ARE ALL SPANISH STEREOTYPES STILL VALID?

Some days ago I read in a blog  (Matthew Bennet/ Let’s talk about the future of Spain) an article telling about many of the Spanish typical stereotypes. And I thought it would be of some interest to post it here.

- Spanish people eat lots of tortilla: Spanish people eat quite a lot of tortilla. A good great tortilla is one of the staples of every Spanish mother’s cooking inventory and everybody’s mum always makes the tastiest one. Tortilla is definitely very tasty and worth getting to know properly. Tortilla is not something that people eat every day though, or at every meal, and not everybody likes it.

- Spain is sun, sea and sand: depends on the part of Spain. There are beautiful parts of the north of Spain which could easily be in Wales or England due to the greeness and quantity of rainfall and cloud. There are big differences between the north of Spain, the south and Mediterranean coast. In the north and many parts of the Spanish countryside which are inland, in winter it can get very, very cold. In the south it’s sunny, clear blue skies just about all day every day, all year round. Clouds rarely appear. Rain appears even less frequently. From May until November, it’s very hot and it will try and rain a couple of times during the summer. There are, indeed, many beautiful beaches in Spain. You shouldn’t think this is all of Spain, however, not even half. There are hundreds thousands of beautiful places to visit all over Spain, whether it’s sunny, raining or covered with snow. And it’s even more fun if you get to know the people, traditions and history of the places you visit.

- All Spaniards are bullfighters or go every week to a bullfight: of course not. Bullfighting is half sport, half art, half barbarity, depending on who you ask. Bullfights are normally held in ferias or festival periods. It is incredibly complicated and understanding bullfighting (whether you’re Spanish or foreign) requires time. Recently there were news on the press about Spanish villages doing referendum to choose between spending some spare Money in smaller bulls in the ferias or investing it in creating some temporary jobs for the villages, and I have to say that the bulls option won (I am Spaniard and I admit I am not proud of that villages taking those decisions, I admit it!). The business of bullfighting moves a lot of money. It reaches across social classes. It’s been around for ages and is not going anywhere. Many Spanish people compare it to the recently banned English ’sport’ of fox-hunting. Not everybody goes to the bulls, fewer people understand it and the only people who fight bulls are the professional bullfighters. (this assumes we’re talking about proper bullfights and not smaller bulls in the many village ferias).

- All Spaniards like flamenco (and all Spanish women know how to dance flamenco): not true (not true at all, I admit it again!). Many Spanish people hate flamenco, in fact. English people think all Spanish girls know how to dance flamenco: this is because to the untrained eye it’s very easy to move around a bit and look like you’re dancing flamenco with a few swirls of your hands and hips. There are many different types of flamenco (the dance most people associate with the flamenco stereotype is called ‘sevillanas‘). Flamenco is a whole sub-culture, composed of song, dance and instrumentals, sometimes all together and sometimes individually. It’s an art. It has more followers in the south of the country where it originates from. There is traditional flamenco and there are new waves of pop-flamenco. There are many different rhythms within flamenco and most traditional flamenco songs, lyrics, dances and instrumental solos fit into one of those subtypes. It’s incredibly difficult to tell the difference between the subtypes if you’re not practiced.

- Spanish people are good at that salsa dance: nope, not at all. Many Spanish people go to salsa and other dance classes though, just like people in other countries. Most Spanish blokes have two left feet just like most English blokes and most Spanish girls love at least trying to dance a lot. Salsa was created in New York and the influences were all Caribbean and Latin American.

- Is Shakira Spanish? Nope, she’s from Colombia.

- And Ricky Martin? no, he’s from Puerto Rico.

- Everybody eats paella in Spain: No, of course not. Everybody enjoys a good one though. It’s very difficult to make well. There are many variants on what a foreigner might think is paella but which is actually a different type of rice dish.

- All Spaniards drink sangría: No, Spanish people sometimes drink sangría. The most popular drinks at meals are wine, beer and water.

- Spanish food is tapas. Some Spanish food is tapas. The idea of tapas being free is mainly a southern thing (especially in places like Granada and Almeria, where you buy a beer and basically eat for free if you go to the right places). There are hundreds of different types of tapas. Apart from tapas, there is some fantastic Spanish food which is nothing to do with tapas. Every region has its own specialities. Spain could easily be a gourmet’s paradise but don’t limit your ideas of Spanish food to tapas and paella.

