Spain Culture

Spain culture
like it’s history too has been molded throughout the ages by the diverse foreign races which have migrated into the country and settled in the peninsula bringing in its wake a treasure of their diverse cultures. In fact the liveliness and vivacity of Spain culture possibly traces its roots to popular tradition and legends in which it is deeply embedded. Spain ’s culture is notably quite different from the culture of the rest of Europe or even from that of Africa which lies in its close proximity. It is unique in its own individuality, quite alive and successfully reflects the country’s past from which it is molded.

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The ‘Tomatina’ Tomato Fight

Surely the worlds’ biggest food-fight: every year around 30,00 people descend on the Spanish town of Bunol (in the Valencia region of Spain) to throw more than 240,000 pounds of tomatoes at each other.

The festival is started with a ham-on-a-stick contest where competitors raced up a pole to retrieve a smoked leg of ham. When the ham is cut down, people put on eye protection and cry for tomatoes as trucks dump the squishy produce onto the village streets. They then proceed to pelt each other with them until all have been used up.

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Spanish Culture

Widely known for Flamenco music and dance, bullfights, fantastic beaches and lots of sunshine, Spain has much more to offer than that. It is-and has been for thousands of years-one of the cultural centres of Europe.

"Spain is different!", Spaniards use to say. They don’t specify compared to what: to the rest of Europe, to the rest of the world, or even to itself ? We don’t know either, but we do our best to supply you with lots of information so you can find the answer to this question and many others by yourself.

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GOVERNMENT AND POLITICS

National Government: Parliamentary monarchy with hereditary constitutional monarch as head of state. Under 1978 Constitution, power centered in bicameral legislature–the Cortes (comprising lower house, Congress of Deputies, and upper house, Senate). Both houses elected by universal suffrage every four years (unless parliament dissolved earlier by head of state), but 350-member Congress of Deputies uses proportional representation system, whereas Senate contains 208 members elected directly as well as 49 regional representatives. Congress of Deputies wields greater legislative power. Leader of dominant political party in Cortes designated prime minister and serves as head of government.

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ECONOMY

Gross Domestic Product (GDP): US$340.1 billion in 1988 (US$8,702 per capita). Economy stagnant during late 1970s and first half of the 1980s, but real gross domestic product (GDP–see Glossary) growth averaged 3.3 percent in 1986 and 5.5 percent in 1987, roughly double the West European rate.

Agriculture: Made up about 5 percent of GDP in 1988 and employed about 15 percent of population. Very important producer of citrus fruits, olive oil, vegetables, and wine. Agricultural products made up more than 15 percent of country’s exports. Productive and modern farming along southern and eastern coasts able to meet foreign competition. Small antiquated farms of northwestern region threatened by Spain’s membership in European Community (EC–see Glossary).

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SOCIETY

Population: 38.8 million in 1986. Projected 40 million by 1990, 42 million by 2000. Rate of annual growth from 0.8 percent to 1.2 percent from 1930s to 1980s. Growth rates expected to level off or to decline slightly for remainder of twentieth century.

Education and Literacy: Primary education (age six to fourteen) free and compulsory. Insufficient number of state schools and teachers to meet this goal and rising enrollment. Gap filled by private schools subsidized by state. By early 1980s, 40 percent of all schools private. By 1965 country had achieved nearly universal enrollment in primary grades. Secondary school attendance optional, but students deciding not to attend secondary school had to attend vocational training until age sixteen. In 1985 estimated 89 percent of students did attend secondary school, and 26 percent attended university. Adult population 94-97 percent literate in late 1980s.

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Introducing Spain

Some clichés hold true. Spain, stretching sun-drenched and untamed to the south of the wild and majestic Pyrenees, is a passionate nation littered with glittering beaches where beach lovers soak up pitchers of sangria over steaming paella (at its tasty best in Valencia). Flamenco bailaors (dancers) stamp and swirl in flounces of colour, while toreros flaunt their bravado in the bullrings. Scratch this surface and a vast, unexpected panorama unfolds before you. It is extraordinary what splendours remain off the beaten track: the green hills and ocean coves of the north; proud, solitary castles and medieval towns, like Toledo, across the interior; the white villages of Andalucía; and mountain ranges such as the Gredos and Sierra Nevada (Europe’s southernmost ski resort).

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FLAMENCO

Flamenco is a genuine Spanish art, and to be more exact an genuine Southern Spanish art. It exists in three forms: Cante, the song, Baile, the dance, and Guitarra, guitar playing.
Gypsies are very often named as its fathers, and at least it can be taken for certain that they played an important part in its creation. But also the popular songs and dances of Andalucia have influenced early Flamenco considerably.
Certainly there were other influences, too, as it will not surprise in a country that has been dominated by most diverse cultures and civilizations during its different historical epochs. There were the legendary Tartessos, and seven centuries of Muslim occupation hardly could have passed without leaving traces. All that, directly or indirectly, influenced Flamenco.

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Architecture

The oldest works of architecture in Spain of which remains are left go back to the megalythical culture, approximately 3000 b.C. Anyhow, they are probably not exactly what you expect to find here. Lots of Roman monuments are conserved too Photo, among the most important being the great aquaeduct of Segovia and the amphitheater of Mérida.

Absolutely stunning is what Moors have left in this country. The Great Mosque Photo of Cordoba is one of the most visited sights by tourists, the other of course being Granada’s Alhambra Photo which is perfectly conserved in its original condition. The Spanish Moors created a style of their own that differs in many aspects from their traditional architecture which you may find in Africa and introduced several novelties.This style is called Caliphal style.

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Historical information

Prehistorical Times

The oldest historical findings made in Spain date of about 30000 to 50000 b.C. Among the most important remains of this period are the caves Cova Negra (Játiva) and Piñar (Granada).
The Celt-Iberian Spain

The Iberian population probably arrived to the peninsula from the north of Africa. Tartessos, probably an iberian tribe, founded an important kingdom of high culture in the valley of Guadalquivir river, in the south of Spain. By 1200 b.C. Celtic tribes entered the peninsula from the north, mixing up with Iberians and so generating the celt-iberian race. The origin of the bask race living in the north of the country is uncertain, but many historians suppose that it goes back to a pre-iberian population.

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