Catalans

Catalans(Catalan,FrenchandOccitan:catalans;Spanish:catalanes;Italian:catalani;Sardinian:cadelanosorcatalanos)are aRomanceethnic groupnative toCatalonia, who speakCatalan.The current official category of "Catalans" is that of the citizens ofCatalonia, anationalityandautonomous communityin Spainand the inhabitants of theRoussillonhistorical region in southern France, today thePyrénées Orientalesdepartment,also calledNorthern CataloniaandPays Catalanin French.
Some authors also extend the word "Catalans" to include all people fromareas in which Catalan is spoken, namely those fromAndorra,Valencia, theBalearic Islands,eastern Aragon,Roussillon, and the city ofAlgheroinSardinia.
The Catalan government regularly surveys its population regarding its  "sentiment of belonging". As of July 2019, the results point out that 46.7% of the Catalans and other people living in Catalonia would like independence from Spain, 1.3% less than the year before.
In 1500 BCE the area that is now known primarily as Catalonia was, along with the rest of theIberian Peninsula, inhabited byProto-CelticUrnfield peoplewho brought with them the rite of burning the dead. Much of thePyreneesmountains was inhabited at the time by peoples related to modernBasques, and today many town names in the western Catalan Pyrenees can be linked to Basque etymologies. These groups came under the rule of various invading groups starting with theGreeksthat foundedEmpúriesand thePhoeniciansandCarthaginians, who set up colonies along the coast, includingBarcino(present-day Barcelona). Following thePunic Wars, the Romans replaced the Carthaginians as the dominant power in the Iberian eastern coast, including parts of Catalonia, by 206 BCE.RomeestablishedLatinas the official language and imparted a distinctlyRomanculture upon the local population, which merged with Roman colonists from theItalian peninsula. An early precursor to the Catalan language began to develop from a local form of popularLatinbefore and during the collapse of theRoman Empire. VariousGermanictribes arrived following nearly six centuries of Roman rule, which had completely transformed the area into the RomanprovinceofTarraconensis. The GermanVisigothsestablished themselves in the fifth century, making their first capital in the Iberian peninsula Barcelona, and they later would move to Toledo.
This continued until 718 whenMuslimArabstook control of the region in order to pass through the Pyrenees into French territory. With the help of the Franks, a land border was created commonly known nowadays asOld Catalonia(which would consist of the countiesCounty of Barcelona,Ausona,County of Pallars,County of Rosselló,County of Empúries,County of CerdanyaandCounty of Urgell) which faced Muslim raids but resisted any kind of settlement from them. The southernNew Cataloniawas under Arab/Muslim rule for about 4-5 centuries. TheFrankson the other side of the Pyrenees held back the main Muslim raiding army which had penetrated virtually unchallenged as far as central France at theBattle of Toursin 732. Frankishsuzeraintywas then extended over much of present-day Catalonia. Larger wars with the Muslims began in theMarch of Barcelonawhich led to the beginnings of theReconquistaby Catalan forces over most of Catalonia by the year 801. As the border between Muslim and Frankish realms stabilized, Barcelona would become an important center forChristianforces in theIberian Peninsula.
In 1137, the County of Barcelona entered adynastic unionwith theKingdom of Aragonto form what modern historians call theCrown of Aragonin the so-calledReconquista. This allowed the reclamation of Muslim-dominated lands, eventually conquering the kingdoms ofValenciaandMajorca(theBalearic Islands). From the 13th century onwards, the territory of the County of Barcelona and the otherCatalan countiesprogressively began to be identified as a single political entity and, from the mid-14th century, that polity began to be known as thePrincipality of Catalonia. Thecrisis of the late Middle Ages, the loss of hegemony within the Crown, as well as urban and feudal internal conflicts led to theCatalan Civil Warin 1462. In the last quarter of the 15th century, the marriage ofIsabella I of CastileandFerdinand II of Aragonled to the dynastic union of the Crown of Aragon with theCrown of Castille, in which each of the constitutive realm kept its own laws, policies, power structures, borders and monetary systems.
Continuous unrest led to conflicts on the states of the Crown of Aragon, such as theRevolt of the Germaniesin Valencia and Majorca, and the 1640 revolt in Catalonia known as theReapers' War. This latter conflict embroiled Spain in a larger war with France as the Catalan institutions allied themselves withLouis XIII. The war continued until 1659 and ended with thePeace of the Pyrenees, which effectively partitioned the Principality of Catalonia as its northern strip came under French rule, while the rest remained under Spanish Crown. The Catalan government took sides with theHabsburgpretender against theBourbonone during theWar of the Spanish Successionthat started in 1705 and ended in 1714. The Catalan failure to defend the continuation of Habsburg rule in Spain culminated in the surrender of Barcelona on 11 September 1714 which came to be commemorated asCatalonia's National Day. The surrender led to the imposition of absolutism and the abolition of Catalan political institutions and public law, thus ending the status of Catalonia as a separate state within a personal union.