- Mexico, donkeys, dusty roads and big hats: no, no, no. These are ridiculous cartoon assumptions that foreigners mix up with Spain from watching Speedy Gonzalez. There are of course, a few dusty roads and a few Mexicans in Spain. I have yet to see anybody wearing a big hat (apart from English tourists on tourist beaches and in airport waiting lounges);

- Spanish people are the same as Latin American people: no. They speak the same language, with differences (with quite differences, I should say) and of course have historical and cultural roots, but don’t mix them up: many different national cultures which all share (apart from indigenoues Latin American communities) certain common features (language, history, religion). Although this would be very debatable, a comparison with the idea of the British Commonwealth or the more general concept of ‘the English speaking world’ would not be a bad one.

- Spanish people are very lazy: no (I have met British lazy people too, for instance!). Spanish people work some of the longest hours in Europe (although have lower productivity levels) and one of the biggest problems here is lack of sleep due to noise, timetables and a general desire to live life to the full as much as possible (not now because of the crisis!). The work timetable combined with the daily-chores timetable combined with a well-filled social life means that many people don’t sleep as much as they would like to. In the south in the summer (and in many other parts of the country), it’s very, very hot and between about one o’clock and seven or eight in the evening, there’s not much point in trying to do anything, especially after lunch: it’s too hot. Life shifts a few hours at night and takes a break during the day.

- The waiter doesn’t speak English very well: of course not. The idea that everybody does or should speak English is a myth. Waiters in many countries know enough to bring you a beer and, on the other end of the jobs scale, people working in multinational companies tend to have very good English if their job involves communicating with English speakers. Learning a language properly takes years of continuous effort and practice.

- Spanish people are very rude and loud: this is something that many foreigners will notice on arriving in Spain. It’s a tricky one: the noise level is definitely higher and people shout a lot when they should be speaking normally. It doesn’t however, mean that people are being rude. It’s just the way it is most of the time.

- Spanish people drink a lot of coffe: Yes, lots and lots. If you like coffee, you’ll like Spain.

- Spanish people don’t know how to make a cup of tea:True. Not a clue, unless they’ve lived in England and taken a liking to tea.

- Spanish people have wierd timetables:Spanish people have a different timetable to most of the rest of Europe, althought with shifts in globalisation, this is changing in big cities like Madrid and Barcelona. Most things related to timetable differences are related to the weather and heat in the summer. The traditional Spanish timetable is: morning until 14:00, midday/lunchtime 14:00-17:00, afternoon from 17:00 until 21:00, followed by dinner.

- Spanish beers are very small: Yes they are, compared to English pints, but this is absolutely the best way to drink them in the summer when it’s very hot or as a refreshing slurp in winter. Imagine trying to enjoy a few pints of stout in 45ºC heat, or mixing Guiness with seafood.

- Ibiza, parties, Benicassim and Spanish music: Spain has some great parties. There is also some great Spanish music.

Have you ever been to Spain? What do you think of the post? Any more topics to add to the list or even to change? Would you like to tell your experience here?

THE SPANISH SIESTA AND NAPPING IN PAINTING

Raimundo de Madrazo



Although the Spaniards have been traditionally very famous about being quite good at taking long siesta (word that comes from the Latin for sixth hour, by the way), the truth is that is a myth that has been banished nowadays (statistics say that only 16% of the Spanish population practice it), it is curious that it is currently practiced by most tourists and foreigners living in Spain more than by own nationals (and those who practice it are more people over 45 years).

But it happens that doctors recommend that a nap of 20 minutes (even on the sofa) after eating is very healthy, reducing the risk of death from heart disease, particularly in young healthy men, experts say napping help people to relax, reducing their stress levels.

And the fact is that today in Spain many people are unable to take a siesta ("our national sport", as it has always been said) and their lives (our lives) haven't collapsed around them. Big supermarkets and department stores also stay open during the siesta. Though still there are differences among different cities in Spain and so, for example, the siesta hits Madrid and Barcelona much less than in Granada or Salamanca. Today's hectic lifestyle does often not allow people the time to sleep, but many still do their best to fit a little nap in when they can.

It seems is not a Mediterranean invention, but it is just happens that they are who preserved this tradition. In fact before the industrial revolution it would have been perfectly normal in northern Europe for people to take an afternoon sleep after a big evening meal. Did you know that Churchill, Napoleon and Leonardo da Vinci used to nap, by the way?

Besides there are other countries where napping seems to be very popular too, in Japan, for example, employees have desk pillows and napping rooms (!!!) meanwhile Spanish offices have never been equipped with a bed yet (I promise you!).

