September 11, Barcelona Style

September 11 means something entirely different here than it does in New York City, as I found out today.  We knew it was a holiday, but frankly there are so many that I had not paid much attention to the details.  So this morning we all troop out to the market so that Alec could introduce me to the vendors he had schmoozed last week, and to purchase supplies for the Sunday dinner we’ve planned to cook for Jaume, Lisa and their kids.  We have our shopping list, we have our roller cart, and we’ve promised the kids chocolate and churros at the place across from the market if they behave themselves.

On our way, we notice the abundance of Catalan flags hanging out of peoples’ windows and off of balconies.  “Oh, right,” says Alec, “It’s the National Day of Catalonia.”  You’d think we’d have put two and two together at that point.  But no, we walk the 15 minutes to the market, only to find it shut tight, the streets deserted.  Of course, we realize, a holiday here means that EVERYTHING is closed—restaurants, shops, supermarkets, you name it.  We think maybe the Carrefour is open since it’s so big.  It’s not.  There is one supermarket—the OpenCor-- that’s open on Sundays, when everything else is closed, so we go there, which basically means walking home and then another 10 minutes in the other direction.  Closed.  We find a bakery, for bread, and a small fruit and vegetable stand that’s absolutely jammed (the market logic does work for a few savvy shopkeepers)  for necessities. Hopefully the OpenCor will be open tomorrow so that we can cook for our friends.

Downtown everything—and everyone—is draped with the distinctive red and yellow stripes of the Catalan flag.  Catalonia is the region in which Barcelona is located, and the people here identify fiercely with their Catalan roots.  The National Day of Catalonia commemorates the 1714 Siege of Barcelona defeat during the War of the Spanish Succession.  I know, it’s a little difficult to wrap your mind around the concept of tying a holiday to a defeat, but there you have it.  As best I can tell, the day is an act of remembrance, paying tribute to the last time Catalonia was a nation. 

And many people today believe that it should still be so; there is animosity toward Spain, and the primary identity of many people is with Catalonia, not Spain.  In fact, all public literature, street signs, etc. is in Catalan, not Spanish.   Which is challenging if you are me and are already shaky in Spanish. And let me tell you, Catalan and Spanish are completely different languages.  The people who try and tell you that Catalan is a dialect of Spanish are the same folks that will attempt to convince you that carob is just like chocolate.  Don’t believe a word of it.

So I clearly need to dig more deeply into the history of this place we call home, for now. I’ll let you know what I find out.  Meanwhile, Barcelona will probably have a day of mourning tomorrow—FC Barcelona, our local, super-awsome soccer team lost their first game since 2008, at home.