During theNapoleonic Wars, much of Catalonia was seized by French forces by 1808, as France ruled the entire country of Spain briefly untilNapoleon's surrender to Allied Armies. In France, strong assimilationist policies integrated many Catalans into French society, while in Spain a Catalan identity was increasingly suppressed in favor of a Spanish national identity. The Catalansregained autonomyduring theSpanish Second Republicfrom 1932 untilFrancisco Franco's nationalist forces occupied Catalonia by 1939. It was not until 1975 and the death of Franco that the Catalans as well as otherSpaniardsbegan to regain their right to cultural expression, which was restarted by theSpanish Constitution of 1978. Since this period, a balance between a sense of Catalan national identity versus the broader Spanish one has emerged as the dominantpoliticalforce in Catalonia. The former tends to advocate for even greater autonomy, national recognition and, part of it, independence; the latter tends to argue for maintaining either a status quo or removal of autonomy and cultural identity, depending on the leanings of the current government. As a result, there tends to be much fluctuation depending on regional and national politics during a given election cycle. Given the stronger centralist tendencies in France, however, French Catalans display a much less dynamic sense of uniqueness, having been integrated more consistently into the unitary French national identity.
The vast majority of Catalans reside in the autonomous community of Catalonia, in the northeast part of Spain. At least 100,000 Catalan speakers live in thePays Catalanin France. An indeterminate number of Catalans emigrated to the Americas during theSpanish colonial periodand to France in the years following theSpanish Civil War.
Described by authorWalter StarkieinThe Road to Santiagoas a subtle people, he sums up their national character with a local termsenymeaning "common sense" or a pragmatic attitude toward life. The counterpart of Catalan "seny" is "rauxa" or madness, epitomized by "crazy", eccentric and creative Catalan artists likeAntoni Gaudí,Salvador Dalí,Joan MiróorAntoni Tàpies.Themasiaormasis a defining characteristic of the Catalan countryside and includes a large house, land, cattle, and an extended family, but this tradition is in decline as the nuclear family has largely replaced the extended family, as in the rest of western Europe. Catalonia in Spain is officially recognised as a "nationality" and enjoy a high degree of political autonomy,which has led to reinforcement of a Catalan identity.
TheCatalan languageis aRomance language. It is the language closest toOccitan, and it also shares many features with other Romance languages such as Spanish, French, Portuguese,Aragonese, andItalian. There are a number of linguistic varieties that are considereddialects of Catalan, among them, thedialectgroup with the most speakers,Central Catalan.
The total number of Catalan speakers is over 9.8 million (2011), with 5.9 million residing in Catalonia. More than half of them speak Catalan as a second language, with native speakers being about 4.4 million of those (more than 2.8 in Catalonia).Very few Catalanmonoglotsexist; basically, virtually all of the Catalan speakers in Spain arebilingualspeakers of Catalan and Spanish, with a sizable population of Spanish-only speakers of immigrant origin (typically born outside Catalonia or with both parents born outside Catalonia)existing in the major Catalan urban areas as well. InRoussillon, only a minority of French Catalans speak Catalan nowadays, with French being the majority language for the inhabitants after a continued process oflanguage shift. According to a 2019 survey by the Catalan government, 31.5% of the inhabitants of Catalonia have Catalan as first language at home whereas 52.7% have Spanish, 2.8% both Catalan and Spanish and 10.8% other languages.
The inhabitants of theAran valleycountAranese–anOccitandialect–rather than Catalan as their own language. These Catalans are also bilingual in Spanish.
In September 2005, the.catTLD, the firstInternetlanguage-based top-level domain, was approved for all web pages intending to serve the needs of the Catalanlinguisticand cultural community on the Internet. This community is made up of those who use the Catalan language for their online communication or promote the different aspects of Catalan culture online.
The traditional dress (now practically only used infolkloriccelebrations) included thebarretina(a sort of woollen, long cap usually red or purple) and thefaixa(a sort of wide belt) among men, andret(a fine net bag to contain hair) among women. The traditional footwear was theespardenyaorespadrille.
Other items of clothing typical of Catalan female folk costume include the 'pubilla' dress; the 'catalana' also known as the 'payesa' and the 'gandalla' as headwear.
