What Spain Are You From?
People think of Spain and flamenco dancers pop into their head. So do bull fights, or the running of the bulls in Pamplona. Maybe beaches. Youngsters in the north of Europe will think of Mallorca and the drunken revelries. But not one of these things is relevant to all of Spain. There is no one tradition that defines Spanish culture. Most likely that is true of just about every country in Europe. Southern France will have different customs from northern France. In fact, there are ethnic minorities in France few are aware of. There are German speakers in Alsace-Lorraine, Catalans and Basques near the Pyrenees, and Celtic Bretons in Brittany. Yet one could say France has been pretty much one country since Louis the Pious in the 800's. Not Spain. Even after the Reconquest and the capitulation of Granada in 1492, the kingdom of Spain was shaky. The Catholic Monarchs were monarchs of their own kingdoms within Spain over which the other had limited rights. Even after the consolidation o...