Nevertheless, tradition is tradition and last year the Spain’s First National Siesta Championship took place in Madrid and it awarded for how quickly competitors can get to sleep, the duration of their siesta, any interesting sleeping positions or choice of pijamas and the style and substance of their snoring.  Among others, there was a 1000 euros award for the best twenty minutes nap (see the link HERE).

So since the doctors recommend to take little naps to keep us fit and healthy I have thought to enclose today a few paintings on the subject, from different artists, styles and countries, just to encourage you to practice this good habit.

Frederick Arthur Bridgman



Joaquin Sorolla y Bastida



Pedro Lira Rencoret



Paul Gauguin

John Sargent

Jose Maria Rodriguez Acosta



John William Godward



Guillermo Collazo



Antonio Gattorno



Franz Xavier Winterhalter

I hope you have liked the paintings I have chosen for the post  and I just want to wish you all to have nice little naps with big and sweet dreams! ............zzzzzzzz.................

Fuente:

Gospain.about.com

KING JUAN CARLOS I AND 23-F COUP, 30 YEARS LATER

30 years ago today a mustachioed Lieut Col Antonio Tejero, proudly wearing the uniform and a shiny tricorne hat of the Guardia Civil, burst into the main chamber of the Spanish parliament brandishing a gun. Thus began what Spaniards refer to as 23-F, the attempted coup of February 23rd, 1981.

Tejero was the frontman of a military-led operation against Spains’s fledgling democracy. General Franco, the last of Europe’s prewar dictators, had died fiave and a half years earlier, still in power and the parliamentary monarchy that the new King Juan Carlos I had established was far from solid.

The death of Franco elevated Don Juan Carlos de Borbón to the throne. Until Franco’s death Juan Carlos had remained in the background and eemed to follow the dictator’s plans of appointing him his successor as head of state and later King of spain. Once in power as king, Juan Carlos facilitated the development of the current political system, as his father Don Juan de Borbón, had advocated since 1946.

So, the so called Spanish transtition was the era when Spain moved from the dictatorship of Francisco Franco to a liberal democratic state. And the transition began with Franco’s death. Nevertheless, the transition proved challenging, as the spectre of the Civil War (1936-1939) still haunted Spain.

And this coup attempt proved to be later as a defining moment in introducing democracy to Spain and at the same time, everybody agree that the role played by King Juan Carlos that long night was just crucial for the democracy in this country.

Here you can see a video of King Juan Carlos speech when at dawn he lead to the country to support the democracy process and this speech eventually led to the failure of the coup:

 

TORO DE LA VEGA FIESTA? NOT AT ALL!

As I told you in the recent post titled "La Tomatina de Buñol", many annual Fiestas Mayores take place in these days in Spain. One of them is “el Toro de la Vega” celebration, which is held in Tordesillas (Valladolid) in the second week of September, in honor of the patron Saint of the town, the Virgin of the Cliff. This spectacle, “The lancing of the bull”, has been going for centuries.

Each year a bull is driven down the street and then the bull “faces his fate”, crossing a bridge, where on the other side several men on horseback and others on foot with lances, are waiting for him to kill him. And the youth who does it will be allowed to cut off his testicles and parade them on the end of his lance. Afterwards the Town Council presents the winner with a gold badge and a lance made of forged iron.

And I (and many Spaniards) wonder: Where is the fun of this? This year there were 300 people protesting against this and trying to prevent it, though unluckily they weren’t successful.

There is a website called www.torodevega.com in which you can read more about it and enclosed below there is a link which contains a letter in Spanish and in English to be signed and sent to any of the emails written in it, in order to stop this horrible and bloody tradition in Tordesillas.

Model protest letter

THE ART OF "TAPEAR" IN SPAIN

Last weekend it was held a Tapas Fair in Madrid and there were very long queues to get in. There you could see many delicious samples of different tapas from many different bars and restaurants.

Probably to anyone who hasn’t been to Spain the word “tapa” will mean nothing, but to those who have been, they will know that “tapas” and “tapear” is an art and a culture in Spain. “Tapa” means a cover or lid. The first tapa was probably a sliced of chorizo or a slice of cured ham perched over the mouth of a glass to keep the flies out. Later the government demanded the bars to serve “a little something” in the way of food with each drink to dissipate the effects of the alcohol. Eating a selection of tapas as you drink will help preserve your sobriety!

