Customs and traditions from Spain

    Spain is a beautiful country with amazing panorama views at country side, good weather for holiday’s season at spring, summer and autumn, of course, unforgettable sunny beaches.

    Spanish people most of the time have a good mood, laughing at all, joking between them and always like to break the glass with you, have a huge hug when you arrive and leave with 2 kisses (one in each cheek), or putting their arms over your shoulder just to explain how to get there at site that you do not know how to get there, these are some typical Spaniards customs and way of communication, but you do not get angry with them because you feel that they broke your personal area of trust-confidence or invaded your personal space. This way of communicating may surprise you when you first arrive to Spain, but you will quickly adapt to this Spanish customs and traditions and soon you won’t even notice them.

    Spanish people like to have fun, typical Spanish phrases to go out partying are for example:  “ir de picoteo” or "ir de tapas" (meaning: pilgrimage through the bars, eating small amounts and outside mealtimes), "voy a ir de farra" (meaning: I'm going to go party), “¿Qué tienes de picar?” (meaning: What you have to snack?).

Other interesting points about Spaniards’ food customs

• ·         The locals of Spain have lunch at 2 pm and dinner at around 9 to10 pm.
• ·         Spanish food is not spicy and very seldom hot.
• ·      Spain has the second highest number of bars per inhabitants, the only country that has more bars than Spain is Cyprus. Bars are an important part of life.
• ·   Tortillas in Spain are not the same as tortillas elsewhere. You will not find corn or flour tortillas in Spanish dishes. In Spain, Tortilla Española refers to a very popular and delicious egg and potato dish. Spaniards use the word “tortitas” to refer to flour/corn tortillas.
• ·     Sunflower seeds (it is called: pipas) are big deal in Spain. More importantly, Spaniards are really talented at opening and eating them at a shocking speed.
• ·  Most households buy fresh bread every day. Traditionally, they are long baguettes called barras or pistolas. Bread is present (and required) at almost every meal.
• ·         Though Spain is more famous for its red wine than white, the majority of its vineyards have white grapes. The fortified wine sherry comes from the city of Jerez in Andalusia. In Spanish, sherry is simply called 'vino de Jerez' (Jerez wine).
• ·      The Spanish (in particular those from Cadiz) claim that they invented fried fish. In the 18th century, Britain had ties with Cadiz and therefore it is believed that the English took the idea of fish 'n' chips from Spain. However, other sources claim the Portuguese and Belgians invented it.
• ·         Spain is the number one producer of olive oil in the world with 44% of the world's olive oil production. That is more than twice that of Italy and four times that of Greece.
• ·      Spain is one of the world's biggest producers of saffron, an important ingredient in the most famous Spanish dish called paella.
• ·       Sangria and Paella, most tourists who visit Spain want to eat paella ( is a Valencian rice dish with ancient roots/seafood) and drink sangria (consists of wine, chopped fruit, a sweetener, and a small amount of added brandy)- what could be more Spanish? Most of bars and restaurants know how much tourists like and want to sample these symbols of Spanish kitchen life and you will enjoy it accordingly.
• ·         Mahou-San Miguel is the leading brand of Spanish Beer.
• ·       Food is important in Spain and often a topic of conversation. Additionally, they often go on walks after a meal to help them digest their meal.
• 
  

Ties between England and Spain

• ·        The Spaniard Catherine of Aragon married Henry VIII of England. She was the first of his six wives and the mother of Queen Mary I.
• ·  Gibraltar was ceded by Spain to Britain in 1713, controlled the entrance to the Mediterranean.
• ·      In 1588 the Spanish Armada, consisting of one hundred and fifty ships, sailed to England to invade, but it was defeated by the English navy and stormy weather.

• ·    Football/Soccer is the country´s most important sport. Spain won its first World Cup football title in 2010, which made the country the 8th country to have ever won.

Parliamentary Democracy in Spain

    For 40 years, between 1936 and 1975, Franco ruled Spain as a dictator. After his death, the rightful King Juan Carlos I had a key role in returning the country to a democracy with a new constitution, since 1975 to now a day.

Festivals in Spain

    The Spanish eating, drinking and dancing culture step up a gear (if that's possible), when there's a festival on town. Every town or village has a local party or festival (called fiesta), at which point the locals don't just eat and drink because it's fun, they do so because it would be un-Spanish not to do.

