It is also a holiday in España.
This morning I took my daily walk in the barrio (neighborhood) where everything - and I mean EVERYTHING - is closed, with the exception, of course, of cafés and restaurants.
I stopped by the local kiosk to ask what holiday we were celebrating and if there were any festas in the plaças so that I might take pictures.
Xavi, the kiosquero, explained that today Spain also celebrates Columbus’ arrival to the Americas and that no festivities are scheduled as this is a Spanish holiday.
Hmm, I thought. Businesses closed, schools closed, banks closed and no celebration. I couldn’t figure it out!
So I asked again, just to be sure, and he repeated: “No celebration here. This is a Spanish holiday.”
As I walked away, perplexed, a rush of embarrassment overcame me.
So, I began thinking. Columbus’ voyage to the New World was financed by King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella, Spain’s royals at that time.
Hmm. Catalunya has a strong wish, burning desire and a great want to be independent of Spain.
Catalonians have written, demonstrated and voted their aspiration to be autonomous. They are first and foremost, Catalans and not Spanish.
Oh my! I should have known better: Spain is different.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 2.5 License.
No comments:
Post a Comment