Women

La Monyos – flowers in her hair.

~ Kate Wilson ~ 5 Comments

Have you heard of La Monyos?

I hadn’t until quite recently when my partner told me about the mysterious eccentric lady who used to live in Barcelona and was often seen walking on the Ramblas

La Monyos

Her name was Dolores Bonella i Alcazar and although not much is known about her life, there are many stories about who she was and what happened to turn her into a seemingly crazy street lady.

‘Ets més popular que La Monyos‘ is a famous Catalan expression meaning that you are more popular than the much beloved Dolores or Lolita as she was known.

Continue reading →

Teresa Forcades in Cardedeu

~ Kate Wilson ~ Leave a comment

After lunch on Sunday we walked down to see the public meeting organised by a group headed by Teresa Forcades – a Benedictine nun and social activist.

I almost put off writing about this until I knew more about it all but decided it is better to get down what I know rather than wait for some future in depth knowledge.

The public meetings are intended to start a social movement for change in the way society is organised and run, politically, economically and socially. Forcades, along with Arcadi Oliveres, an economist,  want to open a discourse where people, rather than just feeling dissatisfied and disillusioned, start to take responsibility for creating change.

The initial impulse for this is in the area including Cardedeu, Canoves, Llinars, Sant Antoni and Sant Pere de Vilamajor.   If Catalunya is moving towards independence, people want the new system to be something different, more democratic and more inclusive than what exists now

We arrived at a small square, packed with people under a blazing hot sun.
I haven’t seen a meeting like this before – just ordinary people, not activists or demonstrators. They were willing to stand and listen patiently for almost two hours. People were not passing by or pausing from curiosity – they were attentive and interested.   All sorts of people, young and old.

Teresa Forcades spoke last and was the best.  She has a very straightforward manner of speaking and a good sense of humour.   El Pais has described her as ‘a paranoid conspiracist’ but what I saw was a very clear minded and intelligent women speaking good sense.
I have never seen a politician over here doing the same.
If Spain and Catalunya have their own versions of Tony Benn or Mo Mowlam then I have yet to see them. But Teresa Forcades, a nun and not a politician,  looks like someone who is not afraid to stand up and speak out.
“The Roman Catholic church, which is my church, is misogynist and patriarchal in its structure. That needs to be changed as quickly as possible.”

Freedom is always the freedom of the one who thinks differently  Rosa Luxemburg

Ethel MacDonald – a Scottish Anarchist

~ Kate Wilson ~ 2 Comments

And then on the other hand there are the anarchists. So much more interesting than the politicians who are debating right now on Catalan TV.   Here is a film about Ethel MacDonald, a Scottish anarchist who supported the Republican Cause in Catalunya in the Civil War and who was making radio broadcasts from Barcelona calling for international support. Thanks to Nick Lloyd who organises Spanish Civil War tours in Barcelona and who has a really interesting Facebook page with old photos and fascinating information about that period.

There are a couple of books too which sound interesting.
“Homage to Caledonia” by Daniel Gray. A history of Scots who went to fight Franco in Spain.
Published by Luath Press.
 “An Anarchist’s Story – the life of Ethel MacDonald” by Chris Dolan. Published by Birlinn.


Taking Space

~ Kate Wilson ~ 3 Comments

Isn’t it funny how at the gym many women get anxious about using the machines and prefer to be there when there are not many people……. while many men feel so confident that they use three or four machines at the same time, thus stopping other people from doing their routine!

I challenge myself one day to do a long routine which means taking over at least four machines while I slowly and casually do my exercises. 
Perhaps I need Tiffany to help me so we can also stop to chat with each other – loudly –  in between times while draping our towels over the equipment so noone else can use it.

Breast feeding

~ Kate Wilson ~ 4 Comments

We saw this sign on the coast path near St Feliu de Guixols on the Costa Brava.
There was a tunnel with various viewpoints looking out at the bays

The Mirador is named for wet nurses – Dides in Catalan

A Dida was a woman who breast-fed someone else’s child. Perhaps because the mother was ill or incapable of feeding her baby.  Many women died in childbirth so the Dida was also needed to help those babies survive. Or perhaps the mother was from a social class that could afford to pay someone to take over a task which she didn’t want to do. In the days before reliable contraception it would have freed some women from an unending cycle of reproduction and feeding.
For centuries wet nursing was common all over the world and only went into decline with the advent of artificial baby milk.
Here in Catalunya some wealthy people had a Dida who lived in the house for years, feeding the babies as they arrived.  I hadn’t really thought about wet nursing before but although nowadays it seems strange or even distasteful, I can see how practical it was and perhaps a better idea than feeding babies something created in a factory. Apparently you don’t have to keep having your own babies to produce milk – if you keep feeding, the milk can be produced for years. I suppose this also protected some of the women who worked in this way from unwanted pregnancies.
I wonder why this bay was so named?