Most important Spaniards’ Festivals

Spain is known for its hospitality and relaxed way of life, and this is what students and tourists love about Spain and the Spain culture. More than 50 million of tourists visit Spain every summer and autumn time, because of its good weather, sunny and subtropical temperature (33 – 40 ºC), is cheap country, beautiful and fun people, traditional country side of festival parties, nice places, cathedrals, attractions, traditional Spanish dresses, beaches, pubs, restaurants, discotheques, nice country side, ecology tours, city tours, resorts, big thematic parks.

Main Festival and places to visit

·         Historical Royal Palace

·         “Sagrada Familia” the most famous Cathedral at Barcelona, Spain.

·         Historical Muslim Buildings (Alhambra Castle, Alcazar Royal palace, Hammam-Arabic Bath)

·         Bullfighting

·         Grec Festival

·         Wine harvest Festival in Spain

·         Salamanca history and legends

·         La Cueva de Salamanca (Salamanca cave) where supposedly Satan himself taught classes to 7 students for 7 years in the cave under the condition that afterward one of the students would belong to the devil as payment for the instruction. The chosen student was able to escape but not without losing his shadow –Marques would live shadow less for the rest of his days as a sign of his relationship with Satan. The legend spread and it even provided the source of inspiration for one of Miguel de Cervantes’ short plays.

·         One of the most popular traditions in Salamanca is known as “lunes de aguas”.

·         Mariquelos’ annual event had remained unobserved for several years when in 1985 the tradition of climbing up the outside of the tower was picked up again.

·         Tentenecio hill recalls an extraordinary anecdote from the city’s past. Saint John of San Facondo was taking a walk along the hill one day when he saw a loose bull that had escaped from a market charging at a woman and her son. According to legend, Saint John stepped in front of the wild bull, planted his hand between the animal’s horns and ordered him to “¡Tente, necio!” (from détente, necio, stop you fool), at which point the animal miraculously calmed down and left the three unharmed. The saint’s command has been the name of the street ever since, in memory of the miracle.

·         On February 5th Salamanca traditionally celebrates the festival of Saint Agatha (fiesta de Santa Águeda), when women symbolically take control and leave men in charge of the housework.

·         Castilian women have a history of being vigorously protective of their home and family, a great example of which we can see in the story of Maria la Brava.

·         Miguel de Unamuno, who served in several occasions as rector of the University of Salamanca. On October 12, 1936, in the midst of a civil war and during the “Fiesta de la Raza” celebration, this adoptive Salmantino, standing before shouts of “You will be victorious but you will not convince”

•          Rose of Saffron Festival
•          Walking the “Camino de Santiago” (Saint James Route)
•          “La Tomatina” Valencia Festival (Tomatoes Festival)
•          Los Toros de San Fermín Festival Pamplona
•          San Isidro Festival Madrid (Chulapas y Chulapos typical dresses)
•          The Cave of Altamira is a cave in Spain famous for its Upper Paleolithic cave paintings featuring drawings and polychrome rock paintings of wild mammals and human hands. It was the first cave in which prehistoric cave paintings were discovered.
•          The Guggenheim Museum Bilbao is a museum of modern and contemporary art, Bilbao, Spain.
• 
  
•      The best sights, tours and activities at Balearic Island (Ibiza, Mallorca, Menorca and Formentera). You must enjoy of their beautiful beaches and parties. Ibiza Island is one of the most famous party and holiday Island in the world; plenty of Hollywood actors and actress go for holidays there and enjoy their vacations as well as famous politicians and Royal Family of Spain.
•      Tenerife Carnival at Santa Cruz de Tenerife Island – Canary Island. It is the second world famous carnival in the world after Brazil’s world-famous Rio de Janeiro Carnival.

Madrid y Barcelona cities

• The Madrid-Barcelona is one of the city pairs with most flights per week in the world!
• The Madrid subway is the second largest underground system in Europe and the sixth largest system in the world. It has 141 miles of track and is still growing.
• Real Madrid Football Club and Barcelona Football Club are the most famous football teams in the world and in Spain, as well as Atletico of Madrid Football Club. Please do not forget to see a football match in our beautiful stadiums next time you visit Spain for holiday.

Red Cross launches emergency food aid plan for UK’s hungry.

