Catalans By: Ryan Conley
Population Right now there are about 7.2 million people living in Catalans. 70% of the people there are living in Barcelona. Its imperial force is usually spread across the Mediterranean.
Location Catalans is about the size of Maryland. It is located in the northeastern corner of Spain. This part of Spain is mostly dominated by the Pyrenees. Their highest point is called Pico de Aneto.
Location (continued) Catalans is divided into four parts. These four parts are Lleida, Girona, Barcelona, and Tarragona. In 2006 Catalans population made up 15% of Spain. Their birth rate is relatively low.
Language Catalans language is a Romance language like French or Italian. The language is also spoken with regional varieties. The road signs on the streets are written in Catalan and in national language, Castilian.
Language (continued) The Catalan language is very similar to the Provencal language which is spoken in southern France. In the 1930 to the mid-1970 s the Catalan language was suppressed and not heard by the French. Now you can hear it on television and on the radio.
Language (continued) Every year the number of people speaking Catalan is rising by 20,000. But still only half of the population can speak Catalan. Even if they do not speak the language some of the people say that they can understand some of what people are saying.
Folklore Their tradition is very rich and distinctive. A lot of their religious festivals has a lot of folkloric component. Also it is common to have a civic processions like gegants and capgrossos are paraded. Also it is common to have competitions of colles (teams) of costellers.
Folklore (continued) In Catalonia a castell is a human built structure that is made during festivals. Most of their members come from town of Valls. The town is in the southern part of the country.
Folklore (continued) In their festivals fires play a big role in their celebrations. In the celebrations the correfocs are the most striking of them. The word correfocs comes from men dressed in devil costumes and throws firecrackers and small rockets in the streets.
Religion In Catalans most of the people there are Roman Catholic. As time went on and things became more modern the religion in Catalans decreased. Even though the people in Catalans still go to church for baptisms and weddings with the right rituals most of the people do not attend church regularly.
Religion (continued) Recently in the 1990 s up to now there has been a lot of immigration that has occurred. That has lead to a lot of Muslims in this area and all around Spain. After all of that Islam has became the second largest religion next to Roman Catholics.
Holidays Here are some of the holidays that they celebrate: Epiphany, Pentecost, and the Feast of St. George. There are also many festivals in the summer that has fires and fireworks. Day of the Dead is also celebrated on November 2.
Holidays (continued) People celebrate their individual saints all in one main event in towns and villages. All of their festivals and celebrations has some form of dancing in it. Also they follow rituals that represents giants in many of their festivals.
Rites of Passage For Catalans they have baptism, first Communion, and marriage. When these events happen they are usually big social events and they are expensive. Now as of 2001 compulsory military is now a rite of passage.
Interpersonal Relations Catalans is usually described as being hardworking, conservative, and ambitious. There has been a steady improvement of the Spanish economy since the 1960 s. There has been a steady incline of the economy because of the industrial development, tourism, and evolution in customs.
Interpersonal Relations (continued) In Catalans they usually adopt customs by traveling to different places. That has been going on for at least 25 years. Many people have been allowed to have a vacation home in their country or apartment at the beach from the economic perspective.
Interpersonal Relations (continued) The offices in the cities usually start at 9:00 AM and close at 7:00 PM. The workers who have paid for a month vacation usually spends it by the sea. In Catalans they are considered friendly and outgoing and they usually shake hands and are friendly.
Living Conditions Today many of the Catalans people likes to go shopping, likes cars, gadgets, and entertainment. That is probably why it is a consumer society. For big cities cars are often to have a few problems.
Living Conditions (continued) Many people have moved from the cities to the towns because of the car problem. But Catalans has a nice highway and bus system setup. There is also a railway that serves Catalans that goes and transports in all the big cities.
Family Life In their customs the older son usually inherits all of the family property. This has led to a lot of wealthy estates in Catalans. But the bad side to this is that it has led to a big problem of emigration.
Family Life (continued) In the past there has been a lot of big families that has been a problem in many cases. But the Catalans families have been a lot smaller in size and usually end up in two children. The birth-rate in Europe has been the lowest in a while.
Clothing In all of Spain, Catalans seem to have one of the highest fashion standards. The Catalans people pay more attention of how they look than America. Catalans fashion industry is 90% of the Spain s textiles.
Food In Catalan they have a very rich culinary tradition. A lot of the Mediterranean flavors in Catalans are olive oil, garlic, onions, tomatoes, nuts, and dried fruits. One of Catalans favorite dishes is boiled meatin-a-pot.
Food (continued) Fish casseroles and smoked meats are the foods that Catalans is known for. They have a lot of popular seafood that are squid, crab, shrimp, fresh sardines and tuna, salmon, trout, and dried and salted codfish. One of their desserts include a custard dish topped with caramel.
Food (continued) In Catalans they like to eat mushrooms. There are six dozen types of mushrooms that are grown in their homelands. A lot of their wine and champagne are exported to Europe and America. Today Catalans cuisine is known around the world.
Education In Catalans education for children 6 to 16 are free. After that they have a choice to either have a one year of preparation for college or to go to a vocational school. Schools there are public and private. They have to learn the Catalan language.
Cultural Heritage Catalans has a very impressive cultural heritage that consists of art and architecture. Pablo Picasso is one of the most powerful influences in the 20 th century art. All of the artists that were famous in Catalans are all in museums in the city because of their work.
Work Catalans is one of the top five industrialized regions in Europe. They have the greatest number of high-tech companies in Spain. The majority of the people move away from the city to do industrialization. Many of the people do agriculture and construction.
Sports Soccer is the most popular sport played in Catalans and in Spain. There are games that are played through September to May and they are usually played on Saturdays and Sundays. Other sports like basketball and tennis are also getting popular.
Entertainment Many of the people go on vacation in their own country. The younger people are usually the ones who likes to go to the beach. Also a lot of the things that they do often involve a lot of sports and activity.
Entertainment (continued) In the evenings a lot of the people like to go out and dance with friends. Also many of the people there like to the opera houses, theaters, and museums in the cities. Just like a lot of the people in any other place the Catalans people likes to watch movies, television, and goes to concerts.
Folk Art, Crafts, and Hobbies At festivals many of the Catalans people perform a common dance called the sardana. The dance is very easy and the dancers have to pay attention to know when they have to move for their turn. The band that plays the music for the dance uses all types of instruments.
Social Problems The region of Catalans they have been trying to keep a cultural identity and independence. After some of the wars the family structure of Catalans as been weaken. There as been violent conflicts and a lot of problems in the big cities with crime and drug problems.
Government The Catalans politicians have been shifting Spain's government for decades. There has been many conflicts over finances, education, and historical archives. With their politicians they have been able to change autonomy in governance, planning, and control.