The Catalan diet is part of theMediterranean dietand includes the use ofolive oil. Catalan people like to eat veal (vedella) and lamb (xai).
There are three main daily meals:
In Catalan gastronomy,embotits(a wide variety of Catalan sausages and cold meats) are very important; these are pork sausages such asbotifarraorfuet. In the past, bread figured heavily in the Catalan diet; now it is used mainly in the morning (second breakfast, especially among young students and some workers) and supplements the noon meal, at home and in restaurants. Bread is still popular among Catalans; some Catalan fast-food restaurants don't serve hamburgers, but offer a wide variety of sandwiches.
In the past, the poor atesoupevery day andriceon Thursday and Sunday.
The discipline of abstinence, not eatingmeatduringLent, once was very strong, but today it is only practiced in the rural areas. Spicy food is rare in the Catalan diet but there are quite garlicky sauces such asallioliorromesco.
One type of Catalan dish isescudella, a soup which contains chick peas, potatoes, and vegetables such as green cabbage, celery, carrots, turnips, and meats such asbotifarra(a Catalan sausage), pork feet, salted ham, chicken, and veal. In Northern Catalonia, it is sometimes calledollada.
Other Catalan dishes includecalçots(a type ofonionsthat are similar in shape toleeks, often grilled and eaten with aromesco sauce) andescalivada.
Catalan music has one of the oldest documented musical traditions in Europe.
The traditional religion in Catalonia isRoman Catholicism. However, in the course of recenthistory, Catalonia has undergone several waves of secularization.
The first wave ofsecularizationhappened during the eighteenth century as a result of theenlightenmentinfluence to thebourgeoisie. The second one happened during the nineteenth century, that had a huge impact on thelowerandmiddle class, but was interrupted by the outbreak of theSpanish Civil War(1936–1939).
The end of theFrancoist regimeled to a loss of power by the Catholic Church and to another wave of secularization that extends since the 1980s. During the 1990s most of the population of Catalonia was non-practising Catholic.Nowadays 52.4% of Catalans declare themselves Catholic, practising or not, 30.2% of Catalans areagnosticoratheist, and there is also a considerable share of other religions, often connected to recent immigration: 7.3%Muslim, 2.5%Evangelical, 1.3%Buddhism, and 1.2%Orthodox Christians.According to the most recent study sponsored by thegovernment of Catalonia, as of 2016, 61.9% of the Catalans identify asChristians, up from 56.5% in 2014.At the same time, 16.0% of the population identify asatheists, 11.9% asagnostics, 4.8% asMuslims, 1.3% asBuddhists, and a further 2.4% as being of other religions.
Catalonia is one of the richest and most developed regions inSouthern Europe.Barcelonais among the most industrialized metropolises. A regional capital, it is a magnet for domestic and foreign migrants.
Fire is the element used in most important traditional festivals, which are derived from pagan roots. These celebrations have a high acceptance of fire between the Catalans, like the Flame of Canigó to theBonfires of Saint John.
An important and well-known celebration isLa Diada de Sant Jordi, held on 23 April, in which men give women roses, and women give men a book.
Historical memory is the second axis of celebrations in Catalonia, where the Catalan people reunite with their date of birth as a people.
Among the religious celebrations, there areSt. George's Dayand the celebrations ofSaint Vincent MartyrandSaint Anthony Abbot. The maximum expressions of this element are theEasterprocessions and performances ofPassion Plays. Some festivals have a complicated relationship with religion, such asCarnivaland theDances of Death, or specific aspects ofChristmassuch as theTió de Nadalor thecaganerinNativity scenes.
Other key elements of a Catalan celebration are: food, central to every party and especially to the pig slaughter and harvest festivals; contests such as thecastells(human towers), choice of major and festive floats; music, songs and bands; processions; dances; and animals, especially bulls and representations of mythological creatures. ThePatumof Berga has been declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO.
Because of their intertwining history, many of the traditional symbols of Catalonia coincide with Aragon, Valencia and the Balearic Islands. The oldest known Catalan symbol is the coat of arms of the King of Aragon and Count of Barcelona, orbars of Aragon, one of Europe's oldest heraldic emblems; in modern times, Catalan nationalists have made it the main symbol of Catalan identity and it is even associated with the Catalan language.
As for anthems, "The Reapers" (Els Segadors) is the official national anthem of Catalonia and is also used in the other lands of the Principality; theBalanguerarepresents the people from the Balearic Islands and, in the case of Valencia, the official "Anthem of the Exhibition" (Himne de l'Exposició) alongsideMuixerangaas symbols of the country.