Carmela Bulacan on Strong Catalonian Pride

By: Carmela Bulacan

November 4, 2009

When I first learned that Barcelona was located in the northeast Spanish region, Cataluña, this geographic location was only a minor detail to me. However, through my experiences here in Barcelona, I learned that the “minor location detail” results in a big difference in atmosphere than the rest of Spain. As the capital of the region, Barcelona boasts a strong Catalan identity as it attempts to separate itself from its rival city, Madrid. It is constantly differentiating itself as being Catalan before Spanish and prides itself on even having its own language, which was maintained throughout Cataluña'’s phases of Spanish suppression. This suppression resulted in a strong pride of the region and more incentive for the desire to create its own independent state from Spain. This separation is so distinct that when Barcelona won the rights for the 1992 Olympics, citizens of Cataluña made it known that it was their Olympic games, not Spain’'s.

Barcelona itself is known for its modernist and progressive style, as well as its distinction in Spain as a strong commercial center. The city is decorated with many buildings which display the modernist relics of architects like Antoni Gaudí and houses many modern art museums of artists like Pablo Picasso and Joan Miró. There are also liberal laws within Spain that contribute to the more progressive style of the city, such as the legalization of gay marriage, which is radical for a predominantly Catholic country. This liberal law passed in 2005 portrays evidence of Spain's movement away from its Catholic roots because while 80 percent of Spanish citizens identify as Catholic, only 20 percent actually attend church regularly. The movement presents a great change from the early established Catholic roots started by the Visigoths in the early centuries of Barcelona's foundation. However, despite these secular and liberal changes, Barcelona still celebrates Catholic holidays, such as Día de Todos los Santos (All Saints' Day) in November and La Mercé in September.

La Mercé, a festival dedicated to the patron saint of Barcelona, Our Lady of Mercy, can be better described as a display of Catalonian pride. While this festival is also dedicated to the saint of Barcelona, its festivities do focus on a large event around a church, like other festivals such as the Pilar Festival of Zaragoza. In contrast, Barcelona's festival is more of a secular type of celebration. La Mercé in Barcelona consists of typical Catalonian festivities like the sardana, the typical Catalonian dance; the castellars, human towers that have reached up to 10 meters high in the air; and correfoc, devil characters running with fire in the streets for a night. I was a little shocked to learn that a festival, which I thought had a religious meaning, would have such secular images of the opposite of a religious festival, for example, images present in correfoc.

This growing trend toward becoming more secular can also be attributed to Barcelona's location on the Mediterranean and its reception of many different immigrants and tourists in the area. Of Barcelona's population of almost two million people within the city, there are about 13 million tourists that come to visit. Therefore, the image of Barcelona is continuously changing because more restaurants and areas are becoming more conducive to the many tourists visiting, and some are losing their authenticity. Some residents from Barcelona are even getting upset about how much of a tourist city Barcelona has become. However, despite these changes, Barcelona maintains its strong Catalonian identity with many street signs, newspapers, and news broadcasts in Catalan in order to preserve the language. It is almost as though promoting the Catalan identity could be more of a religion than Catholicism. In the upcoming months, I look forward to learning more about the roots of the disparity that cause the strong Catalan identity found and promoted within the city of Barcelona.

Opens in a new window