Speak the Culture: Spain: Be Fluent in Spanish Life and Culture

i. Galicia

Most daydreams about Spain probably don’t look

much like Galicia. It’s among the greenest parts

of Green Spain, a verdant mix of hills, granite-grey

villages, rain andrías(drowned river valleys).

With its Celtic connections Galicia can feel more

like Ireland or Brittany than Iberia. Quiet villages

hide in an empty land of oak, pine and eucalyptus,

while cities like A Coruña and Vigo perch on the

coast. Famine and poverty once forced thousands

overseas to Latin America, and the region remains

less prosperous than the rest of Spain. Agriculture

and fishing are the main industries, although falling

fish stocks and a devastating oil tanker spill of 2002

have dented the latter.

11

1. Identity: the
   building blocks of
   2. Literature
   and philosophy
   3. Art and
   architecture
   4. Performing
   arts
   5. Cinema
   and fashion
   6. Media and
   communications
   7. Food and drink 8. Living culture:
   the details of

Mussel pulling power

Spain’s marketing men

dubbed the varied Galician

shoreline theCosta do

Marisco(Seafood Coast) in

an effort to attract more

visitors. They’ve yet to claim

creative ownership of the

less enticingCosta de la

Muerte(Coast of Death),

given to a particularly rocky

western stretch of the region.

Both Generalísimo Francisco

Franco and President Fidel

Castro have Galician roots.

Castro’s father emigrated to

Cuba from the region, while

Franco was born and raised

in Ferrol, a naval town in

north-west Galicia.

The Camino:

road to redemption

The jaw-slackening cathedral

of Santiago de Compostela

marks journey’s end each

year for thousands of pilgrims

and hikers trekking along the

Camino de Santiago through

northern Spain. Legend has it

that Saint James’ remains

were buried under the church

after being shipped to Galicia

on board a stone boat from

Jerusalem.

Cultural differences

Weather-beaten and

bordered by sea on two

sides, Portugal on a

third and mountains on a

fourth, isolated Galicia

has developed a distinct

culture. Most here still

speak Galego (alongside

Castilian) and a TV

channel, TVG, broadcasts

solely in the local tongue.

The region boasts a rich

literary tradition, from

the scholarly work of the

14 thcentury to the strong

19 thcentury Romantic

movement driven by

poet Rosalía de Castro.

More recently, Galician

novelist Camilo José Cela

won the Nobel Prize

for Literature. Thegaita

galega(pipes) still

resonate through Galician

music, while traditional

dress (dusted down for

festivals) has a distinctly

Gaelic feel. The rest of

Spain isn’t blind to the

differences; indeed Galicia

has been the butt of many

a joke told elsewhere in

the country.