A Catalan Christmas' Best Friend

Published in Catalonia Today magazine - December 2012

Reus, December, 2012 - Photo: Elisabeth Magre

For every child (and many adults too), December might be the best month of the year. Christmas means celebration and family reunions. Around the world, Father Christmas visits homes to reward boys and girls with presents. Actually, not every home. Catalonia is not generally on Santa’s route, because there is another guy in charge. He’s called the Tió de Nadal, or Christmas Log. Popularly called Caga tió (crapping log), it is a character in Catalan mythology related to a widespread Christmas tradition. Beginning with the Feast of the Immaculate Conception (December 8), one gives the tió a little to 'eat' every night and he is usually covered with a little blanket so that he won’t get cold.

On Christmas day or, depending on the particular household, on Christmas Eve, one puts the tió partly into the fireplace and orders it to 'crap' (the fireplace element of this tradition is no longer as widespread as it once was, since many modern homes do not have one). To make him 'crap', one beats him with sticks, while singing various songs about the Tió de Nadal.

The tió does not drop larger gifts, as those are usually brought by the Three Wise Men. What he does leave are sweets, nuts and torrons. Depending on the part of Catalonia,he may also give out dried figs. When nothing is left to 'crap', he drops a salted herring, a head of garlic, an onion or even 'urinates'. What comes out of the tió is a communal rather than an individual gift, shared by everyone present.

The Tió is not as glamorous as Father Christmas, but Catalan kids love it. Merry Christmas!

Armstrong’s footprint

Published in Catalonia Today magazine - November 2012

Girona, October 2012 - Photo: Oriol Mas

In this lovely street in the old quarter of Girona, built over the ancient Roman road of Via Augusta, Lance Armstrong bought a house to live in while training a few years ago. Since then, several cyclist from different teams have decided to settle in the beautiful city of Girona, with its great weather and good roads with mountains nearby that are perfect for preparing for big races, such as the Tour de France or the Giro d’Italia. Girona quickly became one of the hubs of professional cycling in Southern Europe, and Armstrong was praised as a hero. When he was stripped of his titles by the US Anti-Doping Agency, the reaction here was one of incredulity. People in Girona simply could not believe it. They didn’t want to. At the end of the day, the International Cycling Union confirmed the accusations and banned Armstrong for life, erasing from the book of records his seven Tour de France titles. Girona

– and Catalonia – is in shock. Armstrong is no longer a hero, but his legacy is still alive in the city through the many professional cyclists who have settled in the town.

The next state in Europe?

Published in Catalonia Today magazine - October 2012

When a demonstration of 1.5 million people takes place in the capital city of a country of seven million inhabitants, you can bet that something big is going on.

Add to that the fact that the marchers were demanding "Independence", and you come up with a very strong cocktail. That cocktail is called "Catalonia, the next state in Europe", and the main problem is that Madrid and Brussels don’t want to try it. However, it seems that democracy will eventually force them to take a sip, as the Catalan people expressed their will in the streets of Barcelona last month and will also no doubt do so in the polling booths in the next Catalan elections,. Then, the political options will be polarised between two choices: to remain part of Spain or become an independent state, regaining sovereignity lost 300 hundreds years ago.

Catalonia is at a crossroads and the two paths to follow are dark and painful. On one hand, the cost of remaining part of Spain is poverty and assimilation. On the other, the costs of secession are very high as well. At the end of the day, though, the democratic will of the people will prevail, and that is something unstoppable.

Freedom for Catalonia

Published in Catalonia Today magazine, September, 2012.

Girona, July 29, 2012 - Photo: Manel Lladó

Catalonia wants to rule its own destiny. Polls made this clear a couple of months ago when more than 51 per cent of Catalans showed their support for independence. In Girona, a mega-concert, with dozens of bands and an audience of thousands, became a massive clamour for a change in the statu quo. Politicians are watching with concern as the people themselves push ahead without waiting for them to lead the process. Financial asphyxia from Madrid is bringing things to a head and some analysts are seeing a call for early elections in Catalonia that could become a referendum for independence avant la lettre. Stay tuned, because the best is yet to come.

Enjoy your olympic meal!

London, June 13, 2012 - Photo: SUZANNE PLUNKETT / Reuters

Are you planning to visit London this summer for the 2012 Olympic Games? Then you better get ready fto enjoy the best fo the local cuisine. A menu of oddly named and sometimes oddly tasting traditional British dishes awaits adventurous diners visiting London for the Olympic Games this summer. In this colourful picture you have a nice example: Crumble and custard (clockwise from top L), Bread and Butter pudding, Battenberg cake, and an Eton mess. Yummy! You may think that this is not the kind of menu that the elite sportsmen and sportswomen should eat at their olympic villages, but don’t worry, they won’t. This is only for visitors and tourists. The only sport they’ll practice in London this summer is, precisely, eating and drinking!

Published in Catalonia Today magazine - July-August 2012

Who cares about Gibraltar?

Photo: Malcolm Tredinnick - Wikipedia

One favourite strategy of governments around the world during a time of serious crisis is – instead of solving the problem – to offer the press and public a distraction. If peppered with a huge dose of cheap patriotism, all the better.
We saw an example of this recently with the nationalisation of the Argentine branch of the Spanish oil company, Repsol. We saw it again when the Spanish government protested the visit of the UK’s Prince Edward to Gibraltar, which led to the cancelation of the visit of Queen Sofia to England to participate in Queen Elisabeth II’s jubilee celebrations.
A great deal of Spanish pride emerged in the media, with the same old arguments against the British sovereignty over the Rock, and claims to do whatever is needed to see the red and yellow flag replacing the Union flag.
It is interesting to notice that the Catalan press didn’t join the party. In fact, Catalans have been linked to the British presence in Gibraltar since the very beginning. This picture of Catalan Bay is proof. The place has been called Catalan Bay ever since a battalion of 350 Catalans landed there to join the Anglo-Dutch army that seized Gibraltar in 1704. In that war, Catalonia lost its independence and became part of the Spanish kingdom, after the British crown failed to honour the Treaty of Genoa, which was supposed to guarantee enough support to keep Catalonia independent from Spain.
However, the footprints of the old friendship between the Catalans and the British remained in the name of the fishing village of Catalan Bay. And in the meantime, let’s hope our leaders ignore the distraction strategies and concentrate on what is really important, which is solving the problems we have today. After all, that’s why we vote for them, isn’t it?

Published in Catalonia Today magazine - June 2012

Run, Susi, run!

Yes, I know the following lines seem like a script by Groucho Marx, but you have my word that it’s true. Pictured is Susi the elephant, one of the stars of Barcelona zoo. In 2009, Queen Sofia of Spain wrote a letter to express how worried she was about Susi’s living conditions. Her husband, King Juan Carlos, however, is a well-known hunter and a few weeks ago he was secretly killing elephants in Botswana and taking pictures of himself with a smoking gun beside a dead pachyderm. The press and the public only took notice of the King’s safari trip because he fell and broke his hip. The hunting trip to Africa by the head of the state is just a little annoying when there are more than five million unemployed people in Spain and the county’s economy is struggling to avoid a bailout from the EU and the IMF. To make the story even more absurd, the king happens to be the honorary chairman of the Spanish chapter of the WWF. If I was Susi the elephant, I would run away as fast as I could from this crazy place.

Published in Catalonia Today magazine, May 2012