from Carbonell & Llisterri (1999:62)
6.
Institut Ramon Llull
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The Institut Ramon Llull is a Catalan organization constituted in 2002 in order to promote Catalan language and culture internationally. The founding members are the governments of Catalonia and the Balearic Islands with the collaboration of the Spanish Ministry of Foreign Affairs. In the 2004-2008 period, the Balearic regional government left the institution, IRL headquarters are shared between Barcelona and Palma. On May 21,2008, the Vives Network was integrated into the IRL, both the institute and the foundation are named after Ramon Llull, a Majorcan medieval writer and philosopher, who is considered the first notable writer in Catalan. The Ramon Llull Institutes main objective is to promote Catalan language and culture abroad, on 10 October 2007, Catalan Culture was the guest of honor of the Frankfurt Book Fair. The government of Andorra collaborated with IRL in this event before the creation of FRL, the main resources of this institution are the ones allocated by its participant regions for this purpose. Instituto Cervantes Ramon Llull Institute Official Web Page
Institut Ramon Llull
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Entrance to the Institut Ramon Llull headquarters at
Barcelona
7.
Catalan people
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The Catalans are a Romance ethnic group formed by the people from, or with origins in, Catalonia, who form a nationality in northern Spain. The inhabitants of the adjacent portion of southern France are included in this definition, also, Catalan is sometimes used to define people from the so-called Catalan Countries, expression used to include other areas where the Catalan is spoken. The aforementioned territories are often designated Països Catalans, Catalan Countries, the area that now is known primarily as Catalonia was, as the rest of the Iberian Peninsula, invaded in 1500 BCE by Proto-Celtic Urnfield people who brought the rite of burning the dead. These Indo-European people were absorbed by the Iberians beginning in 600 BCE in a process that would not be complete until the fourth century BCE. These groups came under the rule of various invading groups starting with the Phoenicians and Carthaginians, following the Punic Wars, the Romans replaced the Carthaginians as the dominant power in the Iberian eastern coast, including parts of Catalonia, by 206 BCE. Rome established Latin as the language and imparted a distinctly Roman culture upon the local population. An early precursor to the Catalan language began to develop from a form of popular Latin before. Various Germanic tribes arrived following nearly six centuries of Roman rule, the Visigoths established themselves in the fifth century and would rule the area until 718 when Muslim Arabs and Berbers conquered the region and held it for close to a century. The Franks held back small Muslim raiding parties, which had penetrated virtually unchallenged as far as central France, larger wars with the Muslims began with the Spanish March which led to the beginnings of the Reconquista by Catalan forces over most of Catalonia by the year 801. Barcelona became an important center for Christian forces in the Iberian Peninsula, Catalonia emerged from the conflicts in Muslim Spain as a regional power, as Christian rulers entrenched themselves in the region during the Carolingian period. Rulers such as Wilfred the Hairy became masters of a territory encompassing Catalonia. The Crown of Aragón included Catalonia, Aragón, Valencia, some sporadic regional unrest led to conflicts such as the Revolt of the Germanies in Valencia and Majorca, and the 1640 revolt in Catalonia known as the Reapers War. This latter conflict embroiled Spain in a war with France as many Catalan nobles allied themselves with Louis XIII. The Catalan government took sides with the Habsburg pretender against the Bourbon one during the War of the Spanish Succession that started in 1705 and ended in 1714. The Catalan failure to defend the perpetuation of Habsburg dynasty in Spain culminated in the surrender of Barcelona on 11 September 1714, which came to be commemorated as Catalonias national day. During the Napoleonic Wars, much of Catalonia was seized by French forces by 1808, in France, strong assimilationist policies integrated many Catalans into French society, while in Spain a Catalan identity was increasingly suppressed in favor of a national identity. The Catalans regained autonomy during the Spanish Second Republic from 1932 until Francisco Francos nationalist forces retook Catalonia by 1939. It was not until 1975 and the death of Franco that the Catalans as well as other Spaniards began to regain their right to cultural expression, which was restarted by the Spanish Constitution of 1978
Catalan people
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Battle of the Puig by Andreu Marçal de Sax depicting the Christian victory with the aid of
Saint George.
Catalan people
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After the Catalan defeat during the
War of Spanish Succession,
Philip V of Spain ordered to publicly burn all the Catalan flags and banners.
Catalan people
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The
castells,
human towers, are part of the Catalan culture since 1712 and were declared by
UNESCO to be amongst the
Masterpieces of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity.
Catalan people
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Catalan children wearing the traditional outfit, including the
barretina.
8.
Valencian people
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Valencians are an indigenous Romance ethnic group whose homeland is the Valencian Community, which is recognised as an historical nation in eastern Spain. The official languages of Valencia are Valencian and Spanish, the Valencian Community is politically divided in three provinces, from south to north, Alicante, Valencia and Castellón. The current version of the Valencian Statute of Autonomy declares the Valencian Community a nationality of Spain, in 1237, the Moorish taifa of Valencia was taken by king James I the Conqueror of the Crown of Aragon. The population of the new kingdom was by far mostly Muslim, so the crown started a campaign of repopulation of the lands with Christians, the new Christian arrivals came from Catalonia and Aragon. The Requena comarca was, like the Alto Vinalopó, part of Castile until the mid-nineteenth century, Moorish presence in the Kingdom of Valencia was very high, making one third of the entire population at the time of the expulsion. The Christian Valencian elites disapproved the King Philip plans of Expulsion of the Moriscos in 1609, in the last years, concentration in the great capitals and its metropolitan areas has augmented considerably especially in all the coastal cities and towns. Thus, traditionally small populations such as Benidorm or Torrevieja have undergone a population increase due to the seasonal migration of tourists. Valencian and Spanish are the languages of Valencia. Spanish is the language of the Spanish state, while Valencian is the language considered by the Statute of Autonomy as llengua pròpia. Paella is a dish which originated in Valencia near lake Albufera. Valencians consider paella their main national dish, other famous Valencian dishes are the orxata drink, and the bunyols, the sweet pastry eaten in falles. List of Valencians Valencianism Catalan countries Nationalities of Spain
Valencian people
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Vicent Ferrer
Valencian people
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Valencian dialects.
Valencian people
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Pope Alexander VI
Valencian people
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Jusepe de Ribera
9.
History of Catalonia
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The territory that now constitutes the nationality and autonomous community of Catalonia in Spain was first settled during the Middle Palaeolithic era. The area that is now Catalonia was the first area of Hispania conquered by the Romans and it then came under Visigothic rule after collapse of the western part of the Roman Empire. In 718, the area was occupied by the Moors and became a part of Muslim ruled al-Andalus, an identifiably Catalan culture developed in the later Middle Ages under the hegemony of the counts of Barcelona. The marriage of Ferdinand II of Aragon and Isabella I of Castile in 1469 laid the foundations for a unified Crown of Spain. In 1492, the Emirate of Granada, the last political entity of al-Andalus in the peninsula, was conquered, political power began to shift away from the Crown of Aragon towards Castile. During the war, Catalonia had supported the claim of a member of the Austrian branch of the Habsburg dynasty, however, the Bourbon monarchy allowed for Catalonias civil law code to be maintained. Following the model of France, he imposed a unifying legislation and administration across Spain, as well as introducing the French Sallic Law and this led to the eclipse of Catalan as a language of government and literature. Economically, Catalonia experienced commercial growth in the late 18th century when the Bourbons ended Castiles trade monopoly with Spains American colonies, the Napoleonic occupation and war in Spain in the early 19th century began a period of political and economic turmoil. In the latter half of the 19th century, Catalonia became a center of industrialization, like Madrid, the Basque country and much of Spain, Catalonia fought hard to defend the Second Spanish Republic in the devastating civil war of 1936–1939. With the defeat of the Spanish Republic by the wing forces of Francisco Franco. A great effort was made by Francos regime to all regional cultures, languages and identities within Spain. The Catalan language, like other languages, continued to be used in private. In the years after the war life was difficult. With Spain devastated and cut off from trade by boycotts, Catalonia, as a commercial and industrial center. The economic recovery was slow and it was not until the mid-1950s that the economy reached the prewar levels of 1936. The first known settlements in what is now Catalonia were at the beginning of the Middle Palaeolithic. From the next era, the Epipaleolithic or Mesolithic, important remains survive. The most important Neolithic remains in Catalonia are the Cave of Fontmajor, The Cave of Toll, the caves Gran and Freda, the Chalcolithic or Eneolithic period developed in Catalonia between 2500 and 1800 BC, with the beginning of the construction of copper objects
History of Catalonia
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Catalan Constitutions, 1585
History of Catalonia
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By the second half of the ninth century, three political subdivisions (marches) existed in the eastern Pyrenees: Toulouse (green), Gothia (blue), and Hispania (pink).
History of Catalonia
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James I of Aragon
History of Catalonia
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Miniature (15th century) of the
Catalan Court
10.
Crown of Aragon
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Put in contemporary terms, it has sometimes been considered that the different lands of the Crown of Aragon functioned more as a confederation than as a single kingdom. In this sense, the larger Crown of Aragon must not be confused with one of its constituent parts, formally, the political center of the Crown of Aragon was Zaragoza, where kings were crowned at La Seo Cathedral. The de facto capital and leading cultural, administrative and economic centre of the Crown of Aragon was Barcelona followed by Valencia, finally, Palma was an additional important city and seaport. For brief periods the Crown of Aragon also controlled Montpellier, Provence, Corsica, the countries that are today known as Spain and Portugal spent the Middle Ages after 722 in an intermittent struggle called the Reconquista. This struggle pitted the northern Christian kingdoms against the Islamic taifa petty kingdoms of the South, in the Late Middle Ages, the expansion of the Aragonese Crown southwards met with the Castilian advance eastward in the region of Murcia. Afterward, the Aragonese Crown focused on the Mediterranean, acting as far as Greece and Barbary, whereas Portugal, mercenaries from the territories in the Crown, known as almogàvers participated in the creation of this Mediterranean empire, and later found employment in countries all across southern Europe. The Crown of Aragon has been considered by some as an empire which ruled in the Mediterranean for hundreds of years and it was indeed, at its height, one of the major powers in Europe. However, its different territories were connected through the person of the monarch. A modern historian, Juan de Contreras y Lopez de Ayala, Marqués de Lozoya described the Crown of Aragon as being more like a confederacy than a centralised kingdom, let alone an empire. Nor did official documents refer to it as an empire, instead. This union respected the institutions and parliaments of both territories. This was due to the loss of Catalan influence, the renunciation of the family rights of the counts of Barcelona in Occitania. Petronillas father King Ramiro, The Monk who was raised in the Saint Pons de Thomières Monastery and his brothers Peter I and Alfonso I El Batallador had bravely fought against Castile for hegemony in the Iberian peninsula. After the death of Alfonso I, the Aragonese nobility that campaigned close him feared being overwhelmed by the influence of Castile, and so, Ramiro was forced to leave his monastic life and proclaim himself King of Aragon. He married Agnes, sister of the Duke of Aquitaine and betrothed his daughter to Raymond Berengar IV of Barcelona. The wedding agreement provided Raymond Berengar IV the title of Princeps Aragonum and Dominator Aragonenesis and kept the title, Raymond Berengar IV, the first ruler of the united dynasty, called himself Count of Barcelona and Prince of Aragon. Alfonso II inherited two realms and with them, two different expansion processes, the House of Jiménez looked south in a battle against Castile for the control of the Mediterranean coast in the Iberian peninsula. The House of Barcelona looked north to its origins, Occitania, soon, Alfonso II of Aragon and Barcelona committed himself to conquer Valencia as the Aragonese nobility demanded
Crown of Aragon
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Petronilla of Aragon (1136–1173) and
Ramon Berenguer IV, Count of Barcelona (ca. 1131–1162) depicted in a 16th-century painting.
Crown of Aragon
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Standard
Crown of Aragon
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Equestrian heraldic representation of King of Aragon in the "Equestrian armorial of the Golden Fleece" 1433-1435.
Crown of Aragon
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Ferdinand V and
Isabella I,
King and Queen of Castile and León, and later of Aragon, Valencia, Sicily, and Majorca
11.
