National symbols of Catalonia

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Catalan / Valencian cultural domain
Origins of the blason of the County of Barcelona, by Claudi Lorenzale
Language
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History
Geo-political divisions
Government and politics
Traditions and symbols
Arts

The national symbols of Catalonia are flags, icons or cultural expressions that are emblematic, representative or otherwise characteristic of Catalonia or Catalan culture.

The oldest Catalan symbol is the

coat of arms of Catalonia, based on the royal arms of the Crown of Aragon, though a number of theories trace its origin to even older times. It is one of the oldest coats of arms in Europe.[1][2][3][4] A legend, considered non-historical, says that the four red bars (Quatre Pals or Quatre Barres) are the result of Charles the Bald, known also as Charles II, king of West Francia, smearing four bloodied fingers over Wilfred the Hairy's golden shield, after the latter had fought against the Normans
.

Statute of Autonomy of Catalonia[5] are the flag, Catalonia's day, and the anthem. These symbols have often a political and revindicative significance. Other symbols may not have official status, for different reasons, but are likewise recognised at a national or international level. One of the highest civil distinctions awarded in Catalonia is the St George's Cross (Creu de Sant Jordi
).

Official national symbols

Image Name Description Officially adopted
The flag of Catalonia
Flag of Catalonia or Senyera
 The flag of Catalonia or Senyera (its name in Catalan), based on the coat of arms, is the most representative official symbol. It consists of four red stripes on a golden background. Its use dates from the 12th century, when it was the symbol of the kings of Aragon and counts of Barcelona. Proportions of the flag are 2:3. May 25, 1933
National Day of Catalonia, 2005
National Day of Catalonia
 The National Day of Catalonia, commonly called La Diada[6] is on 11 September. It commemorates the 1714 Siege of Barcelona defeat during the War of the Spanish Succession. June 12, 1980
Els Segadors
 "Els Segadors" (The Reapers) is the national anthem of Catalonia. Is an adaptation of a popular song of the 18th century based on the Reapers' War (1640-1659). It has been an unofficial Catalan anthem since the late 19th century, and officially recognized by law in 1993. January 19, 1993

Other official symbols and distinctions

Image Name Description Officially adopted
Seal of the Generalitat
Seal of the Generalitat de Catalunya
 Derived from the coat of arms, it is the official emblem of the
self-government of Catalonia, adopted in 1932, during the Second Spanish Republic. It is one of the few republican symbols
to remain official in Spain. 		1932
Gold Medal of the Generalitat of Catalonia
Gold Medal of the Generalitat of Catalonia
 The Gold Medal of the Generalitat is the highest civil distinction awarded in Catalonia. May 17, 1978
St George's Cross Award
St George's Cross Award
 It is one of the most valued distinctions awarded in Catalonia, based on the
St George's Cross
, historic Catalan symbol. It was established by the Generalitat by virtue of the Decree 457/1981 of 18 December 1981. The medal was designed by goldsmith Joaquim Capdevila. 		December 18, 1981

Historical

The Catalan constitutions (Constitucions catalanes) were the legislation of the Principality of Catalonia promulgated by the monarch as Count of Barcelona and approved by the Catalan Courts. The first ones were promulgated in 1283, the last ones in 1706. They had pre-eminence over the other legal rules and could only be revoked by the Courts themselves.
St George's Cross
Palau de la Generalitat is a historic building located in Barcelona. It hosted the government and the presidency of the Generalitat, the institution of self-government of Catalonia.
Poblet Abbey
Timbaler del Bruc
The sickle is an agricultural tool particularly associated with the Reapers' War (1640-1652) and other Catalan popular uprisings.

Certain institutions from the former

Generalitat
are valued as historical symbols of ancient local forms of government by Catalans.

