Catalans

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For other uses, see Catalan (disambiguation).

Catalans
Total population
c. 9 million
Aran Valley)
Spanish, French, Italian (as a result of immigration or language shift)
Related ethnic groups
Occitans, Spaniards (Aragonese, Castilians), Valencians, Northern Italians

Catalans (

Pays Catalan in French.[19][20][21][22]

Some authors also extend the word "Catalans" to include all people from areas in which Catalan is spoken, namely those from Andorra, Valencia, the Balearic Islands, eastern Aragon, Roussillon, and the city of Alghero in Sardinia.[23][24][25]

The Catalan government regularly surveys its population regarding its "sentiment of belonging". As of July 2019, the results point out that 46.7% of the Catalans and other people living in Catalonia would like independence from Spain, 1.3% less than the year before.[26]

Historical background

See also: History of Catalonia

In 1500 BCE the area that is now known primarily as Catalonia was, along with the rest of the

Visigoths
established themselves in the fifth century, making their first capital in the Iberian peninsula Barcelona, and they later would move to Toledo.

This continued until 718 when

March of Barcelona which led to the beginnings of the Reconquista by Catalan forces over most of Catalonia by the year 801. As the border between Muslim and Frankish realms stabilized, Barcelona would become an important center for Christian forces in the Iberian Peninsula
.

Battle of the Puig by Andreu Marçal de Sax, depicting the Christian victory with the aid of Saint George

In 1137, the County of Barcelona entered a dynastic union with the Kingdom of Aragon to form what modern historians call the Crown of Aragon in the so-called Reconquista. This allowed the reclamation of Muslim-dominated lands, eventually conquering the kingdoms of Valencia and Majorca (the Balearic Islands). From the 13th century onwards, the territory of the County of Barcelona and the other Catalan counties progresivelly began to be identified as a single political entity and, from the mid-14th century, that polity began to be known as the Principality of Catalonia. The crisis of the late Middle Ages, the loss of hegemony within the Crown, as well as urban and feudal internal conflicts led to the Catalan Civil War in 1462. In the last quarter of the 15th century, the marriage of Isabella I of Castile and Ferdinand II of Aragon led to the dynastic union of the Crown of Aragon with the Crown of Castille, in which each of the constitutive realm kept its own laws, policies, power structures, borders and monetary systems.[27]

Continuous unrest led to conflicts on the states of the Crown of Aragon, such as the

Habsburg pretender against the Bourbon one during the War of the Spanish Succession that started in 1705 and ended in 1714. The Catalan failure to defend the continuation of Habsburg rule in Spain culminated in the surrender of Barcelona on 11 September 1714 which came to be commemorated as Catalonia's National Day
. The surrender led to the imposition of absolutism and the abolition of Catalan political institutions and public law, thus ending the status of Catalonia as a separate state within a personal union.

War of Spanish Succession, Philip V of Spain
ordered the burning of all the Catalan flags and banners.

During the

political force in Catalonia. The former tends to advocate for even greater autonomy, national recognition and, part of it, independence; the latter tends to argue for maintaining either a status quo or removal of autonomy and cultural identity, depending on the leanings of the current government. As a result, there tends to be much fluctuation depending on regional and national politics during a given election cycle. Given the stronger centralist tendencies in France, however, French Catalans display a much less dynamic sense of uniqueness, having been integrated more consistently into the unitary French national identity.[22]

Geography

The vast majority of Catalans reside in the autonomous community of Catalonia, in the northeast part of Spain. At least 100,000 Catalan speakers live in the Pays Catalan in France. An indeterminate number of Catalans emigrated to the Americas during the Spanish colonial period and to France in the years following the Spanish Civil War.[28]

Culture and society

The castells, human towers, are part of the Catalan culture since 1712 and were declared by UNESCO to be amongst the Masterpieces of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity.[29]

Described by author Walter Starkie in The Road to Santiago as a subtle people, he sums up their national character with a local term seny meaning "common sense" or a pragmatic attitude toward life. The counterpart of Catalan "seny" is "rauxa" or madness, epitomized by "crazy", eccentric and creative Catalan artists like Antoni Gaudí, Salvador Dalí, Joan Miró or Antoni Tàpies.[30][31] The masia or mas is a defining characteristic of the Catalan countryside and includes a large house, land, cattle, and an extended family, but this tradition is in decline as the nuclear family has largely replaced the extended family, as in the rest of western Europe. Catalonia in Spain is officially recognised as a "nationality" and enjoy a high degree of political autonomy,[32] which has led to reinforcement of a Catalan identity.