Kingdom of Majorca
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The Kingdom of Majorca was founded by James I of Aragon, also known as James The Conqueror. After the death of his firstborn son Alfonso, a will was written in 1262, the Kingdom of Majorca passed to James, who reigned under the name of James II of Majorca. After 1279, Peter III of Aragon established that the king of Majorca was a vassal to the king of Aragon, the title continued to be employed by the Aragonese and Spanish monarchs until its dissolution by the 1715 Nueva Planta decrees. The kingdom included the Balearic Islands, Majorca, Minorca, Ibiza, conscious of the fragility of the Kingdom of Majorca, James I undertook the conquest of Cerdanya to unify the new kingdom. He also entered negotiations to arrange the marriage of his son James to Beatrice of Savoy. On the death of James I, the new king of Majorca, James II, preoccupied with diverse problems within the realm, it was not until 1279 when the Majorcan monarch reconciled to have his states recognized as subordinate to the king of Aragon. As a consequence the Kingdom of Majorca could not hold court, by means of the Treaty of Perpignan in 1279, an imbalance of power between the Kingdom of Aragon and the Kingdom of Majorca was created. This treaty would condition relations between the Kingdom of Majorca and the Crown of Aragon throughout the formers existence, the lack of courts later aggravated the destabilization of a kingdom already on the brink of fracture, which, besides this, lacked any common institution beyond the monarchy. During the Aragonese Crusade, James II of Majorca allied himself with the Pope, as a result, Peters successor Alfonso conquered the kingdom in 1286. However, by the Treaty of Anagni in 1295, James II of Aragon was required to restore the Balearics to James of Majorca. On the death of James II of Majorcas son Sancho in 1324, James III took the throne at the age of nine, the situation was difficult since James II of Aragon did not renounce his claim to the Majorcan throne. While the act solved the problem of succession, it plunged the kingdom into a serious financial crisis. James was forced to develop policies similar to that of Aragons, to that end, he was forced to participate in the war against Genoa, which resulted in the loss of various economic markets for the kingdom. Again, it was necessary to impose new taxes and fines on the Jewish community though this was insufficient to resolve the financial crisis. The problems of the kingdom did not appear to have an end since in 1341, in May 1343, Peter IV invaded the Balearic Islands and followed that in 1344 with the invasions of the counties of Roussillon and Cerdanya. James III was able to only his French possessions. After the sale of these possessions to the king of France in 1349 and he was defeated and killed at the Battle of Llucmajor on 25 October 1349. Then, the Kingdom of Majorca was definitively incorporated into the Crown of Aragon, the kingdom of Majorca, which had bonds of vassalage with the crowns of France and Aragon, could not remain neutral during the conflicts
Kingdom of Majorca
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The Kingdom of Majorca.
Kingdom of Majorca
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Conquest of Majorca by
James I of Aragon (1229)
12.
Principality of Catalonia
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At the time, Catalonia did not yet exist as a political entity, though the use of this term seems to acknowledge Catalonia as a cultural or geographical entity. The counties that would make up the Principality of Catalonia were gradually unified under the rule of the Count of Barcelona. Under Alfons the Troubador, Catalonia was regarded as an entity for the first time. Still, the term Principality of Catalonia was not used legally until the 14th century, the term Principality of Catalonia remained in use until the Second Spanish Republic, when its use declined because of its historical relation to the monarchy. Today, the term is used primarily by Catalan nationalists and independentists to refer collectively to the French, like much of the Mediterranean coast of the Iberian Peninsula, it was colonized by Ancient Greeks, which chose Roses to settle in. Both Greeks and Carthaginians interacted with the main Iberian population, after the Carthaginian defeat, it became, along with the rest of Hispania, a part of the Roman Empire, Tarraco being one of the main Roman posts in the Iberian Peninsula. The Visigoths ruled after the Western Roman Empires collapse near the end of the 5th century, moorish Al-Andalus gained control in the early 8th century, after conquering the Visigothic kingdom in 711-718. A distinctive Catalan culture started to develop in the Middle Ages stemming from a number of petty kingdoms organized as small counties throughout the northernmost part of Catalonia. The counts of Barcelona were Frankish vassals nominated by the Carolingian emperor then the king of the Franks, in 987 the count of Barcelona did not recognise Frankish king Hugh Capet and his new dynasty which put it effectively out of the Frankish rule. At the start of eleventh century the Catalan Counties suffer an important process of feudalisation, on the other side, the king of France, heir of the Carolingian Empire formally renounced his nominal feudal lordship over all the Catalan counties. This treaty turned the de facto independence of the Catalan counties into a de jure. At the same time, the Principality of Catalonia developed an institutional and political system based in the concept of pact between the estates of the realm and the king. The laws had to be approved in the General Court of Catalonia, the first Catalan constitutions are of the ones from the Catalan Courts of Barcelona from 1283. The last ones were promulgated by the Courts of 1705-1706, presided by the king Charles III, the compilations of the Constitutions and other rights of Catalonia followed the Roman tradition of the Codex. This constitutions developed a compilation of rights for the whole citizens of the Principality. The General Court of Catalonia, dating from the 11th century, is one of the first parliaments in continental Europe, the Courts were composed by the three estates of the realm and were presided by the king of Aragon. The current Parliament of Catalonia is considered the symbolic and historic successor of this institution, the domains of the Aragonese Crown were severely affected by the Black Death pandemic and by later outbreaks of the plague. Between 1347 and 1497 Catalonia lost 37 percent of its population, in 1410, King Martin I died without surviving descendants
Principality of Catalonia
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The Principality of Catalonia in 1608 by Jan Baptist Vrients
Principality of Catalonia
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Territory of the Principality of Catalonia until 1659.
Principality of Catalonia
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1702 compilation of Catalan Constitutions
Principality of Catalonia
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The
Battle of Montjuïc (1641), a decisive victory of the Franco-Catalan armies during the Catalan Revolt
13.
Catalan constitutions
–
The Catalan constitutions were the laws promulgated by the King of Aragon and Count of Barcelona and approved by the Catalan Courts. The Corts in Catalan have the origin as courts in English. The first constitutions were promulgated by the Corts of 1283, the last ones were promulgated by the Corts of 1705. They had pre-eminence over the legal rules and could only be revoked by the Catalan Courts themselves. The compilations of the constitutions and other rights of Catalonia followed the Roman tradition of the Codex, the first compilation was prescribed by Ferdinand I of Aragon, and suggestion by the Corts of Barcelona from 1413. It spread in edition of the 1495, together with the Usages of Barcelona, Usatges of Barcelona, constitutions, chapters and acts of court and other laws of Catalonia. This series of decrees abolished the laws of the territories that supported his rival to the throne, the Archduke Charles of Austria. The Decretos attempted to make Spain into a state on the model of France. These acts were promulgated in Valencia and Aragon in 1707, and were extended in 1716 to Catalonia, thus, the Catalan Constitutions were effectively abolished by the Kings authority after his military victory, rather than through any legislative process within Catalonia itself. The change ignored the Catalan Constitutions own provisions for how they were to be amended or reformed, during the Third Carlist War, the Carlist forces managed to occupy some cities in the Catalan interior. Isabel II was in exile and King Amadeo I had reigned since 1871, the promise was never fulfilled, as the Carlist revolt did not succeed. Carlos María de los Dolores finally departed for France,27 February 1876, principality of Catalonia Parliament of Catalonia Decretos de Nueva Planta Catalan Grand Company Constitucions de Catalunya del 1495 on Wikisource. Furs, capítols, provisions e actes de cort fets y atorgats per la S. C. R. M, del rey don Phelip nostre senyor, ara gloriosamente regnant. Constitutions y altres drets de Cathalunya, Barcelona,1704 on Wikisource, chapters of the Corts of Montsó digitalized, at the Spanish Office of Culture record image The demise of the catalan dynasty and the growing estrangement of the crown
Catalan constitutions
–
1702 compilation
14.
Furs of Valencia
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Furs of Valencia were the laws of the Kingdom of Valencia during most of Middle Ages and Early modern Europe. The laws were a series of charters which, altogether, worked similarly as a modern Constitution does now, thus, they defined the position, and the checks and balances between the Royal House, the nobility, the Catholic ecclesiastic and the judicial procedures. The first codifications are based in the Usages of Barcelona, Costums of Lleida, the Furs were valid for more than four centuries, until it was abolished by means of the Nueva Planta decrees signed by Philip V of Castile in 1707. Kingdom of Valencia List of Valencian monarchs Generalitat Valenciana Valencian Parliament
Furs of Valencia
–
The
Llotja de la Seda in Valencia
15.
Nueva Planta decrees
–
The acts abolishing the charters were promulgated in 1707 in Valencia and Aragon, in 1715 in Majorca and the other Balearic Islands, and finally in Catalonia on 16 January 1716. The decrees effectively created a Spanish citizenship or nationality, that judicially did not distinguish between Castillian and Aragonese anymore, both with respect to rights and law and they abolished internal borders and customs except for the Basque territory, giving grant to all Spaniards to trade with American colonies. Philip of Bourbon won the war of the Spanish Succession and imposed unification policies over the Crown of Aragon, top civil servants were appointed directly from Madrid, the kings court city, and most institutions in these territories were abolished. Court cases could only be presented and argued in Castilian, which became the language of government, displacing Latin, Catalan. Bourbon Reforms of Philip V and his successors Catalan Constitutions Furs of Valencia This article draws on material from the article in the Spanish Wikipedia. Documents about the case of the catalans dated on 1714, at the House of Lords, journal of the House of Lords, volume 19,2 August 1715, Further Articles of Impeachment against E. Oxford brought from H. C. Extract from the Decree of abolition of the fueros of Aragon and Valencia from Wikisource Decree of 16 January 1716 Nueva Planta decree digitalization
Nueva Planta decrees
–
Nueva Planta decrees (cover)
16.
Andorra
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Created under a charter in 988, the present principality was formed in 1278. It is known as a principality as it is a monarchy headed by two Co-Princes – the Roman Catholic Bishop of Urgell in Spain, and the President of France. Andorra is the sixth-smallest nation in Europe, having an area of 468 km2 and its capital Andorra la Vella is the highest capital city in Europe, at an elevation of 1,023 metres above sea level. The official language is Catalan, although Spanish, Portuguese, Andorras tourism services an estimated 10.2 million visitors annually. It is not a member of the European Union, but the euro is the official currency and it has been a member of the United Nations since 1993. In 2013, the people of Andorra had the highest life expectancy in the world at 81 years, the origin of the word Andorra is unknown, although several hypotheses have been formulated. The word Andosini or Andosins may derive from the Basque handia whose meaning is big or giant, the Andorran toponymy shows evidence of Basque language in the area. Another theory suggests that the word Andorra may derive from the old word Anorra that contains the Basque word ur, another theory suggests that Andorra may derive from Arabic al-durra, meaning The forest. Other theories suggest that the term derives from the Navarro-Aragonese andurrial, la Balma de la Margineda found by archaeologists at Sant Julia de Loria were the first temporal settled in 10000 BC as a passing place between the two sides of the Pyrenees. The seasonal camp was located for hunting and fishing by the groups of hunter-gatherers from Ariege. During the Neolithic Age the group of humans moved to the Valley of Madriu as a permanent camp in 6640 BC, the population of the valley grew cereals, raised domestic livestock and developed a commercial trade with people from the Segre and Occitania. Other archaeological deposits include the Tombs of Segudet and Feixa del Moro both dated in 4900-4300 BC as an example of the Urn culture in Andorra, the model of small settlements begin to evolved as an complex urbanism during the Bronze Age. We can found metallurgical items of iron, ancient coins and relicaries in the ancient sanctuaries scattered around the country, the inhabitants of the valleys were traditionally associated with the Iberians and historically located in Andorra as the Iberian tribe Andosins or Andosini during the VII and II centuries BC. Influenced by Aquitanias, Basque and Iberian languages the locals developed some current toponyms, early writings and documents relating this group of people goes back to the second century BC by the Greek writer Polybius in his Histories during the Punic Wars. Some of the most significant remains of this era are the Castle of the Roc dEnclar, lAnxiu in Les Escaldes and it is known the presence of Roman influence from the II century BC to the V century AD. The places found with more Roman presence are in Camp Vermell in Sant Julia de Loria, people continued trading, mainly with wine and cereals, with the Roman cities of Urgellet and all across Segre through the Via Romana Strata Ceretana. After the fall of the Roman Empire Andorra was under the influence of the Visigoths, not directly from the Kingdom of Toledo by distance, the Visigoths remained during 200 years in the valleys, a period in which Christianization takes place within the country. The fall of the Visigoths came from the Muslim Empire and its conquest of the Iberian Peninsula, Andorra remained away from these invasions by the Franks
Andorra
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Sant Joan de Caselles church, dating from the 11th century.
Andorra
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Flag
Andorra
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Boris Skossyreff, briefly self-proclaimed "King of Andorra" in 1934.
Andorra
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Joan Enric Vives i Sicília current
episcopal co-prince of Andorra since 12 May 2003.
17.
Balearic Islands
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The Balearic Islands are an archipelago of Spain in the western Mediterranean Sea, near the eastern coast of the Iberian Peninsula. The four largest islands are Majorca, Minorca, Ibiza and Formentera, there are many minor islands and islets close to the larger islands, including Cabrera, Dragonera and SEspalmador. The islands have a Mediterranean climate, and the four islands are all popular tourist destinations. Ibiza in particular is known as a party destination, attracting many of the worlds most popular DJs to its nightclubs. The islands culture and cuisine are similar to that of the rest of Spain but have their own distinctive features, the archipelago forms an autonomous community and a province of Spain, with Palma de Mallorca as the capital. The 2007 Statute of Autonomy declares the Balearic Islands as one nationality of Spain, the co-official languages in the Balearic Islands are Catalan and Spanish. Though now a part of Spain, throughout history the Balearic Islands have been under the rule of a number of different kingdoms, the official name of the Balearic Islands in Catalan is Illes Balears, while in Spanish they are known as the Islas Baleares. The term Balearic derives from Greek, of the various theories on the origins of the two ancient Greek and Latin names for the islands—Gymnasiae and Baleares—classical sources provide two. According to the Lycophrons Alexandra verses, the islands were called Γυμνησίαι/Gymnesiae because its inhabitants were often nude, the Greek and Roman writers generally derive the name of the people from their skill as slingers, although Strabo regards the name as of Phoenician origin. He observed it was the Phoenician equivalent for lightly armoured soldiers the Greeks would have called γυμνῆτας/gymnetas, the root bal does point to a Phoenician origin, perhaps the islands were sacred to the god Baal and the resemblance to the Greek root ΒΑΛ is accidental. Indeed, it was usual Greek practice to assimilate local names into their own language, but the common Greek name of the islands is not Βαλεαρεῖς/Baleareis, but Γυμνησίαι/Gymnesiai. The former was the used by the natives, as well as by the Carthaginians and Romans. The Balearic Islands are on a platform called the Balearic Promontory. They are cut by a network of northwest to southeast faults, the main islands of the autonomous community are Majorca, Minorca, Ibiza and Formentera, all popular tourist destinations. Amongst the minor islands is Cabrera, the location of the Cabrera Archipelago Maritime-Terrestrial National Park, the islands can be further grouped, with Majorca, Minorca, and Cabrera as the Gymnesian Islands, and Ibiza and Formentera as the Pityusic Islands, also referred to as the Pityuses. Located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, the Balearic Islands unsurprisingly have typical mediterranean climates, the below-listed climatic data of the capital Palma is typical for the archipelago, with minor differences to other stations in Majorca, Ibiza and Menorca. Little is recorded on the earliest inhabitants of the islands, though many legends exist, the story, preserved by Lycophron, that certain shipwrecked Greek Boeotians were cast nude on the islands, was evidently invented to account for the name Gymnesiae. There is also a tradition that the islands were colonised by Rhodes after the Trojan War, the islands had a very mixed population, of whose habits several strange stories are told
Balearic Islands
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Ramon Llull.
