Culture and Customs

On Napkins

~ Kate Wilson ~ 3 Comments

When my Catalan friends Marta and Cristina first arrived in Cornwall all those years ago, they brought to my attention the absence of napkins. They felt it strongly, the lack of a napkin laid beside the place setting in my home.
Of course I had napkins, lots of them, all ironed and folded up on a shelf. They would be brought out and used if I had people round for dinner, or at Christmas or my birthday.
But in Catalunya everyone has a napkin ready for use at every meal – breakfast, lunch or dinner. And usually it is a proper one of cotton or linen. When guests come to eat they may be given only a folded paper one but if you are staying for a few days then you too get one of your own to be used several times. How do you know it is your one?  Well, either they are all of different colours or you have individual rings. After a few meals you can tell which one belongs to the Resident Adolescent as it is more wrinkled and covered in tomato sauce!

It must be a sign of my Catalanisation that I too now notice the lack of a napkin when I am eating. People in northern Europe don’t have this custom and you are only given something to wipe your hands and mouth on if the food is especially sticky or messy. And sometimes not even then!

Isn’t it funny how you can change something so basic as needing a napkin or not?

At home in Granollers I decided to always give guests a proper one rather than paper as we have such huge piles of napkins and it is easy to throw it into the next clothes wash if it is only used once.

One of the earliest lessons I remember from my mother was to never ever call a napkin a serviette. There’s another funny thing – I still get a frisson of dismay when I hear that word and if I was teaching English table manners I would probably find myself passing on this taboo.

Man on a Crane

~ Kate Wilson ~ 4 Comments

I wrote a week ago about some building works on our street.
For the past two days there has been an enormous crane on the site. I always find cranes exciting  although I am not clear what they are for. In this situation surely they can’t be lifting heaving things into place as there is so little room.  This crane is huge and the arm stretches way across the road and beyond.
Today I looked up to see a man making his way along the arm. He wasn’t wearing any harness as far as I could see. This is Health and Safety Spanish style I think.
He inched along to the end

  lay down and fiddled with something mechanical and then inched his way back to safety

Yes, that small shape up there is him!
How was it possible to do this?  I couldn’t believe that everyone was just walking by normally while someone did an amazing thing way up in the sky.

He wasn’t wearing a helmet either – I suppose that if he had fallen a blow to the head would be the least of his problems.

Calendari Dels Pagesos

~ Kate Wilson ~ 1 Comment

A friend just asked me how to find out the dates of all the Festes Majors.
Apart from asking someone who knows (and people in towns and villages all know the date of their local one), the best way is to look at the Calendari Dels Pagesos which you can buy for about 2.20E from news-stands or bookshops.

This publication is a wonderful source of information. Contents include

  • Astrological data – eclipses, phases of moon, sunrise times etc. There is also a list of when the planets are visible.
  • Religious celebrations and dates
  • Weekly markets – if it’s a Monday and you want to go to a market you can find out there is one in Arenys de Munt, Cardedeu, Olot and Santa Coloma de Farners amongst other places.
  • Catalan festivals both local and national. This is where the Festes Majors are listed. Now you can see that there are hundreds!  Looking just at July I see there are festes in Vic, Llança, Espinelves, L’Estartit, St Pol de Mar and about 160 other towns.  Imagine having all these possible parties to go to, especially as a young person. I try to count up village/street parties I went to as a teenager and I come up with 0!!!!
  • All Saints days are listed so you can keep up with all your friends and family and remember to phone them and say Per Molts Anys. Today is St Aaron and Santa Elionor.  I have decided to adopt Saint Catherine of Alexandria as my saint and her day is November 25th. Lets see if the  Calendari agrees…..yes and it is shared with Gonçal and Erasme. I don’t meet many people called Gonçal or Erasme so I have the day mostly to myself!
  • Farming information and when to plant and harvest as well as tips on chicken keeping.         July information “Tenen gran importància les feines de recol-leccio´ i d’irrigacio´. Encara es segueixen plantant tomàquets tardans per a esser collits a l’octubre o novembre.”     The  important jobs now are to harvest and to water. Continue planting late tomatoes so you can pick them in October and November

So, all in all a booklet full of useful information and all you have to do is remember to look at it from time to time.  Ours has been in a drawer until now but I will put it beside the telephone from now on.

Festa Major

~ Kate Wilson ~ 3 Comments

Late night we made a last minute visit to the Festa Major at Bigues. We danced in the main square and ate chips then came home. It will go on into the wee small hours of the morning but I was happy with our short visit. In fact we only went because the Resident Adolescent needed a lift there and we decided to get off the sofa and go dancing!

Festa Majors are the celebrations that take place in every town and village to mark some special occasion or saints day. It is a real sign of summer than the festes are on and you can go to a different one every weekend. Granollers will spring into life at the end of August when there is a week long party with a full programme of events.

These community parties are funded by the local councils. I’m trying to imagine that happening in the UK. Imagine little Golowans happening in every Cornish village!

Midsummer Musings

~ Kate Wilson ~ 1 Comment

 I am back in Sant Nicolau and feeling full of a wonderful lunch cooked by Helen and shared with her family and Pep.  We sat outside at a long wooden table in the shade of some trees, surrounded by birdsong.
Conversation flowed. That’s not just because we were speaking English because actually we talked a lot in Castellano so that Angie who is from Honduras could join in. I thought about how many awful and awkward dinners I have sat through, not understanding, not feeling able to speak from a mixture of language deficiency and shyness.  I noticed how we all tried to make sure everyone was joining in and I wondered why this doesn’t happen more often to me.
What can help you feel comfortable in a multi-language dinner table?
  • feeling you are liked
  • feeling you are welcome
  • feeling people are interested in you
  • smiling and being smiled at
  • having eye contact even when language is faltering
  • being listened to as well as listening….ie patience
  • an atmosphere of love and generosity

It is so easy to be comfortable when, like today,  these conditions are met. I am not shy when I am with people who like me and show it. But it is quite another thing to be able to speak confidently in another language with people who appear to have no interest in you. This is what separates the sheep from the goats. Those who are shy begin to suffer in silence and want to run away. Those who are more extrovert start to perform.  I’m sure it is possible to learn how to do this but….HOW?

Last night was the revetlla of Sant Joan. We had a barbeque here under the stars, listening to distant fireworks and music, eating lovely food by candlelight and feeling relaxed enough to admit that we were too tired to stay up all night or even until sunrise.

Here is a wonderful blog post by a Norwegian woman who lives in Barcelona. She explains all about the celebration and I think it is better to send you over there rather than attempt to say anything new myself!

Finally, here is another photo mix from my camera app. Not related to any of the above – sorry! Except perhaps, without words, it is saying something about me.