Culture of Spain
So, what is the culture of Spain?
To some people, the culture of Spain is little more than a caricature that can be summarised in just a few words – flamenco, bullfighting, straw donkeys, sangria and crowded beach holidays on the Mediterranean.
However, in fact, Spain has a culture that goes far beyond the crude banalities favoured by holidaymakers, who barely stray from their beach resort when visiting the country. It is the average holidaymaker’s loss that he does not appreciate the sheer complexity and rich depth of Spain – a country with a multi-faceted culture and one that is nothing if not fascinating.
Of course, Spain has a long and extraordinary history. The latter notably spans the time when Rome controlled much of the Iberian peninsular, the epic wars between Carthage and Rome and the later invasion of Spain by the Moors. This invasion lasted some 700 years and led to the famous Christian Reconquista which was followed by Spain being turbo-charged into European history as it briefly (and somewhat accidentally!) became a world power. Briefly, it was the bulwark of Catholicism made powerful by immense territories around Europe and massive wealth pouring in from Latin America
However, Spain gradually and inexorably declined, torn apart by long and ‘unnecessary’ wars and a social system that was feudal and restrictive in the extreme. Its empire crumbled away and little inward investment and considerable poverty saw the population of Spain actually decrease over several centuries until, by 1900, this vast country only had some 18 million people living in it.
The early part of the 20th Century saw Spain in a cultural and political turmoil until the brutal civil war of 1936 – 39 ended this and resulted in the long (36 years!), restrictive dictatorship of General Franco. For generations, Spain virtually disappeared ‘off the radar’of Western Europe, until the new wealth of Western Europe effectively opened up the country to holidaymakers in the 1970s.
General Franco’s death in 1975 heralded an extraordinary three years during which Spain, amazingly, became a democracy. The ‘amazing’ thing was that there was no bloodshed, despite many people having a very good reason for wanting to exact vengeance against the surviving members of the ‘old regime’.
The past 35 years has been a rollercoaster time for Spain and the very culture of Spain. It has seen an impoverished country become wealthy and one of the economic power houses of Europe. It has seen a social revolution in which the social changes of Europe and the US from the 1960s and 1980s were concertinered into just a few brief years following General Franco’s death.
Under General Franco, divorce was impossible – now it is quick and easy, gay rights were unknown – now, if you are gay, you can marry in Spain, women’s rights were negligible – now there are special women’s courts in every town and cabinet ministers who are woman. Indeed, Spain has become one of the most liberal states in Europe…
Meanwhile, Spain’s secular, constitutional democracy is firmly in place, with no sane Spaniard questioning whether the country should be a democracy – let alone that it should revert to a dictatorship.
It needs hardly adding that the nature of Spain, its past turbulence and long and varied history has affected every aspect of the culture of Spain. This is as true for its high art as for the land itself and the way that the Spanish live now. Even that cannot be simplified in a country that has more than doubled its population in a hundred years and that has seventeen autonomous regions (and two automomous cities) – and three co-official languages other than Spanish.
Indeed, it is hard for anyone who knows Spain to really state that there is a culture of Spain. On the contrary, there are cultures of Spain and these vary remarkably depending upon where you are. A good example is flamenco which is an inherent part of Andalusian culture but has nothing whatsoever to do with the culture of Catalonia, or Madrid or the Basque country – or, for that matter of fact, anywhere else in Spain.
What makes Spain so beguiling is its very cultural richness and depth. This is a country that has far more than just pretty beaches, great weather and cheap boose. It is somewhere that is fascinating, complex and varied – to such an extent that it would take a lifetime to ever achieve some true, knowledgeable appreciation of the country. However, just trying to understand and appreciate the cultures of Spain can be extraordinarily joyful – and a fulfilling adventure…
RELEVANT INFO: Bullfighting and the Moors and the birth of Spain and Spain becomes a democracy and divorce and domestic violence and drugs and brothel culture and controversies of Spain and fiestas in Spain