Balearic Islands
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Flag
Balearic Islands
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Catalan Atlas, by the
sefardi Cresques Abraham.
Balearic Islands
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King
James I of Aragon (furthest right) during his conquest of Mallorca in 1229.
18.
Catalonia
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Catalonia is an autonomous community of Spain, located on the northeastern extremity of the Iberian Peninsula. It is designated as a nationality by its Statute of Autonomy, Catalonia consists of four provinces, Barcelona, Girona, Lleida, and Tarragona. The capital and largest city is Barcelona, the second-most populated municipality in Spain, Catalonia comprises most of the territory of the former Principality of Catalonia. It is bordered by France and Andorra to the north, the Mediterranean Sea to the east, the official languages are Catalan, Spanish, and the Aranese dialect of Occitan. The eastern counties of these marches were united under the rule of the Frankish vassal the Count of Barcelona, in the later Middle Ages Catalan literature flourished. Between 1469 and 1516, the King of Aragon and the Queen of Castile married and ruled their kingdoms together, retaining all their distinct institutions, Courts, and constitutions. During the Franco-Spanish War, Catalonia revolted against a large and burdensome presence of the Royal army in its territory, within a brief period France took full control of Catalonia, at a high economic cost for Catalonia, until it was largely reconquered by the Spanish army. In the nineteenth century, Catalonia was severely affected by the Napoleonic, in the second half of the century Catalonia experienced industrialisation. As wealth from the industrial expansion grew, Catalonia saw a cultural renaissance coupled with incipient nationalism while several workers movements appeared. In 1914, the four Catalan provinces formed a Commonwealth, and with the return of democracy during the Second Spanish Republic, after the Spanish Civil War, the Francoist dictatorship enacted repressive measures, abolishing Catalan institutions and banning the official use of the Catalan language again. Since the Spanish transition to democracy, Catalonia has regained some political and cultural autonomy and is now one of the most economically dynamic communities of Spain, the origin of the name Catalunya is subject to diverse interpretations because of a lack of evidence. During the Middle Ages, Byzantine chroniclers claimed that Catalania derives from the medley of Goths with Alans. Other less plausible theories suggest, Catalunya derives from the land of castles, having evolved from the term castlà or castlan. This theory therefore suggests that the names Catalunya and Castile have a common root, the source is of Celtic origin, meaning chiefs of battle. Although the area is not known to have been occupied by Celts, the Lacetani, an Iberian tribe that lived in the area and whose name, due to the Roman influence, could have evolved by metathesis to Katelans and then Catalans. In English, Catalonia is pronounced /kætəˈloʊniə/, the native name, Catalunya, is pronounced in Central Catalan, the most widely spoken variety whose pronunciation is considered standard. The Spanish name is Cataluña, and the Aranese name is Catalonha, the first known human settlements in what is now Catalonia were at the beginning of the Middle Palaeolithic. From the next era, the Epipaleolithic or Mesolithic, important remains survive
Catalonia
–
A
Roman aqueduct in
Tarragona.
Catalonia
–
Flag
Catalonia
–
The Medieval church of
Sant Climent in
Taüll, located at the foothills of the
Pyrenees.
Catalonia
–
La Seu Vella, Lleida
19.
Northern Catalonia
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Northern Catalonia refers to the territory ceded to France by Spain through the signing of the Treaty of the Pyrenees in 1659. The area corresponds approximately to the modern French département of the Pyrénées-Orientales, the equivalent term in French, Catalogne Nord, is used nowadays, although less often than the more politically neutral Roussillon. Sometimes French Catalonia can also be used, Northern Catalonia forms a triangle between the Pyrenees to the south, the Corbières to the north-west and the Mediterranean Sea to the east. The Roussillon plain in the east, by far the most populated area, is formed by the plains of the Tech, Têt. The districts of Vallespir and Conflent cover the upper valleys of the Tech, the massif of the Canigou,2785 m, dominates much of the territory. The climate is of the Mediterranean type, with hot, dry summers and winters which are relatively mild, at least on the Roussillon plain where snow is rare. The city of Perpignan accounts for over a quarter of the population, over one-third if its area is taken into account. Major road and rail links run north–south through Northern Catalonia between France and Spain, while a line also links Perpignan to Latour-de-Carol via Prades. Haute-Cerdagne is geographically distinct from the rest of Northern Catalonia, lying to the south of the Pyrenean watershed in the valley of the Segre. It is a mountainous and sparsely-populated district, even taking account the town of Llívia which forms an enclave resting under Spanish sovereignty. The district lies on the most direct route between Toulouse and Barcelona, and a line still links the two cities via Latour-de-Carol. Northern Catalonia formed part of the Spanish Marches, established by Charlemagne as a territory against the Moorish forces. As such, it was divided into counties, Rosselló, Vallespir, Conflent north of the Pyrenees. By the end of the century, these counties had gained de facto independence from the Carolingian kings. As the seigneury of the counties became hereditary, the number of Catalan counts fell steadily. One individual often had the charge of several counties, but these were not always transmitted on the basis of primogeniture, the Counts of Rosselló, in alliance with their cousins the Counts of Empuriés, tried to resist this dilution of their power. However the Counts of Barcelona steadily gained suzerainty over the other Catalan counts, the last Count of Rosselló, Girard II, left his title to the Crown of Aragon on his death in 1172 to prevent the territory passing to his illegitimate half-brothers. Royal administration in Catalonia under the Crown of Aragon was organised on the basis of vegueries, in Northern Catalonia, the vegueries followed closely the boundaries of the old counties
Northern Catalonia
–
The
Canigou (2785 m) seen from near Perpignan: the massif is roughly 60 km (37 mi) from the point where the photograph was taken
Northern Catalonia
–
Northern Catalonia with respect to Catalonia, Spain (left); Northern Catalonia within France (right)
20.
Valencian Community
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The Valencian Community, or the Valencian Country, is an autonomous community of Spain. It is the fourth most populousautonomous community after Andalusia, Catalonia and it is often homonymously identified with its capital Valencia, which is Spains third largest city. It is located along the Mediterranean coast to the east of the Iberian peninsula and it borders with Catalonia to the north, Aragon and Castile–La Mancha to the west, and Murcia to the south. The Valencian Community consists of three provinces which are Castellón, Valencia and Alicante, according to its Statute of Autonomy, the Valencian people are a nationality. Their origins date back to the Catalan-Aragonese colonization of the Moorish Taifa of Valencia, the newly founded Kingdom of Valencia was granted wide self-government under the Crown of Aragon with the promulgation of its Furs in 1261. Valencia experienced its golden age in the 15th century, becoming the economic and cultural capital of the Crown, self-government continued after the unification of the Spanish Kingdom, but was eventually suspended in 1707 by Phillip V of Spain as a result of the Spanish War of Succession. Valencian nationalism resurged towards the end of the 19th century, which led to the conception of the Valencian Country. Self-government under the Generalitat Valenciana was finally reestablished in 1982 after Spanish transition to democracy, the Valencian people speak a variety of Catalan called Valencian, accounting for a third of all Catalan speakers. Valencian is a language that has been historically repressed in favour of Spanish. Since it regained status in 1982, Valencian has been implemented in public administration. However, its use continues to be threatened by Spanish due to migration from other parts of Spain, especially in the cities of València. Furthermore, the conflict continues to be pressing, with some groups opposing the official standard based on Catalan orthography. Valencia was founded by the Romans under the name of Valentia Edetanorum, with the establishment of the Taifa of Valencia, the name developed to بلنسية, which eventually became Valencia after the expulsion of the Moors. Valencian Community is the translation of the official name in Valencian recognized by the Statute of Autonomy of 1982. This is the name most used in administration, tourism. On one hand, Valencian Country represented the modern conception of nationality that resurged in the 19th century and it became well-established during the Second Spanish Republic and later on with the works of Joan Fuster in the 1960s, implying the existence of the Catalan Countries. This nationalist subtext was opposed by anti-Catalan blaverists, who proposed Former Kingdom of Valencia instead in order to emphasize Valencian independence from Catalonia, currently, blaverists have accepted the official denomination. The autonomous community can be identified with its capital Valencia
Valencian Community
–
Archeological site of Tossal de Manises, ancient
Iberian –
Greek –
Carthaginian –
Roman city of Akra Leuke or
Lucentum
Valencian Community
–
Location of the Valencian Community within Spain
Valencian Community
–
Villena castle
Valencian Community
–
Quart Towers,
city of Valencia
21.
Alghero
–
Alghero, is a town of about 44,000 inhabitants in the Italian insular province of Sassari in northwestern Sardinia, next to the Mediterranean Sea. Part of its population descends from Catalan conquerors from the end of the Middle Ages and that is why the Catalan language is co-official in the city, unique in Italy, taking the name of alguerès dialect. The name Alghero comes from the medieval Latin Aleguerium, meaning stagnation of algae, Alghero is the fifth university center in the island, coming after Cagliari and Sassari. It hosts the headquarters of the Università degli Studi di Sassari’s Architecture, in 2012 it was the 10th most visited city by tourists in Italy. For ecclesiastical history, see Roman Catholic Diocese of Alghero-Bosa The area of todays Alghero has been settled since pre-historic times, the Ozieri culture was present here in the 4th millennium BC, while the Nuraghe civilization settled in the area around 1,500 BC. Due to its position on the Mediterranean Sea, Alghero had been developed into a fortified port town by 1102. The Dorias ruled Alghero for centuries, apart from a period under the rule of Pisa between 1283–84. Algheros population later grew because of the arrival of Catalan colonists, in the early 16th century Alghero received papal recognition as a bishopric and the status of Kings City and developed economically. It is uncertain whether this was some settlement, perhaps linked to the events of the Saracen invasions. For two centuries remained in the orbit of the Maritime Republics, as in 1283 when the Pisans were able to control it for a year. These were granted enticing privileges, and in fact replaced the original population, poorly spoken by young people, trying for some time to protect this dialect, through education programs and official use within the local authority. The city, one of the principal of Sardinia and the fifth most populated region, is one of the gateways to the Island and it a strong tourist popular destination in the island, in 2012 it was the 10th Italian cities most visited by foreign tourists. The Aragonese were followed by the Spanish Habsburgs, who ruled until 1702, in 1720 Alghero, along with the rest of Sardinia, was handed over to the Piedmont-based House of Savoy. In 1821 a famine led to a revolt by the population, at the end of the same century Alghero was de-militarised. During the Fascist era, part of the marshes were reclaimed. During World War II Alghero was bombed, and its historical centre suffered heavy damage, the presence of malaria in the countryside was finally overcome in the 1950s. Since then, Alghero has become a popular tourist resort, Alghero is located in the northwestern coast of Sardinia, along the bay named after the city. In the north of the area there is the Nurra plain, to the NW the karstic systems of Capo Caccia, Punta Giglio
Alghero
–
16th century
Catalan city walls
Alghero
–
Nuraghe Palmavera near Alghero.
Alghero
–
Poster for a
Catalan language literary festival in Alghero.
Alghero
–
Bilingual street signs in
Catalan and
Italian
22.
Carche
–
Carche is a mountainous, sparsely populated area in the Region of Murcia, Spain, lying between the municipalities of Jumilla and Yecla. The mountains reach an altitude of 1,371 metres at the Pico de la Madama, three villages border the park, Raspay, La Alberquilla and Carche, with a total of 182 inhabitants. The name also refers to a zone within the Murcian municipalities Yecla, Jumilla and Abanilla with towns in which part of the population speaks Valencian. It covers an area of about 300 square kilometres and has 533 registered citizens and it is also the name of a hamlet, the largest town in the region in terms of surface area, but the smallest in population. Later, Manuel Sanchis i Guarner analysed in detail the distinctive traits of the dialect spoken there, even though Valencian is not officially recognised in Murcia, the Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua organises classes in Valencian in Yecla upon request of the respective municipality. After the expulsion of the Moriscos in the 17th century, large parts of Yecla, Jumilla as well as Abanilla have remained depopulated and these areas have been used as pasture land from 1878 to 1887 and later for agriculture. Due to substantial emigration, mainly caused by a crisis, the population of the region of El Carche. Some of the hamlets, especially those with scattered settlements, are now completely abandoned, population distribution, In the municipality Jumilla, Torre del Rico,59 inhabitants. Cañada del Trigo,158 inhabitants, Raspay,129 inhabitants, cañada de la Leña,152 inhabitants, Abanilla
Carche
–
The
Catalan /
Valencian cultural domain
23.
