"Fer pinya"

Pep Guardiola and his magical football team F.C. Barcelona won yesterday the UEFA Champions League Cup 2011 by overwhelming Manchester United 3-1 with goals by Pedro, Lionnel Messi and David Villa.

Pep's team demonstrated the Catalan values of humility and team-based hard-working. There's no place for individualism: success is something to achieve by the team, not by individual persons. In Catalan we have the expression "fer pinya" that means to stick together and help each other out to achieve a goal. This is what Pep's team has demonstrated during the last three years. Yesterday he wanted to show this idea in the New Wembley Stadium by emulating the Catalan national dance called "la sardana", which consists on building up a circle of people holding their hands:

La Sardana

FC Barcelona team, yesterday in Wembley

"Fer pinya" means saying to a team member: "Hey, forget your differences and your problems with other members because we need to achieve this goal. You decide: either you are with the team or you are out. And don't forget: you can be better than another, but you'll never achieve the goal alone". A good example of what "fer pinya" is can be found while building up the Catalan "castells" (human castles). The "pinya" is the base of the castle that must be solid enough to hold the entire structure:

Catalan Human Tower ("Castell")

The funny thing is what "fer pinya" literally means. "Fer" means to do, and "pinya" means pine cone.  Indeed, you will have to use a hammer or a hard rock to break up a pine cone to eat its nuts! :-)

A pine cone!