Tapas is a little plate snack that you are given to accompany the drink you have ordered in the bars, tascas or tabernas, they are a style of eating. Sometimes you have large plates of tapas on the counters and you point at the ones you want, other places have plates with single-serving tapas built on slices of bread with a toothpick holding the sculpture together and other places might list a menu on a card or chalk board. There you might find the words “ración”, “tapa” and “pincho”. Usually a pincho is a little bite, for one person, a tapa is a small serving but a bit bigger than a pincho and a racion is a large ration or full plate for several people.

Some of the most common tapas includes: grilled shrump kabobs, grilled paprika-seasoned pork kabobs, olive oil with little green pepper with a dash of sea salt (pimientos del Padron) garlic sauteed mushrooms, different cheeses, sausages and Iberian cured ham, wedges of Spanish omelette with potatoes and caramelized onions, marinated grilled vegetables, salsa stuffed mussels, fried artichoke heart and so on........... If you get to master this art you will eat incredibly well in many cities in Spain.

So when you eat with tapas, you are doing “tapeo”, that is, the act of strolling from one bar to another to stay amused, (it would be like a sort of pub-crawl in England). And in all Spanish cities there are several popular places to go “de tapeo”. Probably they may have originated in Andalusia, especially around Jerez de la Frontera, where they were traditionally served to accompany the sherry produced there.

And definitely "tapear" is something you can not miss when you come to Spain!

TODAY'S PHOTOS OF ONE "SEMANA SANTA" PROCESSION

Finally I went this afternoon to see one of the many processions that are taking place in Madrid and in every corner of Spain, during this Easter Week and I have taken some photos of it. Do you want to see them?

The name of this one was la "Procesión del Silencio" and here you can see how it was. Just only a few things to tell you: there were two effigies this time, one of the Virgin Nuestra Señora de La Dolores and the other of the Santisimo Cristo de la Fe (Most Holy Christ of Faith). Each of them are carried by 32 women (the Virgin) and 32 men (the Christ) and the weight they have to support is about 1,500 kilograms for each of them. Has one ever tipped over?

After this little introduction, here are the photos!

Photos taken by Nieves R.

EASTER WEEK IN SPAIN CALLED AS LA SEMANA SANTA

The Easter Week is called in Spain la Semana Santa and this is not a fiesta focused on raucous celebrations but based on religious beliefs, it is time for people for ask forgiveness for their sins and do penance.

In this week you can see that many processions take place all over my country, from the biggest city till the tiniest village. In those processions groups of people (men usually) bear the weight of large stretcher-type constructions, that have effigies of the Virgin Mary and Jesus Christ on top of them and they are in complete silence, with the only rhythm of a slowly banging drum.

Also there are groups following the parades, with people dressed in black or purple wearing pointed hoods who, as a Mexican friend told me recently, resemble to the Ku Klux Klan, but they aren’t!, they are penitents who wants to be forgiven for their sins or to keep a promise. The hats are really replicas of the hats given to the “guilty” in the Spanish Inquisition.

Since I haven’t seen yet any procession this year (I’ll probably go to see one this afternoon with some friends), I leave here some of the photos that I took last year in one of those processions in Madrid.

Photos taken by Nieves Ranz

SPANISH PROTESTER CALL FOR BULLFIGHTING BAN

Everything started when a motion to ban was hotly debated in the Catalan parliament earlier this month with a petition to demand to outlaw bullfighting there and after that, in the city of Madrid there was a demonstration on the 28th of March searching the same.

Organised by animal right groups, hundreds of people took the street of Madrid calling for a ban on bullfighting, after moves to declare the spectacle as part of a cultural heritage in the region, and giving it legal protection.

The Madrid region has a strong tradition of bullfighting and emotions both sides are strong. By one side, the defenders say they should be allowed to go if they wish to, but the other side thinks is cruel to the animals to make them suffer unnecessarily.

In fact, more and more people are moving against this. Personally being as I am a Spaniard, I have only been to a corrida de toros once, in my father’s village fiestas when I was a teenager and I can’t say I keep a nice memory of that, I was very close to the ground and I could see the poor animal very clearly and I didn’t think that spectacle was nice at all, in fact I couldn’t understand how could that be fun for many people watching at it.

I really wonder why Spanish people is so sensitive about animals in general, such as when news about dogs found beaten to death, for instance and when it is about bullfightings the same people feel more tolerant. Really it is something I can’t understand myself.

Though if one is to be realistic, the chances to success are little, don’t you think it is time to do something about it? What do you think of this hot debate? Do you think it should be abolished definitely? Or just maybe keep a light spectacle without banderillas and without killing the animal, just keeping the colourful spectacle but with horses exhibitions and things like that?