La Franja
–
La Franja is the area of Catalan-speaking territories of Aragon bordering Catalonia, in Spain. It literally means the strip and can more properly be called Franja dAragó. The thin strip of land is very diverse geographically, ranging from valleys in the Pyrenees to the lands by the Ebro. The term is used in neighbouring Catalonia, especially by Catalan nationalists. The use of a term to refer to the area of Aragon bordering Catalonia as based on linguistic criteria is recent. This term was maintained in the half of the 20th century by Catalan linguists such as Joan Giraldo, along with other terms such as Marques dAragó. Whichever term is used, they all refer to the eastern Catalan-speaking area of Aragon and these terms all originated in Catalonia but later became popular in La Franja itself. They are therefore Catalonia-centered and hence the Ponent reference in the term La Franja del Ponent, later on, alternative denominations such as Aragón Oriental, Franja Oriental or Franja de Levante, all meaning roughly Eastern Aragon or Eastern Strip were created in Aragon. It was finally decided by the ecclesiastic canon judges in 2005 that the 113 works of art belong to the Barbastro-Monzón diocese, in the meantime, the works of art remain located in the Diocese Museum of Lleida. On July 1,2008 an agreement between the two dioceses was announced, again stating that the art pieces would return to the Barbastro-Monzón diocese, then the Vatican itself urged the return of the pieces to Aragon, to no avail. The Catalan language is spoken by a significant proportion of the population of La Franja, during the fourth session of the Cortes de Aragón under the PP-PAR coalition government the Special Commission Report on the Language Policy of Aragon was published. The Catalan-speaking lands are thus reduced to a total of 57 municipalities with an area of 4,137.2 km² with a population of 45,984. The situation is reversed according to the Gran Enciclopedia Aragonesa with the Franja having an area of 5,370 km², all the municipalities which it adds to those of the Avant-project and of Ribagorza and therefore belong to the Province of Huesca. The table to the details the population nuclei and official area. Population centres belonging to the municipality of Graus, population figures according to Ayuntamiento, area according to GREC. net. Population centres belonging to the municipality of Capella, population 2004, area according to GREC. net. Population centres belonging to the municipality of Graus, population according to Ayuntamiento, area according to GREC. net. There is no policy on official toponymy in the Franja
La Franja
–
A graffiti on a road sign in
Bisaurri. The road sign is written in Spanish and the graffiti says " En català " (In Catalan)
La Franja
–
The
Catalan /
Valencian cultural domain
24.
General Council of Andorra
–
The General Council is the unicameral parliament of Andorra. It is sometimes referred to as the General Council of the Valleys because it was the name and to distinguish it from similarly named bodies in the Val dAran. The parish lists and the national list are independent of one another and this is a recent development, originally, the seven parishes had each returned four deputies. The Council appoints a presiding officer, titled the Síndic general, and a deputy, the current Síndic general is Vicenç Mateu Zamora of the Democrats for Andorra. The General Council elects the Head of Government, who presides over the Executive Council, the Head of Government appoints the remaining seven members of the Executive Council. The current Head of Government, is Antoni Martí, political parties are a recent innovation, the first party was formed in 1976, and they only gained legal recognition in 1992. The most recent Andorran parliamentary election was March 2015, the General Council has the second-highest proportion of women legislators, and the highest in the developed world. Exactly half of its members are women, the first parliament in Andorra was established in 1419, as the Consell de la Terra. Councillors were elected by the population, and the council appointed syndics to manage the administration of the principality, the General Council was dissolved on their order in June 1933, and a special election called to re-elect it. The opportunity was taken to change the laws, at this point, all men over twenty-five could vote. In 1970, the vote was extended to women over twenty-five, in 1971 the qualifying age for all electors was lowered to twenty-one, women gained the right to run for office in 1973, and in 1978 a referendum was held on the matter of further reform. Later that year, a parish was formed, bringing the numbers of councillors to twenty-eight. In 1982, the Executive Council was created, comprising the Executive Council President, List of First Syndics of the General Council of the Valleys List of General Syndics of the General Council of the Valleys Politics of Andorra List of legislatures by country Official website
General Council of Andorra
–
General Council of Andorra Consell General d'Andorra
25.
Generalitat of Catalonia
–
The Government of Catalonia or Generalitat de Catalunya is the institution under which the autonomous community of Catalonia in Spain is politically organised. It consists of the Parliament of Catalonia, the President of the Generalitat de Catalunya, the Generalitat had responsibility for an annual budget of €24 billion in 2006, rising to €33 billion in 2010. The Generalitat of Catalonia stems from the institution which ruled, in the name of the King of the Crown of Aragon. The first Catalan constitution is that of the Corts of Barcelona from 1283, another medieval precedent- the Diputació del General de Catalunya – which the 1931 legislators felt was appropriate for invoking as a legitimising base for contemporary self-government. Then, by the early 18th century, as the Nueva Planta decrees were passed in Spain, the president of the Generalitat at the time, Lluís Companys, was tortured and executed in October 1940 for the crime of military rebellion. Artur Mas, the leader of the Convergence and Union alliance, has been the president of the government since mid-December 2010. His party did not obtain a majority in the 2010 election. His election as president was enabled by support of the Socialists Party of Catalonia, on 18 June 2006, a reformed version was approved of the Statute of Autonomy of Catalonia and went into effect in August. The current president of the Generalitat is Carles Puigdemont, previous president Artur Mas was recently charged by the Spanish government for civil disobedience, after he organised and staged a referendum on independence in 2014. The autonomous government consists of the Executive Council, the President, some people wrongly apply this name only to the executive council, however, Generalitat de Catalunya is the system of Catalan autonomous government as a whole. The region has achieved a greater degree of autonomy since 1979. After Navarre and the Basque Country regions, Catalonia has the greatest level of self-government in Spain, the Generalitat holds exclusive and wide jurisdiction in various matters of culture, environment, communications, transportation, commerce, public safety and local governments. In many aspects relating to education, health and justice, the region shares jurisdiction with the Spanish government, with few exceptions, most of the justice system is administered by national judicial institutions. The fields of law that are subject to autonomous legislation have been codified in the Civil Code of Catalonia consisting of six books that have successively entered into force since 2003. As an autonomous community of Spain, Catalonia is not recognized as a state by any sovereign state. However, as Catalonia has progressively gained a degree of self-government in recent years. For the most part, these relationships are with the governments of other powerful entities such as Quebec or California. In addition, like most Spanish autonomous communities, Catalonia has permanent delegations before international organizations, altogether, Catalonia has well over 40 representative offices worldwide
Generalitat of Catalonia
–
Bank note from the Generalitat de Catalunya, 1936
Generalitat of Catalonia
–
Seal of the Generalitat de Catalunya
26.
Generalitat Valenciana
–
The Generalitat Valenciana is the generic name covering the different self-government institutions under which the Spanish autonomous community of Valencia is politically organized. It consists of seven including the Corts Valencianes, the President of the Generalitat. Its functions are regulated by the Valencian Statute of Autonomy, there is also an office in Brussels appointed by the Generalitat Valenciana lobbying before the European Union. The current President of the Generalitat is Alberto Fabra, who was born in Castellón and he assumed presidency in July 2011 and took office in Les Corts in the same month. The Generalitat Valenciana was created in 1418 and it acted, along with the Monarch shared with the other territories of the Crown of Aragon, as the ruling body of the Kingdom of Valencia. Originally its posts were designated for three year terms, in 1510, the process of designating posts was reorganized, becoming more automatic and less elective. This re-organization stayed the same until 1709, when it was abolished as a consequence of the War of the Spanish Succession, the Generalitat Valenciana was not re-established until 1982, after the corresponding Valencian Statute of Autonomy was approved. El Consell consists of eight members, each the leader of an institution, the Department of Treasury and Public Administrations is responsible for finance, the Valencian business sector, public service, and information technology and management communication. The Department of Health is responsible for services and public health. The Department of Social Welfare is responsible for policies affecting social services, dependence, the disabled, family, children, adoptions, youth, women and it represents the people of Valencia via the members of parliament. These members are elected using a universal, direct, free and it is made up of 75-100 members, which are determined by the Statute of Autonomy and through the voting process. The Statute of Autonomy also requires any candidate running for a Seat must stand for a party or coalition that obtains more than 5% of the votes in all the Autonomous Community. The D’Hondt method is used to distribute Seats, in the VIII Term,35 members of Parliament were elected in the Alicante district,24 members in the Castellon district, and 40 in the Valencia district. The Valencian Parliament Regulations were developed in addition to the Statute of Autonomy to govern the organization, on March 4,1983, the first draft of the Valencian Parliament Regulations was approved during the Transitional Phase. Since then, it has several modifications, which were approved by the Valencian Parliament on December 18,2006. The contemporary Corts Valencianes differs from its counterpart of the same name. The former Corts Valencianes was organized into three arms – Ecclesiastic, Military, and Royal – which had different duties than the Corts today, the Consell Valencia de Cultura is a consultation and advisory institution for the Generalitat Valenciana for affairs related to Valencian culture. It defends and promotes the cultural and linguistic values
Generalitat Valenciana
–
Emblem of the Generalitat Valenciana
27.
Politics of Catalonia
–
Catalonia is a Spanish autonomous community with a high-level of self-government. Politics of Catalonia are primarily related to the autonomous Government of Catalonia institutional system, including the Parliament of Catalonia, the President, convergence and Union has been described as being long the regions dominant political party. Catalan politics is also noted, to an extent, for the influence exerted by the Socialists Party of Catalonia on its sister major party. During the 19th and 20th centuries, Catalonia was one of the centres of Spanish industrialisation. Catalan nationalist and federalist movements arose in the century. Its private everyday use was never officially proscribed by law but diminished because of the political situation, during the last decade of Francos rule, there was a resurgence of nationalist sentiment in Catalonia and other historic regions of Spain such as the Basque country. Following Francos death in 1975 and the restoration of democracy by 1978, Catalonia regained its autonomous status, ciUs hegemony was in spite of the major cities having been controlled by its main rival party, PSC. It was also in spite of what has been defined as the dual vote and this refers to the fact that elections results in Catalonia consistently vary depending on the elections type. Thus, elections for the Catalan regional Parliament have been won by the conservative nationalist CiU. However, the social democrat non-nationalist PSC-PSOE has been, and continues to be and this trend culminated in the 2003 elections which saw CiU ousted from the government for the first time in 20 years by means of a tripartite left-wing coalition. On the other side, Catalan remains the predominant language in middle-class and upper-class urban areas, as well as in the regions rural, all in all, Spanish remains the language spoken by a significant portion of Catalans, particularly in working-class areas. In any case, Catalan has undoubtedly experienced a revival since the death of Franco, it has become the language of the autonomous government and enjoys a prominence. But the dominant presence in areas of Spanish-speakers keeps blocking the Catalan nationalist desire of making Catalan language use universal. It began a campaign, consisting of hundreds of bombings which was brought to an end by harsh police operations in 1992. 4 of its members were killed in action and it caused an innocent victim in one of its bombings. Despite its similarities, the activities of Terra Lliure and the MCAN have not reached the strength and notoriety of ETA, at the 2003 regional elections CiU could not renew its absolute majority and PSCs Pasqual Maragall became President of the Generalitat by means of a left-wing tripartite coalition. Since CiU did not win a majority, the combined forces of all three left parties allowed the change in government. While PSC maintained the post of President of the Generalitat, ERC nominated the First Minister — Josep-Lluís Carod-Rovira and, later on and this first tripartite rule became an uneasy coalition due to tensions between the PSC and ERC and internal tensions between PSC and PSOE as well
Politics of Catalonia
–
Independentism support Catalonia, according to ICPS
28.
Catalan nationalism
–
Catalan nationalism is the nationalist ideology which asserts that Catalans are a nation and promotes the cultural unity of Catalans. Intellectually, Catalan nationalism can be said to have commenced as a philosophy in the unsuccessful attempts to establish a federal state in Spain in the context of the First Republic. These demands were summarized in the so-called Bases de Manresa in 1892 and it met very little support at first. Being a broad movement, it can be found in several manifestations in the current political scene, the scope of their national objectives diverges as well. While some restrict them to Catalonia-proper alone, others seek the acknowledgment of the personality of the so-called Catalan Countries. Such claims, which can be seen as a form of Pan-nationalism, can be read in official documents of CiU, ERC, other nationalist parties have existed with additional affiliations such as PSC - Reagrupament whose leader Josep Pallach i Carolà died in 1977. The two main Catalan nationalist parties have shown their commitment to the idea of the Catalan Countries in different ways, for CiU, this issue is not among the main items in their agenda. Nevertheless, the CiU has enjoyed a long collaboration with the Valencian party BNV and with the Majorcan parties UM. During the first centuries of the Reconquista, the Franks drove the Muslims south of the Pyrenees, between 878 and 988 CE, the area became a hotbed of Frankish-Muslim conflict. By 1070, Ramon Berenguer I, Count of Barcelona, had subordinated other Catalan Counts and his action brought peace to a turbulent feudal system and sowed the seeds of Catalan identity. According to several scholars, the term Catalan and Catalonia emerged near the end of the 11th century, Two factors fostered this identity, stable institutions and cultural prosperity. While the temporary lack of foreign invasions contributed to Catalonias stability, rather, it provided a zone for sociopolitical development. By 1150, the king approved a series of pacts, called the Usatges, in addition, the Aragonese gentry established the Corts, a representative body of nobles, bishops, and abbots that counterbalanced the Kings authority. By the end of the 13th century, the monarch needed the consent of the Corts to approve laws or collect revenue, soon after, the Corts elected a standing body called the Diputació del General or the Generalitat, which included the rising upper bourgeoisie. The first Catalan constitutions were promulgated by the Corts of Barcelona in 1283, in the 13th century, King James I of Aragon conquered the Valencia and the Balearic Islands. Catalonias economic success formed a merchant class, which wielded the Corts as its political weapon. It also produced a middle class, or menestralia, that was composed of artisans, shopkeepers. Over the 13th and 14th centuries, these merchants accrued so much wealth, by the 15th century the Aragonese monarch was not considered legitimate until he had sworn to respect the basic law of the land in the presence of the Corts
Catalan nationalism
–
Miniature (15th century) of the
Catalan Court
Catalan nationalism
–
The
Catalan /
Valencian cultural domain
Catalan nationalism
–
The
Reapers' War "Corpus of Blood" by Antoni Estruch i Bros (1907).
