Last year I wrote this post A Spanish Affair (8 apellidos vascos) mostly for my
students, so they could understand the film better. I wasn't expecting I would be doing it all over again this year but I am. ‘A Spanish Affair -2 or (8 Apellidos Catalanes) seems to be getting the same accolades in Spain as A Spanish Affair did in 2014, so this has everyone excited, with the rumours that a part 3 is on the cards for next year, with the addition of another regional idiosyncrasy.
In 'A Spanish Affair-2 Catalonia enters the scene. This should not be taken lightly as the Catalan cause tends to polarise
things in Spain, willingly or unwillingly; more on this later, now the
story line of the film.
THE PLOT
In A
Spanish Affair – 2 (8 Apellidos catalanes)
Amaia (the
Basque girl) and Rafa (the Andalusian boy) have
broken up. Rafa returns to the South, to Sevilla, and Amaia moves to
Girona, one of the 4 main cities in Catalonia, for a change of scene. There she
meets Pau, a Catalan, and they fall in love. When Amaia's father, Koldo, finds
out that her daughter intends to marry a Catalan he is not impressed. He
travels to Sevilla to let Rafa know about Amaia’s plans, expecting that Rafa
will go to Girona to regain Amaia's love and sabotage the wedding to that
pretentious, bourgeois, know-all Catalan hipster, Pau.
But things in Catalonia are far from being normal. Catalonia has had one single goal since 1714: to recover its sovereignty that is, to become independent from
Spain; having repeatedly been denied authorisation to
held a referendum about the Independence by the central government , Catalans, in defiance, organise every
now and then token 'pro-independence' events. In the film the planned wedding
of Amaia and Pau will be celebrated in a hypothetical "Catalan Republic"
set up in Pau's grandma's "masía" (a typical Catalan farm).
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| A SPANISH AFFAIR-2 (eating calçots and wearing bibs) |
CULTURAL & SOCIAL STEREOTYPES OF THE CATALANS
Here are some cultural aspects that I think are relevant to this film.
An
essential Catalan thing: el pà amb tomàquet. When Catalans have a ripe red tomato in their hands, they cut it in half. They get a
slice of bread and rub the tomato on it; they sprinkle olive oil on the bread and add a pinch of
salt. It is ready to eat. It only needs an omelette or some slices of salami, jamon serrano, chorizo or cheese added on top.
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| Pà amb tomàquet i pernil |
Another culinary Catalan tradition happens every spring in theTarragona area (South of Barcelona) where people go with their family, friends or colleagues to have a 'calçotada'. This consists of eating large amounts of
"calçots" (fat spring onions) dipped in a thick romesco sauce. The
calçots are grilled over a hot fire, wrapped up in newspaper and served on
terra cotta tiles.
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| Calçots a la brasa i salsa romesco |
Eating
'calçots' is messy, as there is a lot of charcoal, and the calçots are huge, and the sauce drips everywhere as you raise your arm, with the calçot and attempt to put it into your mouth and eat it as best as you can; restaurants provide their customers with huge bibs to protect their clothes. It is enjoyable and fun and you can eat at your heart's content (=like a pig).
From the same area come 'the Human Towers' (els Castellers) and this also features in the film as part of the wedding celebration.
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| TARRAGONA - ELS CASTELLERS |
So, what
do Catalans think of their country?
Catalans see Catalonia as the
center of the Universe, metaphorically speaking as the word of their sea conveys: Med-i-terranean means
"the middle of the earth". So they believe they live in a very special part of the Earth. They also believe that they belong to a nation that
is civilized, democratic, cultured, open-minded, trendy, entrepreneurial, hard-working,
imaginative, innovative, welcoming and, last but not least, truly
beautiful.
Many
believe in Utopia and dream of an independent Catalonia that will be known one day as the 'Norway of the South'. Fat chance, but believing in Utopia is free.
And Catalans? how do Catalans see themselves?
Many Catalans feel closer to the French than to the rest of Spain. They see themselves
as mostly secular and hardworking, a quality that can be taken to extremes. Many Catalans could be considered workaholics. It is not a coincidence that Catalonia is the wealthiest part of Spain. In general they like to believe that they are an open and welcoming society, they have the reputation of being good negotiators and of taking a business-like approach in many aspect of life, they are pragmatic and practical and they value culture and education.