Language

Main article: Languages of Catalonia
A Catalan speaker from Mallorca

The

Romance language. It is the language closest to Occitan, and it also shares many features with other Romance languages such as Spanish, French, Portuguese, Aragonese, and Italian. There are a number of linguistic varieties that are considered dialects of Catalan, among them, the dialect group with the most speakers, Central Catalan
.

The total number of Catalan speakers is over 9.8 million (2011), with 5.9 million residing in Catalonia. More than half of them speak Catalan as a second language, with native speakers being about 4.4 million of those (more than 2.8 in Catalonia).

bilingual speakers of Catalan and Spanish, with a sizable population of Spanish-only speakers of immigrant origin (typically born outside Catalonia or with both parents born outside Catalonia) [citation needed] existing in the major Catalan urban areas as well. In Roussillon, only a minority of French Catalans speak Catalan nowadays, with French being the majority language for the inhabitants after a continued process of language shift. According to a 2019 survey by the Catalan government, 31.5% of the inhabitants of Catalonia have Catalan as first language at home whereas 52.7% have Spanish, 2.8% both Catalan and Spanish and 10.8% other languages.[34]

The inhabitants of the

Aranese–an Occitan
dialect–rather than Catalan as their own language. These Catalans are also bilingual in Spanish.

In September 2005, the

linguistic
and cultural community on the Internet. This community is made up of those who use the Catalan language for their online communication or promote the different aspects of Catalan culture online.

Traditional clothes

The traditional dress (now practically only used in

folkloric celebrations) included the barretina (a sort of woollen, long cap usually red or purple) and the faixa (a sort of wide belt) among men, and ret (a fine net bag to contain hair) among women. The traditional footwear was the espardenya or espadrille
.

Catalan children wearing the traditional outfit, including the barretina

Cuisine

Main article: Catalan cuisine

Traditional diet

The Catalan diet is part of the Mediterranean diet and includes the use of olive oil. Catalan people like to eat veal (vedella) and lamb (xai).

There are three main daily meals:

  • In the morning: a very light breakfast, consisting of fruit or fruit juice, milk, coffee, or pa amb tomàquet "bread with tomato". Catalans tend to divide their breakfast into two parts: one early in the morning before going to work or study (first breakfast), and the other one between 10:00 and 12:00 (second breakfast)
  • In the afternoon (roughly from 13:00 to 14:30): the main meal of the day, usually comprising three dishes. The first consists of pasta or vegetables, the second of meat or fish, and the third of fruit or yogurt
  • In the evening (roughly from 20:00 to 22:30): more food than in the morning, but less than at lunch; very often only a single main dish and fruit; it is common to drink moderate quantities of wine.

In Catalan gastronomy, embotits (a wide variety of Catalan sausages and cold meats) are very important; these are pork sausages such as botifarra or fuet. In the past, bread figured heavily in the Catalan diet; now it is used mainly in the morning (second breakfast, especially among young students and some workers) and supplements the noon meal, at home and in restaurants. Bread is still popular among Catalans; some Catalan fast-food restaurants don't serve hamburgers, but offer a wide variety of sandwiches.

In the past, the poor ate soup every day and rice on Thursday and Sunday.

Jordi Roca i Fontané
are widely renowned.

The discipline of abstinence, not eating meat during Lent, once was very strong, but today it is only practiced in the rural areas. Spicy food is rare in the Catalan diet but there are quite garlicky sauces such as allioli or romesco.

Traditional dishes

Main article: Catalan cuisine

One type of Catalan dish is escudella, a soup which contains chick peas, potatoes, and vegetables such as green cabbage, celery, carrots, turnips, and meats such as botifarra (a Catalan sausage), pork feet, salted ham, chicken, and veal. In Northern Catalonia, it is sometimes called ollada.

Other Catalan dishes include

romesco sauce) and escalivada
.