Catalan nationalism
–
Catalan Constitutions (1702).
29.
Valencian nationalism
–
Valencian nationalism or Valencianism is a political movement in the Land of Valencia, Spain. It advocates to maintain and promote the recognition of the linguistic, scissions from this association would be the first political organisations of the Valencianism, appeared at the beginning of the 20th century. The symbolical birthdate of Valencianism is considered to be 1902, when Faustí Barberà reads De regionalisme i valentinicultura, with the Francoist dictatorship, the Valencianist tradition is repressed and the Valencian regionalism gets dissolved and instrumentalised by the regime. In the 1960s appears Joan Fuster i Ortells as a referent of a modern Valencianism, transició pólitica i qüestió nacional al País Valencià. Una singularitat amarga, Joan Fuster i el relat de la identitat valenciana, la identitat valenciana a lèpoca contemporània, una perspectiva històrica. Nació i identitats, pensar el País Valencià, la política lingüística dels governs valencians, Un estudi de polítiques públiques. Fonaments de la identitat territorial amb especial atenció a la identitat nacional, el cas valencià, discursos polítics sobre la identitat valenciana entre els militants de base del Bloc, EUPV i PSPV-PSOE. Identitat i reproducció social del discurs del Blaverisme, els valencians, els diners i la política
Valencian nationalism
–
The
Catalan /
Valencian cultural domain
30.
Caganer
–
A Caganer is a figurine depicted in the act of defecation appearing in nativity scenes in Catalonia and neighbouring areas with Catalan culture such as Andorra, Valencia, and Northern Catalonia. It is most popular and widespread in areas, but can also be found in other areas of Spain, Portugal. The name El Caganer” literally means the crapper or the shitter, traditionally, the figurine is depicted as a peasant, wearing the traditional Catalan red cap and with his trousers down, showing a bare backside, and defecating. The exact origin of the Caganer is unknown, but the tradition has existed since at least the 18th century, according to the society 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, commonly materials such as moss will be used to represent grass, with cork used to represent mountains or cliffs. Another variant is to make the setting oriental, with the Wise Men arriving by camel, the caganer is a particular and highly popular feature of modern Catalan nativity scenes. It is believed to have entered the nativity scene by the late 17th or early 18th century, eminent folklorist Joan Amades called it an essential piece and the most popular figure of the nativity scene. It can also be found in parts of southwestern Europe, including Murcia. There is a sculpture of a person defecating hidden inside the cathedral of Ciudad Rodrigo, Province of Salamanca, accompanying Mary, Joseph, Jesus, the shepherds and company, the caganer is often tucked away in a corner of the model, typically nowhere near the manger scene. A tradition in the Catalan Countries is to have children find the hidden figure, placing this figurine in the nativity scene brought good luck and joy and not doing so brought adversity. Many modern caganers represent celebrities and authority figures, by representing them with their pants down, the caganer serves as a leveling device to bring the mighty down. Agustí Pons The caganer is a figure and yet is always sought out like the lost link between transcendence and contingency. Without the caganer, there would be no nativity scene but rather a liturgy, Joan Barril The caganer seems to provide a counterpoint to so much ornamental hullabaloo, so much emotive treacle, so much contrived beauty. Jordi Soler The practice is tolerated by the Catholic church within the areas where the Caganer is popular, although the tradition generally has popular support, opinion is divided as to whether it is wholly appropriate and not all nativity scenes in Catalonia include caganers. The Caganer is not the only defecating character in the Catalan Christmas tradition—another is the Tió de Nadal, which also makes extensive use of the image of faecal matter. Other mentions of faeces and defecation are common in Catalan folklore, indeed, in his book Barcelona, architecture critic and locale historian Robert Hughes gives a good introduction to this earthy tradition. The Caganer can also be found in other European cultures, either as an import or a local tradition, In France. In France this figure seems to date from the 1930s or 40s, at least since the late 1970s, the figure of a traditional Catalan peasant woman was also added, wearing traditional garb including the long black hairnet
Caganer
–
A traditional Catalan caganer from the front.
Caganer
–
A traditional caganer from the back
Caganer
–
Modern caricature caganers for sale
Caganer
–
The caganer in the 2011 official crib scene in Barcelona's
Plaça de Sant Jaume
31.
Castell
–
A castell is a human tower built traditionally in festivals at many locations within Catalonia. At these festivals, several colles castelleres often succeed in building and dismantling a towers structure, on November 16,2010, castells were declared by UNESCO to be amongst the Masterpieces of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity. The tradition of building originated in the Ball dels Valencians in Valls, near the city of Tarragona. Interest in castells began to grow in the 1960s and 1970s, in Catalan, the word castell means castle. A castell is considered a success when assembly and disassembly can be done in complete succession, the enxaneta then climbs down the other side of the castell, after which the remaining levels of castellers descend in highest to lowest order until all have reached safety. Aside from the people who climb to form the parts of the tower, others are needed to form the pinya, or bottom base of the castell. Members of the pinya also act as a safety net if the structure collapses. It is not uncommon—when not in competitions—for other colles to assist in the pinya when a small colla is attempting a specially demanding structure in terms of people needed, the castell is built in two phases. First, the base of the tower—is formed. People forming higher levels of the move to a position from which they can easily get to their places in the tower. This is done slowly and carefully, and as subsequent base levels are completed the castellers in the pinya determine if their base is enough for construction to continue. Then, when the signal to proceed is given, bands begin to play the traditional Toc de Castells music as a hush comes over spectators of the event. The upper layers of the tower are built as quickly as possible in order to put strain on the lower castellers. The disassembly of the castell, done amidst the cheering of the crowd, is often the most treacherous stage of the event. A rising castell consists of successive layers added from the bottom by lifting the castell into the air, stage by stage and is regarded as taking a deal of practice, skill. Typically castellers wear white trousers, a sash, a bandana. For instance, Castellers de Barcelona team wear red shirts while Castellers de Vilafranca wear green shirts. The sash is the most important part of their outfit, since it supports the lower back and is used by other castellers in the team as a foothold or handhold when climbing up the tower
Castell
–
Castell (tres de deu amb folre i manilles) in
Vilafranca del Penedès.
Castell
–
Quatre de vuit of the
Castellers de la Vila de Gràcia in
Lleida (24 October 2009)
Castell
–
Fully constructed
32.
Correfoc
–
Correfocs, literally in English fire-runs) are among the most striking features present in Catalan festivals. In the correfoc, a group of individuals will dress as devils, dancing to the sound of a rhythmic drum group, they set off their fireworks among crowds of spectators. The spectators that participate dress to protect themselves against small burns, other spectators will watch from safe distances, rapidly retreating as necessary. The correfoc can come in many forms, some are simple parades using fireworks and effigies of the devil. In Sitges, it is common for a crowd to line a street, correfocs are run during the Festival of La Mercè in Barcelona and Festival of Santa Tecla in Tarragona and the Festival of Saint Narcissus in Girona. Another typical Catalan folkloric expression of this takes place in LArboç. The highlight of the villages feast is the Carretillada, in the evening of the feast day, the town square is made to look like Hell. For nearly half an hour, devils burn their carretilles, jumping around ceaselessly, while a large sceptre of Lucifer, every year, the carretillada is a bit different, because the colla does not give up novelties that are added each year to add to the spectacle
Correfoc
–
Correfocs in Barcelona
Correfoc
–
Correfoc in
Valencia
33.
Falles
–
The Falles is a traditional celebration held in commemoration of Saint Joseph in the city of Valencia, Spain. The term Falles refers to both the celebration and the monuments burnt during the celebration, a number of towns in the Valencian Community have similar celebrations inspired by the original Falles de València celebration. The Falles festival was added to UNESCOs intangible cultural heritage of humanity list on 30 November 2016, each casal faller produces a construction known as a falla which is eventually burnt. A casal faller is also known as a comissió fallera, the name of the festival is the plural of the Valencian word falla. The words derivation is as follows, Latin fax torch → Latin facvla → Vulgar Latin *facla → Valencian falla, formerly, much time would be spent by the casal faller preparing the ninots. This whole assembly is a falla, the ninots and their falles are constructed according to an agreed-upon theme that has traditionally been a satirical jab at whatever draws the attention of the fallers. In modern times, the festival has spawned a substantial local industry. There are about 750 of these neighbourhood associations in Valencia, with over 200,000 members, during Falles, many people wear their casal faller dress of regional and historical costumes from different eras of Valèncias history. The dolçaina and tabalet are frequently heard, as most of the different casals fallers have their own traditional bands, the five days and nights of Falles might be described as a continuous street party. There are a multitude of processions, historical, religious, crowds in the restaurants spill out into the streets. Explosions can be all day long and sporadically through the night. Everyone from small children to people can be seen throwing fireworks and noisemakers in the streets. Each day of Falles begins at 8,00 am with La Despertà, brass bands appear from the casals and begin to march down every street playing lively music. Close behind them are the fallers, throwing large firecrackers in the street as they go. At 2,00 pm the clock chimes and the Fallera Major, dressed in her finery, will call from the balcony of City Hall, Senyor pirotècnic, pot començar la mascletà. The Mascletà is almost unique to the Valencian Community, and very popular with the Valencian people, smaller neighbourhoods often hold their own mascletà for saints days, weddings and other celebrations. The day of the 15th all of the falles infantils are to be finished being constructed, in this event, the flower offering, each of the casals fallers takes an offering of flowers to the Virgin Mary as Our Lady of the Forsaken. This occurs all day during 17–18 March, a statue of the Virgin Mary and its large pedestal are then covered with all the flowers
Falles
–
City hall
falla for 2015.
Falles
–
Ninots representing
Barack Obama and
Vladimir Putin (parodying
The Nutcracker) in 2015.
Falles
–
La despertà: a band of wind instruments marches through a small street in the early morning.
Falles
–
Falleres in their costumes march with the band.
34.
Bonfires of Saint John
–
The Bonfires of Saint John is a traditional and popular festival celebrated around the world during Midsummer, which takes place on the evening of 23 June, St. Johns Eve. It is customary in many cities and towns in Spain, the largest one takes place in Alicante, the biggest celebration in Portugal is held in Oporto, where it is known as the Festa de São João do Porto. The festivals of Midsummers Eve have roots in ancient celebrations related to the summer solstice, Bonfires were lit to protect against evil spirits which were believed to roam freely when the sun was turning southward again. In later years, witches were thought to be on their way to meetings with other powerful beings. In some areas, bonfires are traditionally named tequeos, which people of the dance. Parties are often organized at beaches, where bonfires are lit, on the Spanish Mediterranean coast, especially in Catalonia and Valencia, special foods such as coca de Sant Joan are also served on this occasion. In Alicante, since 1928, the bonfires of Saint John were developed into elaborate constructions inspired by the Falles, or Fallas, what follows is a summary of Galician traditions surrounding St. Johns festival in relation to these three elements. Medicinal plants, Traditionally, women collect several species of plants on St. Johns eve. These vary from area to area, but mostly include fennel, different species of fern, rue, rosemary, dog rose, lemon verbena, St Johns wort, mallows, laburnum, foxgloves, in some areas, these are arranged in a bunch and hung in doorways. In most others, they are dipped in a vessel with water and left exposed to the dew of night until the following morning. Water, Tradition holds it that the plants mentioned above are most effective when dipped in water collected from seven different springs. Also, on beaches, it was traditional for women who wanted to be fertile to bathe in the sea until they were washed by 9 waves. Occasionally, a dummy is placed at the top, representing a witch or the devil, young and old gather around them and feast mostly on pilchards, potatoes boiled in their skins and maize bread. When it is safe to jump over the bonfire, it is done three times for good luck at the cry of meigas fora. Before 1928, the bonfires of Saint John had been celebrated in Alicante as it had elsewhere in Europe. The Bonfires festival in Alicante originated in 1928, jose María Py, the founder of the festival, felt that Alicante needs an important fiesta, and come up with an idea to combine bonfires with a Valencian tradition known as the falles. The festival ultimately became the most important cultural event in Alicantinian society,19 June The Bonfires start with the Set Up when monuments, street ninots and archways to the barraques are set up in the streets. A pie of tuna and early figs are eaten at night, 19–24 June The despertà occur at 08,00 - Neighbours are awakened with a great deal of noise in all the districts of the city
Bonfires of Saint John
–
Fireworks at the 2008 event
Bonfires of Saint John
–
Bonfire at Almadrava beach on Saint John's night. Bonfires are very common in
Spain and
Portugal.
