Just Symbols
What do Spain, Kosovo, San Marino, and Bosnia-Herzegovina have in common? At first look, nothing, except that they're all in Europe. If you are into trivia, however, you'll know that their national anthems have no lyrics. There are no words to sing to, just hold your hand over your heart, and go, "lo, lo, lo, lo, lo-lo-lo."
It's been that way in Spain ever since the military march, Marcha Granadera, later become the Marcha Real, has been played at official acts involving the monarchy first, and later, the government. In 1870 there was an attempt to change it, and to adopt an anthem with some words to lift up the national heart. There were no suggestions, and things stayed pretty much the same until the Second Republic in 1931, when the anthem was changed for one with lyrics.
Of course, Franco was not in agreement, and when he won the Civil War, he put things back in their place. He tried to get into use lyrics written in the 1920's that called for the glory of Spain. No one got into the spirit of things, and they were dropped.
In 2007 the Spanish Olympic Committee proposed a contest to find some lyrics people could sing if Spanish athletes won a gold medal. No one could find agreement in syrupy patriotic words, and nothing was done. Lo, lo, lo, lo would have to do.
This past week, Marta Sánchez, a singer whose heyday was back in the eighties and nineties, ended a concert in Madrid with her own lyrics to the anthem. It was a sticky-sweet set of lyrics, more proper to a love song, "Crece mi amor cada vez que me voy, pero no olvides que sin ti no sé vivir..." (My love grows every time I leave, but don't forget that without you I don't know how to live..)
It would have gone unnoticed, a mere anecdote in the history of the anthem, and the falling star of an aging singer. But Twitter and rancid patriotism got in the way. In The Devil's Dictionary, Ambrose Bierce had a scathing entry for patriotism: "Combustible rubbish ready to the torch of anyone ambitious to illuminate his name. In Dr. Johnson's famous dictionary patriotism is defined as the last resort of a scoundrel. With all due respect to an enlightened but inferior lexicographer, I beg to submit that it is the first."
The president, Mariano Rajoy, presumed that everyone felt the same as he, and said, "La inmensa mayoría de los españoles nos sentimos representados." (The immense majority of Spaniards feel represented.) I beg to differ, because that's not my case. Other politicians tweeted in similar ways, calling her brave and with a great voice (she was never that great), or simply great, brave, or thrilling. Even the Guardia Civil's official Twitter page, lauded her for an "initiative that looks to unite, and add, not subtract or divide." (iniciativa que busca unir y sumar, no restar ni dividir) I think someone there likes math.
Then there's the other half of Spain that has criticized her five times over. One of the most repeated criticisms is that she lives in Miami more than six months in the year, which means she doesn't pay taxes in Spain. Some critics have suggested she put her money where her heart, supposedly, lies. She has responded that she pities those who don't like her attempt to give the anthem lyrics, saying if they don't like Spain they shouldn't live here. At this point is when I wish Ambrose Bierce could come back from the dead and leave a searing comment somewhere.
Patriotism is supposed to mean love of country. To love a country you don't have to wrap yourself in its symbols. That's all, they are, symbols. That doesn't make you a Spanish patriot. You can wrap yourself in the Ugandan or the Mongolian flag, and that won't make you a Ugandan or Mongolian patriot. It will make you look silly, though. Let's put aside the concept of "my country, my life." That has brought about more bad than good throughout the years. Let's say, "my fellow citizens, my neighbors." The person who helps his community, no matter his politics, is the true patriot. That is the person who understands that people make up a community, and many communities make up a shared nation. Singing pretty words to a song doesn't do much for the community. Nor does wrapping oneself in the flag.
It's been that way in Spain ever since the military march, Marcha Granadera, later become the Marcha Real, has been played at official acts involving the monarchy first, and later, the government. In 1870 there was an attempt to change it, and to adopt an anthem with some words to lift up the national heart. There were no suggestions, and things stayed pretty much the same until the Second Republic in 1931, when the anthem was changed for one with lyrics.
Of course, Franco was not in agreement, and when he won the Civil War, he put things back in their place. He tried to get into use lyrics written in the 1920's that called for the glory of Spain. No one got into the spirit of things, and they were dropped.
In 2007 the Spanish Olympic Committee proposed a contest to find some lyrics people could sing if Spanish athletes won a gold medal. No one could find agreement in syrupy patriotic words, and nothing was done. Lo, lo, lo, lo would have to do.
This past week, Marta Sánchez, a singer whose heyday was back in the eighties and nineties, ended a concert in Madrid with her own lyrics to the anthem. It was a sticky-sweet set of lyrics, more proper to a love song, "Crece mi amor cada vez que me voy, pero no olvides que sin ti no sé vivir..." (My love grows every time I leave, but don't forget that without you I don't know how to live..)
It would have gone unnoticed, a mere anecdote in the history of the anthem, and the falling star of an aging singer. But Twitter and rancid patriotism got in the way. In The Devil's Dictionary, Ambrose Bierce had a scathing entry for patriotism: "Combustible rubbish ready to the torch of anyone ambitious to illuminate his name. In Dr. Johnson's famous dictionary patriotism is defined as the last resort of a scoundrel. With all due respect to an enlightened but inferior lexicographer, I beg to submit that it is the first."
The president, Mariano Rajoy, presumed that everyone felt the same as he, and said, "La inmensa mayoría de los españoles nos sentimos representados." (The immense majority of Spaniards feel represented.) I beg to differ, because that's not my case. Other politicians tweeted in similar ways, calling her brave and with a great voice (she was never that great), or simply great, brave, or thrilling. Even the Guardia Civil's official Twitter page, lauded her for an "initiative that looks to unite, and add, not subtract or divide." (iniciativa que busca unir y sumar, no restar ni dividir) I think someone there likes math.
Then there's the other half of Spain that has criticized her five times over. One of the most repeated criticisms is that she lives in Miami more than six months in the year, which means she doesn't pay taxes in Spain. Some critics have suggested she put her money where her heart, supposedly, lies. She has responded that she pities those who don't like her attempt to give the anthem lyrics, saying if they don't like Spain they shouldn't live here. At this point is when I wish Ambrose Bierce could come back from the dead and leave a searing comment somewhere.
Patriotism is supposed to mean love of country. To love a country you don't have to wrap yourself in its symbols. That's all, they are, symbols. That doesn't make you a Spanish patriot. You can wrap yourself in the Ugandan or the Mongolian flag, and that won't make you a Ugandan or Mongolian patriot. It will make you look silly, though. Let's put aside the concept of "my country, my life." That has brought about more bad than good throughout the years. Let's say, "my fellow citizens, my neighbors." The person who helps his community, no matter his politics, is the true patriot. That is the person who understands that people make up a community, and many communities make up a shared nation. Singing pretty words to a song doesn't do much for the community. Nor does wrapping oneself in the flag.
I am stealing one of your sentences.
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