Owing to a common history and shared experiences, as well as interactions at different levels along the centuries, many of the traditional Catalan symbols overlap with those of

Poblet Monastery where the ancient kings lie buried are especially revered as common symbols that helped consolidate Catalonia in the 12th century.[7]

Historical symbols of a military nature

In former times the existence and very survival of Catalonia depended on being victorious in the

constant battles against the Saracens. Therefore, many ancient Catalan symbols are of a warlike nature, like Otger Cataló, also known as Pare de la Pàtria ("Father of the Country"), the Nou Barons de la Fama, James the Conqueror, the Almogavars, Bernat de Rocafort and the Comte Tallaferro. Present-day "moros i cristians" popular festivals still commemorate the battles against the Moors (or Muslims) that allowed the Catalans to endure the invasions.[8]

The national anthem of

Napoleon I's troops in Catalonia during the Peninsular War
(1808 - 1814).

Folkloric and popular symbols

The Castellers
The Sardana dance

Aside of the symbols of a historic, political and religious character, there are other popular Catalan symbols which are more or less serious according to the case and the context.

Many of these symbols come from the local

vibria and the bat. The choosing of a "Pubilla" in the summer fairs
comes from an old tradition based on the transmission of hereditary patrimony in rural Catalonia.

Still, certain traditional and "typical" symbols deserve mention, like

Nit de Sant Joan bonfires, the correfoc, the barretina traditional hat, the porró, the Tió de Nadal and the caganer
.

One of the most famous international symbols of Catalonia is

rugby team is also considered, especially by some Catalan nationalists
, as an unofficial national team of Catalonia.

Religious

The Virgin of Montserrat
Sant Jordi (Saint George), the patron saint of Catalonia.[9] Fountain in the Palau de la Generalitat, Barcelona

Ancestral symbols, like the

secular
than its traditional ancestry.

The names of many villages, cities and mountains all over Catalonia, like

Santa Susanna, Sant Sadurní d'Anoia, or Sant Llorenç del Munt, as well as a great number of chapels and hermitages spread all over the territory, remain as a testimony of the ancestral faith of the Catalans. In recent times, however, these symbols have seen their meaning much reduced. While until the 19th century all Catalans felt represented by their symbols of Christianity, nowadays only a few consider them relevant.[11]
Already in 1905 writer and bishop
secularism displayed by the "militant nationalism" of Enric Prat de la Riba
(1870–1917).

According to Torras i Bages, the seny (a kind of good sense and wisdom), another Catalan symbol, was based in ancient Catalan traditions.[12] Analyzing this controversy, Mossèn Gaietà Soler i Perejoan (1863–1914) came to the conclusion that "there are two "opposing visions" in Catalonia, from one side the Catholic (one), based on "seny" and tradition, aiming to promote benevolent social restoration ... of the faith and social and legal customs of Catalonia...", and on the other side "the unconcerned (vision), based on what is politically convenient, in order to achieve, rather than social improvement, (merely) the political prestige of a nation-state."[13]

Geographic

Montserrat
Canigó
Pedraforca

Mountains like the Canigó, Montserrat and the striking double-peaked Pedraforca, are ancestral symbols endowed with mythical attributes according to the local folklore.

Certain cities of the Catalan cultural area have a symbolic significance as the most extreme geographic points of the spoken Catalan language or one of its variants. These are:

Menorquí), the easternmost, and Fraga
, the westernmost.

Gastronomy

Main article: Catalan cuisine
Pa amb tomàquet (bread with tomato) is considered the quintessential dish of Catalonia. It consists of toasted bread with tomato rubbed over and seasoned with olive oil and salt.
The Calçot is a type of scallion or green onion. A "calçotada" is an annual event in Tarragona celebrating the harvest of Calçot. It is grilled on high fire and eaten after peeling with bare hands by dipping one by one in romesco sauce along with an accompaniment of red wine and bread.
A botifarra is a sausage made from the large intestine of a pig filled with minced and marinated meat from the same animal, seasoned with salt and pepper. Botifarra amb mongetes ("botifarra with beans") is perhaps one of the most representative Catalan dish.
Escudella i carn d'olla is a traditional meat and vegetable stew and soup. It is characterized by the use of a pilota, a big meatball spiced with garlic and parsley; it also contains vegetables as celery, cabbage, carrots, etc. and, additionally, bones, botifarra, and other types of meat. In Christmas it included a snail-shaped pasta known as galet.
Crema catalana ("Catalan cream") is a dessert similar to a French crème brûlée. It is made from egg yolks, milk, sugar, cornflour (in modern recipes), and aromatics, typically lemon zest, cinnamon, or vanilla, with a crisp caramel crust.[14]
Cava is an iconic sparkling wine mainly produced in the Penedès
region. It may be white (blanc) or rosé (rosat).