Bonfires of Saint John
–
2008, Gran Via La Ceramica.
Bonfires of Saint John
–
2008, Florida Portazgo.
35.
Gigantes y cabezudos
–
The main feature of these figures is typically their papier maché head, bodies are covered in clothing matching the costumes theme. The giants are usually hollow figures several meters tall, with a painted paper maché head and arms and their frame is usually made of wood or aluminum, with carton-pierre—a mixture of papier-mâché and plaster of paris— used to make the head and hands. The frame of the body is hidden by cloth, and arms typically have no element to allow them to swing in the air when the giant is turned. Within the frame is an individual controlling the giant and he carries a harness on his shoulder that is linked to the internal structure, and will move and shake the giant in a dance, usually accompanied by a local marching band. Typically, these dances will include at least two giants, the male gigante and the giantess, called giganta or gigantona, though some towns have multiple couples. Cabezudos are smaller figures, usually to the scale, that feature an oversized. The heads are worn with a matching costume, the person dressed as cabezudo will use one hand to hold his head, while the other hand carries a whip or pig bladder, used to frighten children or young women. Seeing through the “mouth” of the head, he will chase after these people, as with the giants, the cabezudos typically represent archetypes of their town
Gigantes y cabezudos
–
Gigantes of
El Cid and
Doña Jimena in
Burgos, Spain
Gigantes y cabezudos
–
Gigantes of
Pamplona, Spain
Gigantes y cabezudos
–
The Giants of
Lleida, Spain
Gigantes y cabezudos
–
Bonecos d'
Olinda, Olinda, Brazil
36.
Moros y cristianos
–
According to popular tradition the festivals commemorate the battles, combats and fights between Moors and Christians during the period known as Reconquista. The festivals represent the capture of the city by the Moors, the people who take part in the festival are usually enlisted in local associations called filaes or comparses. The festivals last for days, and feature festive parades with bombastic costumes loosely inspired by Medieval fashion. Christians wear fur, metallic helmets, and armor, fire loud arquebuses, in contrast, Moors wear ancient Arab costumes, carry scimitars, and ride real camels or elephants. The festival develops among shots of gunpowder, medieval music, and fireworks, according to legend, after James I of Aragon reconquered the city of Alcoi, the Moors, in turn, tried to recover it. As fighting was about to resume, Saint George miraculously appeared, the feast day of St. James is 25 July, so some of the Moors and Christians festivals occur at the end of July. La Vila Joiosa / Villajoyosa celebrates it in the last week of July, with a reenactment of the Berber pirate attack of 1538, especially in northern and western Spain, parades associated with Corpus Christi celebrations may feature gigantic costumed Moors and Christians, also commemorating the Reconquest. Andalusia also has very interesting Moors and Christians performances, especially in the former Moorish kingdom of Granada, performances are mostly organized in rural towns and villages, such as Válor, Granada, a small town in the Eastern Alpujarras. In the Philippines, fiestas often include a moro-moro play, the show begins with a parade of stars in colorful costumes, Christians wear blue costumes, while Moors wear fully ornamented red costumes. Mexico, Guatemala, and Colombia also have festivals featuring Moors, a live marching band plays one of three kinds of music called marchas moras, marchas cristianas and pasodobles. General Domene, J. González Hernández, M. A. y Vázquez, las fiestas de moros y cristianos en el Vianlopó. Centre d’Estudis Locals del Vinalopó-Mancomunitat de Municipis del Vinalopó,312 págs, ISBN 84-609-9551-8 González Hernández, Miguel-Ángel, La Fiesta de Moros y Cristianos, Orígenes siglos XIII-XVIII. Diputación Provincial de Alicante,163 págs, ISBN 84-923611-1-5 González Hernández, Miguel-Ángel, La Fiesta de Moros y Cristianos, Evolución siglos XIX-XX. Diputación Provincial de Alicante,156 págs, ISBN 84-923611-0-7 González Hernández, Miguel-Ángel, Moros y Cristianos. Del Alarde Medieval a las Fiestas Reales Barrocas ss, Diputación de Alicante-Patronato Provincial de Turismo de Alicante. ISBN 84-923611-3-1 González Hernández, Miguel-Ángel, Castalla en el origen de la Fiesta de Moros y Cristianos, Alicante, Diputación de Alicante y Asociación de Comparsas,201 págs. ISBN 84-609-2145-X Pictures of Moros y Cristianos in Muro de Alcoy 2006 Unión Nacional de Entidades Festeras de Moros y Cristianos, Web page of the official organization, Moros y Cristianos Villajoyosa, Pictures of Moros y Cristianos festival in La Vila Joiosa. Alcoy Foto Pictures of Alcoy and La fiesta de moros y cristianos in Alcoy, Moros y Cristianos Festival history and today MusicaFestera. com Music of Moros y Cristianos Moros y Cristianos of Elda
Moros y cristianos
–
Parade of a Christian filà of the Moros i Cristians festival in
Alcoi.
Moros y cristianos
–
The Moor Embassy in
Atalaya Castle,
Villena.
Moros y cristianos
–
Parade of a Muslim filà of the Moros y Cristianos festival in
Albacete.
Moros y cristianos
–
Entrance of the Moors, 2006 -
El Campello.
37.
Muixeranga
–
The muixeranga is much more than an artistic acrobatic dance. It is a collection of ancient human choreographies of enormous plasticity illustrating various figures and shapes, the Muixeranga resembles the modern castellers in many ways, the latter being spread all over Catalonia. Both traditions share the origin, the Moixiganga, once found throughout the Iberian Peninsula. The feast day of Our Lady of Health, patroness of Algemesi is September 8, the image venerated in the town since the mid-twentieth century is a replica, because during the Civil War the original image of the Virgin of Health was destroyed, as was the chapel. The festival appears to have originated in a party in the area of the Chapel of Finding. The main celebration in held on 7 and 8 September, is preceded by a novena at the Chapel of the Finding, which begins August 29 and ends on September 6. The festival has preserved traditional dances and music, and has served as a source for the recovery of dances that formally existed in other locations and have been able to be re-established. The involvement of the inhabitants is the foundation upon which the continuity of this celebration is based. Each ritual works and has been prepared independently since the 18th Century, from the “Muixeranga” through to each of the dances, the different variations and musical scores have been passed from generation to generation. In the early 18th Century the dances belonged to different guilds, for example, the “Muixeranga” was the domain of construction workers, the “Carxofa” of the weavers, but social changes brought modifications to this custom and the traditions opened up to include people from other professional sectors. UNESCO has recognized the ritual, festive and community participation dimension of the Valencian celebration Our Lady of Health as part of the heritage of humanity. The Festivity of “la Mare de Déu de la Salut” has been studied by ethno-anthropologists, sociologists and it has inspired artists, musicians and poets. All of these people have remarked on the breadth of the content of this event. It was this popularity and interest in the tradition that led to the creation in 2002, of the Museu Valencià de la Festa, which offers exhibitions and research into the Festivity. At the centre, visitors can learn about the history, the acts, the dances, the music. There are several theories on the origin of muixeranga, especially in relation to its name, the first theory advocates that the word comes from the Arabic word mochain, meaning mask. A second theory links it with ancient processions held on the streets to some special event. Even though the tradition in the Iberian Peninsula may date back to the 13th century, however, its constant, strong presence suggests a much older origin
Muixeranga
–
The muixeranga in Algemesí
38.
Sardana
–
The sardana is a type of circle dance typical of Catalan culture. The dance was originally from the Empordà region, but started gaining popularity throughout Catalonia during the 20th century, there are two main types, the original sardana curta style and the more modern sardana llarga, which is more popular. Other more unusual sardanes are the sardana de lluïment and the sardana revessa, the origin of the sardana is not clear. It is said that this dance was popular in the 16th century. What remains undisputed is that the sardana was a dance in Empordà, Rosselló. Modern choreography was established as late as the end of the 19th century, pep Venturas band is credited for stabilizing different variants around a clear 68 rhythm and fixing the instrumental ensemble. Though some Iberian and Mediterranean circle dances follow similar patterns, instrumental music for the sardana has achieved a complexity of its own. In the year 2010, the Government of Catalonia added the sardana to the Catàleg del Patrimoni Festiu de Catalunya, music for the sardana is played by a cobla, a band consisting of 10 wind instruments, double bass and a tamborí played by 11 musicians. The cobla has five woodwind instruments, the flabiol which is a fipple flute. These and the tamborí are typical Catalan instruments, the brass instruments are, two trumpets, two fiscorns, and a trombone. The double bass was traditionally a three-stringed one, but now the part is written for. In Catalonia, about one hundred and thirty cobles are active, outside Catalonia, there is at least one more cobla, Cobla La Principal dAmsterdam. The music written for the dance is a sardana, and is usually in two sections, called curts and llargs, each of which may be repeated in various ways to form the pattern for the complete dance, there is usually an experienced dancer leading the circle. The dancers hold hands throughout the dance, arms down during the curts, the introit is a few introductory notes played freely by the flabiolist, typically ending with an upward scale and a tap of the tamborí, signalling the other players and dancers to begin the curts. The first tirada played by the band, called the tirada de curts, is of length between 20 and 50 measures and has a two-measure pattern, the tempo is typically about =112 to 120, in 24 and/or 68 rhythm. It is danced with the arms down, to the right followed by to the left, the curts is usually repeated the first time it is played. The tirada de llargs is of 50 to 100 measures and has a four-measure pattern and it is danced with the arms up to shoulder level, and is more lively than the curts. However the tempo is slower than the curts, about =100 to 108
Sardana
–
Group dancing sardanes in
Barcelona
Sardana
–
Espardenya: traditional shoes used to dance sardanes
39.
Catalan cuisine
–
Catalan cuisine is the cuisine from the autonomous community of Catalonia. It is considered a part of western Mediterranean cuisine, the traditional Catalan cuisine is quite diverse, ranging from pork-intensive dishes cooked in the inland part of the region to fish-based recipes along the coast. The cuisine includes many preparations that mix sweet and savoury and stews with sauces based upon botifarra, calçot Cargols a la llauna Sonsos Allioli, a thick sauce made of garlic and olive oil, used with grilled meats or vegetables, and some dishes. Allioli means garlic and oil in Catalan, samfaina, also called tomacat or pebrots amb tomàquet. Its a variety of Occitan ratatouille or Spanish Pisto, xató, a variety of Salvitxada without tomatoes. Mató de Pedralbes or mató de monja is another kind of Catalan cream, similar to crema catalana, originating in Barcelona. Peres de Lleida is a typical dessert originated in Lleida composed of peeled pears cooked in a kind of lighter crema catalana and served cold, covered by meringue, xuixos are fried pastries created in Girona and stuffed with crema catalana. Carquinyolis are little crunchy almond biscuits often eaten at coffee time, catànies are Catalan marcona almonds covered with white chocolate and powdered black chocolate to be eaten with the coffee. Pets de monja are small nipple-shaped and -sized biscuits also eaten at coffee time, at first they were called pits de monja but time has changed their name to the current pets de monja. Sweet coques were at first eaten only on holidays, Catalans have at least one type of traditional coca for each holiday and feast day of the year. Orelletes are thin fried pastries covered with sugar and eaten during Carnival and they also exist in nearby regions in Spain or France. Sweet bunyols as bunyols de vent, bunyols stuffed with crema catalana or bunyols de lEmpordà are typically done and eaten on Wednesdays and Fridays during Lent. Mona de Pasqua is a pastry covered with almonds, yolk jam, chocolate eggs. It is an ancient pre-Christian tradition which marked the passage from childhood to the adult world. At first, it has one egg for each year of the childrens age, panellets are small pastries made of pine nuts, almonds and sugar with different shapes and flavors, eaten during la Castanyada, which Catalans celebrate on 1 November instead of Halloween. Their origin is Jewish, before the Middle Ages, but the tradition of castanyada is much older, tortell, also called torta or roscó in Northern and Southern dialects. It is round, it can be made of pastry or a mixture similar to lionesas and palos. It is typically bought and eaten after Sundays lunch, in family or with friends, a common alternative is called the braç de gitano, that in Catalonia is always covered with yolk jam
Catalan cuisine
–
Pa amb tomàquet (bread and tomato with olive oil)
Catalan cuisine
–
Fruits from
La Boqueria Market,
Barcelona
Catalan cuisine
–
Rovellons or Pinatells, a tasty wild mushroom
Catalan cuisine
–
Coques, a kind of pizza
40.