Music

Main article:
Catalan music

Catalan music has one of the oldest documented musical traditions in Europe.[35]

Catalans, traditionally devoted Catholics, during its recent history had become much less religious. Even so, the presence of religion is maintained through the traditions, values and monuments, like the Church of Sant Cristòfol de Beget.

Religion

Main article: Religion in Catalonia

The traditional religion in Catalonia is

Roman Catholicism. However, in the course of recent history
, Catalonia has undergone several waves of secularization.

The first wave of secularization happened during the eighteenth century as a result of the enlightenment influence to the bourgeoisie. The second one happened during the nineteenth century, that had a huge impact on the lower and middle class, but was interrupted by the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War (1936–1939).[36]

The end of the

Evangelical, 1.3% Buddhism, and 1.2% Orthodox Christians.[38] According to the most recent study sponsored by the government of Catalonia, as of 2016, 61.9% of the Catalans identify as Christians, up from 56.5% in 2014.[39] At the same time, 16.0% of the population identify as atheists, 11.9% as agnostics, 4.8% as Muslims, 1.3% as Buddhists, and a further 2.4% as being of other religions.[40]

Social conditions

Catalonia is one of the richest and most developed regions in Southern Europe.[41] Barcelona is among the most industrialized metropolises. A regional capital, it is a magnet for domestic and foreign migrants.[42]

Celebrations

See also: Traditions of Catalonia

Fire is the element used in most important traditional festivals, which are derived from pagan roots. These celebrations have a high acceptance of fire between the Catalans, like the Flame of Canigó to the

Bonfires of Saint John
.

An important and well-known celebration is La Diada de Sant Jordi, held on 23 April, in which men give women roses, and women give men a book.

Saint George's Day In Barcelona

Historical memory is the second axis of celebrations in Catalonia, where the Catalan people reunite with their date of birth as a people.

Among the religious celebrations, there are

St. George's Day and the celebrations of Saint Vincent Martyr and Saint Anthony Abbot. The maximum expressions of this element are the Easter processions and performances of Passion Plays. Some festivals have a complicated relationship with religion, such as Carnival and the Dances of Death, or specific aspects of Christmas such as the Tió de Nadal or the caganer in Nativity scenes
.

Other key elements of a Catalan celebration are: food, central to every party and especially to the pig slaughter and harvest festivals; contests such as the

Patum
of Berga has been declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO.

Symbolism

Main article: National symbols of Catalonia
Catalan protesters in Barcelona in 2019

Because of their intertwining history, many of the traditional symbols of Catalonia coincide with Aragon, Valencia and the Balearic Islands. The oldest known Catalan symbol is the coat of arms of the King of Aragon and Count of Barcelona, or bars of Aragon, one of Europe's oldest heraldic emblems; in modern times, Catalan nationalists have made it the main symbol of Catalan identity and it is even associated with the Catalan language.

As for anthems, "The Reapers" (

Balanguera represents the people from the Balearic Islands and, in the case of Valencia, the official "Anthem of the Exhibition" (Himne de l'Exposició) alongside Muixeranga
as symbols of the country.

See also

References

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  23. Institut d'Estudis Catalans dictionary. Archived from the original on 26 January 2021. Retrieved 17 August 2019. Relative to or belonging to the Catalan Countries
    or their inhabitants
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  25. ISBN 978-1317464006. Archived
    from the original on 11 March 2023. Retrieved 16 October 2020. The majority of Catalans (5.9 million) live in the northeast of Spain in the administrative regions of Catalonia and Valencia.
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  27. OCLC 49691947
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  28. OCLC 48474208.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: others (link
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  35. OCLC 60328821
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  36. ^ Capdevila 2013, p. 9.
  37. ^ Capdevila 2013, p. 10.
  38. ^ "El 45% dels catalans afirma que no té creences religioses" [45% of the Catalans claims to have no beliefs]. Ara (in Catalan). Barcelona. 8 April 2015. Archived from the original on 8 November 2020. Retrieved 5 July 2015.
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  42. ^ "Barcelona secrets: the intercultural approach to migration governance". Cities of Refuge. Archived from the original on 14 August 2018. Retrieved 14 August 2018.

Sources

External links
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