Flora and fauna

The "ruc català" or "burro català" (Catalan donkey) is a breed of large domestic donkeys from Catalonia and the Roussillon. As a national symbol, is a relatively recent creation when the need was felt to produce something Catalan to oppose to the Central Spanish Osborne bull, widely perceived by many Catalans as a centralistic symbol.[15]
Víbria ("wyvern") is a mythical dragon with two legs, chiropteran wings, sometimes with marked feminine characters (like two prominent breasts) and bird-like, like an eagle's beak with claws and wings. The kings of the Crown of Aragon used it in their personal heraldry as crest. Today, it is frequently represented at traditional local Catalan festivals.
The yellow weaver's broom (ginesta in Catalan) has often been regarded as the national flower of Catalonia, specially in combination with red poppies.[16]
The
Catalan countries
" and been a venue for political and cultural gatherings.
The Catalan Sheepdog (Catalan: Gos d'atura català) is a breed of Catalan Pyrenean dog used as a sheepdog.
The Phoenix is a mythical creature particularly related with the Renaixença, the 19th century Romantic revivalist movement of the Catalan language and culture.[17]

Gallery

  • National symbols gallery
  • The Senyera
    The Senyera
  • Memorial to the Battles of the Bruch
    Memorial to the
    Battles of the Bruch
  • Front cover from Lo verdader catalá (The True Catalan). A man wearing barretina sitting by the Catalan shield
    Front cover from Lo verdader catalá (The True Catalan). A man wearing barretina sitting by the Catalan shield
  • Catalan men wearing barretina
    Catalan men wearing barretina

See also

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Symbols of Catalonia.

References

  1. ISBN 2-86377-030-6
    .
  2. ^ Paul Adam Even."L'heraldique catalane au moyen age" in Hidalguia, 22, Mayo-Junio 1957. Madrid. p465.
  3. ISBN 84-85704-34-7
  4. ISBN 84-85060-16-4
  5. ^ "Statute of Catalonia (Article 8)". Gencat.cat. Retrieved 2018-07-11. modified by the Spanish Constitutional Tribunal Judgment STC 31/2010 of June 28, 2010
  6. ^ Law 1/1980 where the Parliament of Catalonia declares that 11th of September is the National Day of Catalonia
  7. ^ Joan Bassegoda i Nonell, Història de la restauració de Poblet: destrucció i reconstrucció de Poblet, Poblet, Abadia de Poblet, 1983
  8. ^ "Ramon Cuéllar i Sorribes Auca de N'Otger Catalò". Archived from the original on 2010-10-02. Retrieved 2009-02-05.
  9. ISBN 978-1-57607-089-5
    page 408
  10. ^ Vicenç Villatoro. Paisatges d'hivern (La barbaritat de fer un pessebre sense pessebre o una truita sense ou). AVUI, diumenge 2 de gener 2005
  11. ^ El Barça tolera un escut sense la creu en un acte al Marroc
  12. ^ Josep Torras i Bages, La tradició catalana, 1892
  13. ^ Josep Massot i Muntaner Església i societat a la Catalunya contemporània
  14. ^ Marijo Jordan (2020-03-20). "Los 10 errores que cometes al hacer crema catalana y natillas" [The 10 mistakes you commit when making crema catalana and custards]. La Vanguardia (in Spanish).
  15. ^ Ruc català - (Catalan donkey)
  16. ^ (in Catalan) La ginesta, flor nacional de Catalunya
  17. ISBN 0-300-12106-7
    , 2006.
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