What is Catalonia?

I think the best way to start this blog is by talking a little bit about what Catalonia is. According to the definition from the Catalan Encyclopedia, "Catalonia is a country in the Mediterranean Europe, the eastern coast of the Iberian Peninsula, nestled within the Spanish state as an autonomous region, and whose capital city is Barcelona". The picture below depicts the location of Catalonia (region painted red) within Europe:

Maybe you've listened about Catalonia before: in 1992, the Olympic Games were celebrated in Barcelona; the artist Salvador Dalí, born in Figueres, is worldwide known for his surrealist paintings; or maybe you've listened about Antoni Gaudí and his modernist architecture. Do you like medieval art? If so, you probably know the medieval churches of Vall de Boí, starring the paintings of Sant Climent de Taüll.Or maybe you love to delight your palate! Then sure you know Ferran Adrià, Carme Ruscalleda or Santi Santamaria (recently deceased).

The recent history of Catalonia has been really painful. Since 1714, Spain has tried over and over again to supress Catalan identity and culture, with the goal to homogenize the "Spanish culture" under a single language and single nation. The last attempt was performed by Franco during his dictatorship from 1939 to 1975. During this period, speaking in Catalan in the street was strictly forbidden and punished. Today, after about 30 years of democracy, Catalan people are allowed to freely use their language (not in all situations though), but Spanish laws still keep looking for homogenizing language and national identity. For example:

• Catalonia cannot have its own national sport teams. Scotland does although it belongs to UK.
• Catalan people cannot vote in referendum to decide their future. Canada Québec, Greenland and even Scotland are allowed to celebrate referendums.
• Catalan people cannot define themselves as a nation.
• The use of Catalan language cannot be preferent to Spanish.
• and a long so on...

Well, let's gonna leave political issues aside. What about Catalan traditions? Well, I bet one of the most famous Catalan traditions are "Castells" (human towers), which have recently been declared intangible cultural World Heritage by UNESCO. Below you can see an emotive video about "Castells"; I really recommend you to watch it!:

Another activity Catalans like to do is eating....Yes, we love eating! Our habits are based on the Mediterranean diet: olive oil, fruit, greens, dried fruit,... Perhaps our most famous dish are "calçots" some sort of thin and long onions that are cooked over a grill and eaten after dipping them in "salvitxada" or "romesco" sauce. The picture below shows an example of how "calçots" are served. Please, do not build an opinion in your mind based on their appearance. I promise you they are delicious!

Well, I think it's enough, so far. I miss a lot of things about Catalonia, but I will have time enough to talk about it in future posts. Cheers!