Here is the definition of 2 traditional beliefs that Catalans hold dear to:
EL
"SENY" Y LA "RAUXA"
I am
quoting Wikipedia to explain these 2 concepts:
"El seny" (from
Latin sensus) is a form of ancestral Catalan concept meaning having good judgement,
being prudent and acting with common sense. It involves a well-pondered perception of situations, level-headedness, awareness and integrity. Many
Catalans consider seny as something unique to their culture, a
true Catalan symbol which was passed from parents to children. Notice that I have used the past tense here.
"La rauxa" is the opposite of seny: it is a sudden determination into action, having a fit of madness, an
outburst of passion, some craziness and love of play.
The tricky part of this is how to live your life having these two opposing forces in perfect balance. It is very difficult. Many people believe that Catalans have lost the "rauxa", that they work too hard and don't take the time to enjoy the simple pleasures of life.
How are Catalans seen by the rest of Spain?
Because Catalans can be so nationalistic & proud these characteristics have been, on occasions, been used against themselves. Some political parties have used the 'Catalan cause' as their scapegoat. People love to have someone to hate, as this makes them forget about their shortcomings and daily frustrations, it is something that happens everywhere. In Australia where I live it was refugees for a while now are the very poor; in the US they believed that they were envied by the whole world and many feared invasions of aliens or who knows who. In any case it is useful, politically speaking, having someone to hate that you consider your inferior or below yourself. In Spain, Catalans have fulfilled this role at different intervals, with different levels of intensity. In all fairness I have to add that Catalan Nationalistic parties have done the same thing against the central government or parties that support the current centripetal status quo.
I won't go into more detail about this touchy topic, but plenty of information is available in English on the internet.
THE CATALAN LANGUAGE
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| Catalans in the street with Pro-Independence Flags (with the white star) |
Catalans have always defended their language with passion, especially during the Franco years, when the attempts to impose Castilian as the national language created a lot of resentment in the bi-lingual parts of Spain, namely Catalonia, Galicia and Euskadi.
Catalan was not allowed to be taught in schools, so Catalans had to develop strategies to keep their language alive, especially in the written and printed form. Even the poorest of families would buy books written in Catalan, even those who could not or would not read them. It was wrong that Catalans could speak their language but did not know how to write it, as the teaching of Catalan in schools stopped in 1939, with the victory of General Franco. The Basques and the Galicians also defended their national languages, (Euskera and Galician) under Franco, but they were not as successful as the Catalans.
This is not just a Spanish problem, though. Across the border, in France, the preservation of regional languages did not go well at all. Most have long been
dead or mostly dead because the French variety spoken in Versailles crushed them all.
Catalans did not allow this to happen with their language and that tells a lot about the kind of people they are.
I guess that what happens is that minority languages are very fragile and they need the support and the love of their speakers, as they are an important part of their identity; the risk of failing to do that may results in an impersonal world that will end up "using" 8 or 9 languages for communication worldwide. THAT would be very sad. A pandemic of "sameness" is to be avoided at all costs.
What are the negative traits of Catalans? An excess of nationalistic pride that always comes across as too parochial, a tendency for being workaholics and, in general, Catalans are accused of being misers. Their love of money and of being stingy is a characteristic that was also associated with the Jews in the past when they lived in Catalonia in large numbers. Reluctance to spend money and an obsession for saving their money is the subject of many jokes about Catalans.
As this post is already far too long I will stop here and finish with some jokes about Catalans.
JOKE 1
A man is
walking down the street and bumps into a friend.
The friend says: Any problems in your marriage?
The Catalan replies: No. Why do you ask?
The friend replies: I notice you are not wearing your wedding ring.
The man smiles and says: It's because this week it is
her turn to wear it.
joke 2
'How do you get 10 Catalans into a car? Throw 2 euros inside. And how would you
get them out? Tell them that the car is a taxi.
joke 3
A man visits his Catalan friend. He finds him removing the wallpaper off the walls.
Redecorating your house? - he asks
No - says the Catalan - We are moving.
JOKE 4
Three priests (a French, an English and a Catalan) are discussing how they
distribute the alms collected in the parish.
The English Priests says they have a fair system. The draw a line on the floor
and they throw the money in the air. What falls on the right is for God and
what falls on the left is for the parish.
The French priest says their system is similar. They draw a circle. What falls
into the circle is for God and what falls outside the circle is for the parish.
The Catalan priest then says: Our systems is the best. We throw the money
in the air. What God grabs he can keep and what falls on the ground is for the
parish.
joke 5
two flies are talking about holidays.
-Where did you go?
- To the capital. And you?
- Don't want to think about it. I got inside the handbag of a Catalan woman and I spent the whole month locked inside!