Coca (pastry)
–
The coca is a pastry typically made and consumed in Spain. The coca is just one way of preparing a dish traditionally made all around the Mediterranean, the Catalan word coca—plural coques—comes from Dutch during the Carolingian Empire, and shares the same roots as the English cake and the German kuchen. There are many diverse cocas, with four varieties, sweet, savoury, closed. All of them use dough as the ingredient, which is then decorated. This dough can be sweet or savoury, if it is sweet, eggs and sugar are added, and if it is savoury, yeast and salt. As regards the topping or filling, fish and vegetables are usual at the coast whilst inland they prefer fruit, nuts, cheese, some cocas can be both sweet and savoury. Coca is almost any kind of bread-based product and its size can vary from 5 cm up to 1 metre. There are various presentations, the closed coca, a pie or pastry with filling, the open coca, the archetypical coca formed by a pastry base and a topping. The plain coca, a coca without any topping, because it is added during the course of the meal. Amongst the lengthy list of varieties, the most common are, Coca de recapte, Coca de trempó, from Mallorca and the Balearics. Coca de San Joan, a sweet coca most typical of Catalonia, eaten on La revetlla de Sant Joan, Coca de llanda, from the area around Valencia. Coca de xulla, often called coca de llardons, bearing bacon and other meat products, cocas are strongly linked with our country’s traditions. The coca is a common to rich and poor. And a basic part of Catalan cuisine, in Catalonia, the coca has a direct relationship with the festa or holiday. It is typical to buy or prepare cocas during holidays, especially during Easter, Christmas, some cocas even have the names of saints and they are eaten on that saint’s day. Nonetheless, many eat them without any religious or festive reason, especially if we consider that in places like Italy, the Coca de Recapte obeys this logic exactly, since the recapte is a kind of picnic habitually taken out into the fields. Coca, being the Catalan variety of a Mediterranean dish, has local counterparts all over the Mediterranean, apart from Italy, other countries also have similar cakes, pies and pastries. Three examples are the Pissaladière from Provence, the Lahmacun from Turkey and the Bouchée à la Reine from France and Luxembourg, similarly, sweet pies can be found all over Europe
Coca (pastry)
–
Sweet and savoury cocas
Coca (pastry)
–
"Coca de Sant Joan", sweet coca with candied fruits and pine nuts, typical of Catalan summer solstice celebration
Coca (pastry)
–
"Coca de crema", coca with Catalan cream, an example of sweet coca
41.
Paella
–
Paella is a Valencian rice dish. Paella has ancient roots, but its modern form originated in the mid-19th century near the Albufera lagoon on the east coast of Spain adjacent to the city of Valencia, many non-Spaniards view paella as Spains national dish, but most Spaniards consider it to be a regional Valencian dish. Valencians, in turn, regard paella as one of their identifying symbols, types of paella include Valencian paella, vegetarian/vegan paella, seafood paella, and mixed paella, among many others. Valencian paella is believed to be the recipe and consists of white rice, green beans, meat, white beans, snails. Another very common but seasonal ingredient is artichokes, seafood paella replaces meat with seafood and omits beans and green vegetables. Mixed paella is a combination of meat from land animals, seafood, vegetables. Most paella chefs use bomba rice due to it being less likely to overcook, all types of paellas use olive oil. Paella is a Valencian word which derives from the Old French word paelle for pan, the word paella is also related to paila used in many Latin American countries. Paila in the Spanish language of Latin America refers to a variety of cookware resembling metal and clay pans, the Latin root patella from which paella derives is also akin to the modern French poêle, the Italian padella and the Old Spanish padilla. Valencians use the word paella for all pans in the Valencian language, paelleras are traditionally round, shallow, and made of polished steel with two handles. Moors in Muslim Spain began rice cultivation around the 10th century, consequently, Valencians often made casseroles of rice, fish, and spices for family gatherings and religious feasts, thus establishing the custom of eating rice in Spain. This led to becoming a staple by the 15th century. Afterwards, it became customary for cooks to combine rice with vegetables, beans, along Spains eastern coast, rice was predominantly eaten with fish. On special occasions, 18th century Valencians used calderos to cook rice in the air of their orchards near lake Albufera. Water vole meat was one of the ingredients of early paellas, along with eel. Novelist Vicente Blasco Ibáñez described the Valencian custom of eating water voles in Cañas y Barro, living standards rose with the sociological changes of the late 19th century in Spain, giving rise to gatherings and outings in the countryside. This led to a change in ingredients, as well, using instead rabbit, chicken, duck. This dish became so popular that in 1840, a local Spanish newspaper first used the word paella to refer to the rather than the pan
Paella
–
Seafood paella
Paella
–
Raw bomba rice
Paella
–
Traditional preparation of paella
Paella
–
Valencian paella
42.
Catalan myths and legends
–
Catalan myths and legends are the traditional myths and legends of the Catalan-speaking world, especially Catalonia itself, passed down for generations as part of that regions popular culture. Among the figures of Catalan mythology are, Aloja - In Catalan mythology an Aloja, also known as Dona daigua and this water-woman can turn into water blackbirds. The former was considered evil, while the latter might include the working of magical cures. In Catalan popular culture, there are a number of legends about witches. In the popular imagination, a witch is a woman who, by means of a pact with the Devil, has acquired supernatural power, which she uses for her own benefit and for evil purposes. Carnestoltes Cocollona Comte Arnau Comte Estruch Cucafera Dip - In Catalan myth, Dip is an evil, black, hairy dog, an emissary of the Devil, at the anthropological level, sometimes they are manifestations of the fears of the unknown and inexplicable in nature. Some are local representations related to those figures also existing in other cultures, such as witches, Goblin, others are purely local variations, such as Marraco the peasant and the dips
Catalan myths and legends
–
Home dels nassos
43.
Catalan symbols
–
The national symbols of Catalonia are flags, icons or cultural expressions that are emblematic, representative or otherwise characteristic of Catalonia or Catalan culture. The oldest Catalan symbol is the coat of arms of Catalonia, Catalonias national symbols as defined in the Statute of Autonomy of Catalonia are the flag, Catalonias day, and the anthem. These symbols have often a political and revindicative significance, one of the highest civil distinction awarded in Catalonia is the St Georges Cross. Certain former institutions, like the Catalan constitutions, the Usatges, the Consell de Cent, places like the Poblet Monastery where the ancient kings lie buried are especially revered as common symbols that helped consolidate Catalonia in the 12th century. In former times the existence and very survival of Catalonia depended on being victorious in the constant battles against the Saracens, present-day moros i cristians popular festivals still commemorate the battles against the Moors that allowed the Catalans to endure the invasions. Ancestral symbols, like the Virgin of Montserrat, other Virgins and Saints, as well as the Pessebre, the Nit de Reis and these symbols were fruit of a time when churches or cathedrals were in the centre of Catalan towns and respect for priests was not discussed. The Christian cross and the colors of the sacrifice of Christ, white and red for body and blood, some old Christian symbols are now subject to controversy, for present-day society in Catalonia is in a state of Postchristianity, seeing itself as more secular than its traditional ancestry. In recent times, however, these symbols have seen their meaning much reduced, while until the 19th century all Catalans felt represented by their symbols of Christianity, nowadays only a few consider them relevant. According to Torras i Bages, the seny, another Catalan symbol, was based in ancient Catalan traditions. Aside of the symbols of a historic, political and religious character, there are other popular Catalan symbols which are more or less according to the case. The choosing of a Pubilla in the summer fairs comes from an old tradition based on the transmission of hereditary patrimony in rural Catalonia, one of the most famous international symbols of Catalonia is FC Barcelona. The areas footballing branch is supported with a passion by its fans, each season Barça engages in one of La Ligas most famous rivalries, El Clàssic against long-time rivals Real Madrid. To a lesser extent the USAP Perpignan rugby team is considered, especially by some Catalan nationalists. Mountains like the Canigó, Montserrat and the striking double-peaked Pedraforca, are ancestral symbols endowed with mythical attributes according to the local folklore. Certain cities of the Catalan cultural area have a significance as the most extreme geographic points of the spoken Catalan language or one of its variants. These are, Salses, the northernmost, Guardamar, the southernmost, Maó, the easternmost, and Fraga, the botifarra amb mongetes is perhaps the most representative Catalan dish. The Calçot is a type of scallion or green onion known as blanca gran tardana in the Catalan language from Lleida, a calçotada is an annual event in Tarragona, Catalonia celebrating the harvest of Calçot. It is followed by roasted lamb meat and sausage and white beans, for dessert oranges, among the typical Catalan desserts and sweets, the most famous are mel i mató, crema catalana and coca
Catalan symbols
–
Hug IV,
count of Empúries, and Pero Maça,
Lord of Sangarrén during the battle against the Moors in
Mallorca around 1229.
Catalan symbols
–
Front cover from Lo verdader catalá (The True Catalan). A man wearing barretina sitting by the Catalan shield.
Catalan symbols
–
The
Senyera.
Catalan symbols
–
The
Virgin of Montserrat.
44.
Traditions of Catalonia
–
There are quite a number of festivals and traditions in Catalonia. While most are of ancient origin, certain traditions are of recent introduction. There are also some that are common to the whole Catalan society, generally, locals welcome outsiders to share with them in their celebration. The correfocs, in which play with fire close the onlookers, is one of the most striking of the Catalan festive events. The devils are not considered the incarnation of evil, they are sprightly and festive characters, dancing to the sound of drums and the traditional gralla, while they set off their fireworks. Another tradition occurs during the festival day of Sant Jordi, in which men give roses to women. That day is known as Dia del Llibre, coinciding with the anniversaries of the deaths of William Shakespeare, Miguel de Cervantes. The streets are full of people gathering around book and flower stands, perhaps the most spectacular of the Catalan festivals are those of the colles castelleres, groups of enthusiasts who form impressive human towers. This is an old tradition of the Tarragona region, which has now spread to parts of Catalonia, and has become a real spectacle, or sport. Amongst other important festivities are the carnivals over all the region, especially in Sitges, Solsona, Tarragona and Vilanova i la Geltrú, in Catalonia, there are a few local Christmas traditions, one of them is the popular figure of the Tió de Nadal. Another custom is to put up a Pessebre Nativity scene, which includes the Caganer. It is also traditional to hang small branches of mistletoe above the doors, traditionally, all Catalan men and women are named after a Christian saint, Virgin or Biblical personality. Besides celebrating birthdays, Catalan people used to celebrate their name saints day. Similarly November 7 is also remembered in Northern Catalonia after the Treaty of the Pyrenees, among the musical traditions, there is the very special music of the cobles, the wind bands that play sardanes. The sardana is a circular, open dance, that originated in the Empordà region and the Pyrenees, popular folk songs include El Rossinyol, La Balanguera, La Santa Espina, Virolai and El Cant dels Ocells. Some of them something like unofficial national anthems under the years of General Francos dictatorship. Some of those became popular all over the world with the success of the Orfeó Català choir around the beginning of the 20th century. Another song, created by the present singer Lluís Llach, LEstaca, despite its relative recent introduction, singing lEstaca became a kind of tradition
Traditions of Catalonia
–
Castells in front of the
Sagrada Familia in
Barcelona
Traditions of Catalonia
–
The
Castellers
Traditions of Catalonia
–
The
sardana is a
circular.
Traditions of Catalonia
–
The
sardana is now danced in many squares and streets all over Catalonia.
45.
Music of Catalonia
–
The music of Catalonia comprises one of the oldest documented musical traditions in Europe. In tandem with the rest of Western Europe, it has a musical tradition. The so-called Llibre Vermell de Montserrat stands as an important source for 14th-century music, renaissance polyphony flourished in Catalonia, though local composers never attained the fame of either the Spanish composers to the South and West or the French composers to the North. Joan Pau Pujol wrote four books of polyphonic masses and motets in honor of the saint of Barcelona. Performances of opera, mostly imported from Italy, began in the 18th century, several symphonic orchestras exist in Catalonia today, including the Barcelona Orchestra. Around the beginning of the 20th century, two Catalan composers—Enric Granados and Isaac Albéniz—became the most famous composers in Spain, francisco Tárrega and Miquel Llobet expanded the technical possibilities of guitar. Their music remains in the classical repertory today. Cellist Pau Casals is admired as an outstanding player, frederic Mompou is known for his delicate piano works, which often have a Catalan flavor. He spent most of his life in Paris, returning to his native Barcelona only during, a tradition of Catalan art songs also developed, following a similar popularity in the rest of Spain. These have been performed and promoted by Catalan artists, including an album of Catalan folk-songs by Victoria de los Angeles, originally from northern areas of Catalonia, Sardanes are popular dances, and were especially widespread at the end of the 19th century. Currently, two types, the original sardana curta style and more modern sardana llarga, are generally performed. While music is performed by a musical group, sardanes are danced in a circle dance. Other less common include the sardana de lluïment and the sardana revessa. The cobla itself is an 11-piece band, that includes genuine folk instruments such as the flabiol and tambori, tenora, coblas also frequently play as concert bands without the dance. Other popular music are the ball de bastons, galops, espunyolets, ball de panderetes, ball de gitanes, in areas around the river Ebre, like in nearby Aragon and Valencia, the jota is a popular dance. Sung in both Catalan and Spanish, Havaneres have been popular at parties since the end of the 19th century when sailors returned from the War of the Cuban Independence. In the last half century, the rumba catalana genre has spread in Catalunya, played mostly by Gypsies, including popular performers like Peret, during the end of the Franco period, a movement known as Nova Cançó emerged. Nova Cançó singers sang in Catalan, denouncing the official oppression of the language, grup de Folk and Esquirols were other notable cançó groups
Music of Catalonia
–
The
pipe organ at
Santa Maria del Mar, Barcelona
46.
Catalan literature
–
Catalan literature is the name conventionally used to refer to literature written in the Catalan language. The Catalan literary tradition is extensive, starting in the early Middle Ages, a Romantic revivalist movement of the 19th century, Renaixença, classified Catalan literature in periods. The centuries long chapter known as Decadència that followed the golden age of Valencian literature, was perceived as extremely poor, further attempts to explain why this happened have motivated new critical studies of the period, and nowadays a revalorisation of this early modern age is taking place. Catalan literature reemerged in the 19th and early 20th centuries, to experience troubled times from the start of the Spanish Civil War on, many intellectuals were forced into exile and Catalan culture was repressed. However, this began to temper after the end of World War II. Many measures were introduced soon to protect and promote the Catalan language, Catalan, a Romance language, evolved from Vulgar Latin in the Middle Ages, when it became a separate language from Latin. Another early Catalan poem is the mid-13th century Augats, seyós qui credets Déu lo Payre, see Llibre de Meravelles and Blanquerna for more details on his works. These four major works are chronicles written between the 13th and 14th centuries narrating the deeds of the monarchs and leading figures of the Crown of Aragon. They are the following, Crònica de Jaume I, also known as The book of deeds Crònica de Bernat Desclot, also known as Book of the king, Peter of Aragon. Crònica de Ramon Muntaner Crònica de Pere el Cerimoniós The first widespread vernacular writing in any Romance language was the poetry of the troubadours. Since Occitan and Catalan are often indistinguishable before the 14th century, the first Catalan troubadour may be Berenguier de Palazol, active around 1150, who wrote only cançons. Guerau III de Cabrera and Guillem de Berguedà, active in the generation after, were noted exponents of the ensenhamen, during this early period Occitan literature was patronised by the rulers of Catalonia—not surprisingly considering their wide involvement in Occitanian politics and as Counts of Provence. Alfonso II patronised many composers, not just from Catalonia, the tradition of royal troubadours continued with his descendants Peter III James II of Aragon, the anonymous known only as Lo bord del rei dArago, and Frederick II of Sicily. The most prolific Catalan troubadour during the ascendancy of Occitan as language of literature, was Cerverí de Girona and he was the most prolific troubadour of any nationality. In the early 13th century, Raimon Vidal, from Besalú, composed his poetic grammar and this was the earliest and perhaps most influential Occitan lyric treatise. The troubadour lyric followed the Catalans to Sicily later in the century, a third Catalan treatise on the language of the troubadours and composing lyric poetry, the Mirall de trobar, was written by a Majorcan, Berenguer dAnoia. The first golden age of Catalan literature is from half 14th century to 15th century, the language is consolidated and clearly differenciated, even in lyrical poetry, from Occitan language. The prose is widely cultivated, with influences from Italian humanism, authors as the humanist Bernat Metge the preacher Vincent Ferrer, Francesc Eiximenis or Anselm Turmeda write works now considered as classical models of Catalan prose
Catalan literature
–
Tirant lo Blanc, by
Joanot Martorell, the 1490 edition
Catalan literature
–
Àngel Guimerà
47.
Modernisme
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Modernisme, also known as Catalan modernism, is the historiographic denomination given to an art and literature movement. Modernisme was also a literary movement, although it was part of a general trend that emerged in Europe around the turn of the 20th century, in Catalonia the style acquired its own unique personality. Notable painters include Santiago Rusiñol, Ramon Casas, Isidre Nonell, Hermen Anglada Camarasa, Joaquim Mir, Eliseu Meifrèn, Lluïsa Vidal, notable sculptors are Josep Llimona, Eusebi Arnau and Miquel Blai. Such ideas can be seen in some of Rusiñols plays against the Spanish army, Modernistes largely rejected bourgeois values, which they thought to be the opposite of art. It is a search for a style for Catalonia drawing on Medieval. The textile factory which is now home to the Catalan national technical museum MNACTEC is an outstanding example, early 20th century architecture in Valencia was strongly influenced by Modernisme. The Central Market in Valencia, one of the largest in Europe, covers more than 8,000 square metres, over two floors, with a predominantly eclectic pre-Modernist style. Its unusual roof comprises original domes and sloping sections at different heights, while the interior seems to be lined in a range of such as iron, wood, ceramics. The beauty of the building stands out especially on account of the light enters through the roof at various points. The North Station is the railway station in Valencia, Spain located in the city centre next to the Plaza de Toros de Valencia. It was declared Good of Cultural Heritage in 1987, the Mercado de Colón is an old market located in the center of the city of Valencia, Spain. Its building was designed by architect Francisco Mora Berenguer between 1914 and 1916 and this is a clear example of Modernist architecture of the early century. It was declared a national monument and it impresses with its extraordinary facade and lavish decor. Antoni Gaudí is the architect of this movement. Other influential architects were Lluís Domènech i Montaner and Josep Puig i Cadafalch, in literature, Modernisme stood out the most in narrative. Those writers often, though not always, show influences from Russian literature of the 19th Century, in poetry, Modernisme closely follows Symbolist and Parnassian poetry, with poets frequently crossing the line between both tendencies or alternating between them. Another important strain of Modernista poetry is Joan Maragalls Paraula viva school, although poetry was very popular with the Modernistes and there were lots of poets involved in the movement, Maragall is the only Modernista poet who is still widely read today. Modernista theatre was important, as it smashed the insubstantial regional plays that were popular in 19th century Catalonia
Modernisme
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View of
Antoni Gaudí 's
Parc Güell,
Barcelona
Modernisme
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Duana de Barcelona (Customs House), by
Enric Sagnier)
Modernisme
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Santuari de Santa Maria Magdalena, by José Sala, in
Novelda,
Valencian Community
Modernisme
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North Station,
Valencia
48.
Noucentisme
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The same year two essential works for Noucentisme were published, Els fruits saborosos by poet Josep Carner and La nacionalitat catalana by the Conservative politician Enric Prat de la Riba. Despite certain similarities between the movements, it opposed Modernisme, the movement, and the radical and individualist views. Noucentisme glorified order and what they saw as the spirit of the 20th century, the novel was largely excluded in favour of poetry, which was more useful to convey the spirit of the style. The style as a whole shows a predilection for a Classicist approach, Europeanism, Modernism, artists and politicians were close collaborators. Its main defining features in poetry are a return to Apollonian classicism, a refined and accurate language, objectivity and rejection of abrupt feelings. The Vienna Secession was a key influence to their ideal of beauty in architecture, the architect Rafael Masó i Valentí, works mainly in Girona and its regions, is one of the clearest promoters of nineteenth-century architecture. The architects of the first period, as Josep Maria Pericas mix and nineteenth-century modernist elements, painters and sculptors of the Noucentista period are Joaquim Sunyer, Joaquim Torres Garcia and Manolo Hugué. Catalonia was the most industrialised and therefore wealthiest region of Spain at the time, a change of attitude towards politics among members of Catalan bourgeoisie helped develop the basis of political pragmatism and idealism in Noucentisme. Following the disagreements that took place among Catalan politicians, intellectuals and, most prominently, the class of Barcelona. The Catalan nationalist tradition in the 19th century had relied on protectionist views held by both the bourgeoisie and the working classes and these new Noucentista views had partly assimilated and inherited these ideals, but were in favour of more modern values that represented their faith in idealist changes. A majority of members of the bourgeoisie of the country supported the Regionalist League. Arbitrarism was a philosophy naming literary creation a symbol of human will conquering reality and their particular will could be summed up as an ideal Catalonia that would come to replace the real Catalonia through the remaining two precepts, Civility and Classicism. Their interest in an Apollonian Classicism was not only of a nature, they desired formal perfection, harmony. Mediterraneity came to be seen as a synthesis of the Noucentista ideal and their intervention in practice was carried out following three goals, A reform of the country based on their ideology. Orthographic reform of the Catalan language, editorial support and cultural infrastructures for the Catalan language. They chose Barcelona as the centre of all these institutional reforms. They also promoted the creation of institutions in charge of the cultural and official development of Catalan, the Bernat Metge Foundation translated Greek and Latin language classics into Catalan and the Institut dEstudis Catalans became a regulator body for Catalan. Lliga Regionalista – large Conservative party with ties to Noucentisme
Noucentisme
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"Casa Francesc Coll" by Eduard Ferrés
Noucentisme
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" Aplicaciones del Gas " store in Barcelona by Santiago Marco (1930)
49.
Jacint Verdaguer
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The bishop Josep Torras i Bages, one of the main figures of Catalan nationalism, called him the Prince of Catalan poets. He was also known as mossèn Cinto Verdaguer, because of his career as a priest and he was born in Folgueroles, a town on the Plain of Vic, in the comarca of Osona to a modest family who valued learning. His father, Josep Verdaguer i Ordeix, was a brickmason and he was the third of eight children, only three of whom survived. Until then, he had lived like the children in his town. The anecdotes told about him show that he stood out from his peers for his intelligence, astuteness and courage and he displayed a balanced attitude without any apparent religious inclinations. In 1863, when he was 18, he started to work as a tutor for a family at the Can Tona masia, can Tona is in the municipal district of Sant Martí de Riudeperes, today Calldetenes. In 1865, he participated in Barcelonas Jocs Florals—or Floral Games—poetry contest, the next year he won two prizes in the same Jocs Florals. On September 24,1870, he was ordained a priest by the bishop Lluís Jordà in Vic, the next day he said his second Mass in the Sant Francesc hermitage near Vic. In 1871, his mother died at the age of 52, on September 1 he was appointed bishop coadjutor of the small town of Vinyoles dOrís and three days later he took up his charge. In 1873, he published the cant Passió de Nostre Senyor Jesucrist and he left Vinyoles dOrís for health reasons and moved to Vic. He went on a trip to Roussillon and saw the mountain, El Canigó, in December, he joined the Companyia Transatlàntica trans-Atlantic steamship company as a chaplain because he was prescribed sea air for his health, he embarked in Cádiz bound for Havana. On September 8,1876, his father died at the age of 65, on board the Ciudad Condal, on the return voyage from Cuba, Jacint Verdaguer finished his epic poem LAtlàntida. In November he entered the palace of the Marquis of Comillas as an alms chaplain, in 1877, when he was 32, and having returned from his journey, the jury of the Jocs Florals awarded him the special prize of the Diputation of Barcelona for LAtlàntida. Now he had earned his reputation as a poet, in 1878, he traveled to Rome, where he was granted an audience with Pope Leo XIII. In 1880, as the winner of three prizes in the Jocs Florals, he was proclaimed Master of the Gay Sciences. That same year he published his book of poetry, Montserrat, which included Llegenda de Montserrat, in 1883, the Barcelona City Council published a print-run of a hundred thousand copies of his Oda a Barcelona, a 46-stanza poem. Such a print-run was quite a remarkable given that the population of Barcelona at the time was 350,000, at the age of 39, Verdaguer traveled to Paris, Switzerland, Germany and Russia. On March 21,1886, when he was 41 years old and he published the epic poem Canigó and made a pilgrimage to the Holy Land
Jacint Verdaguer
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Jacint Verdaguer monument on
Plaça de Mossèn Jacint Verdaguer in
Barcelona
Jacint Verdaguer
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Signature
Jacint Verdaguer
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Statue honoring the poet on top of the
Mare de Déu del Mont
Jacint Verdaguer
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Verdaguer seen by
Ramon Casas (
MNAC).
50.
Ramon Llull
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Ramon Llull, T. O. S. F. was a philosopher, logician, Franciscan tertiary and Majorcan writer. He is credited with writing the first major work of Catalan literature, recently surfaced manuscripts show his work to have predated by several centuries prominent work on elections theory. He is also considered a pioneer of computation theory, especially given his influence on Leibniz, within the Franciscan Order he is honored as a martyr. He was beatified in 1847 by Pope Pius IX and his feast day was assigned to 30 June and is celebrated by the Third Order of St. Francis. Llull was born into a family in Palma, the capital of the newly formed Kingdom of Majorca. James I of Aragon founded Majorca to integrate the conquered territories of the Balearic Islands into the Crown of Aragon. Llulls parents had come from Catalonia as part of the effort to colonize the formerly Almohad ruled island, in 1257 he married Blanca Picany, with whom he had two children, Domènec and Magdalena. Although he formed a family, he lived what he would call the licentious. Llull served as tutor to James II of Aragon and later became Seneschal to the future King James II of Majorca, in 1263 Llull experienced a religious epiphany in the form of a series of visions. The vision came to him six times in all, leading him to leave his family, position, following his epiphany Llull became a Franciscan tertiary, taking inspiration from Saint Francis of Assisi. After a short pilgrimage he returned to Majorca, where he purchased a Muslim slave from whom he wanted to learn Arabic, for the next nine years, until 1274, he engaged in study and contemplation in relative solitude. He read extensively in both Latin and Arabic, learning both Christian and Muslim theological and philosophical thought. Between 1271 and 1274 he wrote his first works, a compendium of the Muslim thinker Al-Ghazalis logic and the Llibre de contemplació en Déu and his first elucidation of the Art was in Art Abreujada dAtrobar Veritat, in 1290. After spending some time teaching in France and being disappointed by the reception of his Art among students. It is this version that he became known for. It is most clearly presented in his Ars generalis ultima or Ars magna, the Art operated by combining religious and philosophical attributes selected from a number of lists. It is believed that Llulls inspiration for the Ars magna came from observing Arab astrologers use a device called a zairja, the Art was intended as a debating tool for winning Muslims to the Christian faith through logic and reason. Through his detailed analytical efforts, Llull built an in-depth theosophic reference by which a reader could enter any argument or question, the reader then used visual aids and a book of charts to combine various ideas, generating statements which came together to form an answer
Ramon Llull
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Blessed Ramon Llull,
T.O.S.F.
Ramon Llull
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Life of Raymond Lull. 14th-century manuscript.
Ramon Llull
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Illustration from a 1505 edition of
L'arbre de ciència
.jpg)