Exclusive: Red Cross launches emergency food aid plan for UK’s hungry

Welfare cuts and the economic downturn send soaring numbers of people to soup kitchens and food banks across Europe

CHARLOTTE MCDONALD-GIBSON

BRUSSELS

THURSDAY 10 OCTOBER 2013

6K

PRINT

A A A

Related articles

• Bono famine ad is banned
• Tributes paid to Red Cross worker
• Syrian city remains under siege after 500 days: Homs passes milestone as civilians continue to die from gunfire and starvation
• Unrest may spread across Europe, warns Red Cross chief
• UN to send food aid to flood-hit North Korea

Ads by Google

• The End Of Britain
  Find Out Why The Looming Crisis Could Mean The End Of Britain!
  www.Moneyweek.com/End-Of-Britain
• The Walking Dead in HD
  Buy the complete third season of The Walking Dead now on iTunes.
  iTunes.apple.com/The_Walking_Dead
• Stock Trading Online
  Open an Account with City Index. Losses can exceed your deposit.
  cityindex.co.uk/Stocks

Suggested Topics

• Relief And Aid Organisations And Activities
• Banking
• Savings
• Family And Parenting
• Charity
• Second World War
• Food
• Aid
• Red Cross

The Red Cross will this winter start collecting and distributing food aid to the needy in Britain for the first time since the Second World War, as welfare cuts and the economic downturn send soaring numbers of people to soup kitchens and food banks across Europe.

In what could be the start of an increased role in Britain for the Geneva-based charity best known for its work in disaster zones, its volunteers will be mobilised to go into supermarkets across the country at the end of November and ask shoppers to donate dry goods. The British Red Cross will then help the charity FareShare distribute the packets and tins to food banks nationwide.

Britain is just one of many countries where families are struggling to put food on the table. In a report released today into the devastating humanitarian impact of Europe’s financial  crisis, the Red Cross recorded a 75 per cent increase in the number of people relying on their food aid over the last three years. At least 43 million people across the Continent are not getting enough to eat each day and 120 million are at risk of poverty.

Red Cross officials called on European governments to try and find new ways to address to the crisis, as austerity programmes plunge millions into poverty and hunger.

“While we fully understand that governments need to save money, we strongly advise against indiscriminate cuts in public health and social welfare, as it may cost more in the long run,” said Bekele Geleta, the Secretary General of the International Federation of the Red Cross.

In May charities revealed that more than half a million Britons are now turning to food banks, with that number expected to have increased over the summer. Many charities and opposition politicians say government cuts to welfare have made the situation worse, with families struggling to make ends meet with the rising prices, the economic downturn and a benefits squeeze.

Some senior Tories have dismissed the problem, with Lord Freud claiming in June that families using food banks were simply after free meals, while Education Secretary Michael Gove said last month that users were often those who could not manage their finances properly.

With winter approaching and fuel bills expected to rise, charities are struggling to meet the demand, and FareShare asked the Red Cross to step in. Juliet Mountford, the Red Cross head of UK Service Development, said they agreed to assist FareShare on the basis of “strong evidence of an increased need for support on food poverty issues”.

“For British Red Cross it’s a toe in the water,” she said. “It’s the first step in considering whether we ought to be doing more on today’s food poverty challenge.”

FareShare’s CEO, Linsday Boswell, said that in the past year the number of charities they were assisting had risen from 720 to 910. “We need to be able to operate differently to be able to front up to a crisis like this,” he said.

While the Red Cross has in the past provided food to refugees and also to victims of the flooding in Cumbria in 2009, it would be the first time it has helped with the nationwide collection and distribution of food aid since the end of the Second World War.

Chris Johnes, the UK poverty director for Oxfam, said he was “genuinely shocked” that the situation had got so dire that the Red Cross needed to step in. “They don’t do things for reasons of grandstanding at all,” he told The Independent. “The fact that they are doing this... is a very clear signal how serious things have become.”

Mr Johnes said that reduced child support and benefits and the introduction of the controversial “bedroom tax” were making the situation worse.  “We’ve actually got the government reducing the amount of income going into the pockets of a number of people and that is leading to in even greater use of food banks,” he said.

Maria Eagle MP, Labour’s Shadow Environment Secretary, said: “This warning... about the growing number of families facing a lack of nutritious food in Britain should be a wake-up-call to David Cameron over his failure to tackle the cost of living crisis.”

A spokesman for the Department for Work and Pensions said there was “no robust evidence that welfare reforms are linked to increased use of food banks” and said the Government would be supporting vulnerable groups with cold weather payments and the winter fuel allowance.

Red alert: How austerity is hurting Europe

From the Red Cross report:

Greece

After two bailouts, Greece has the most stringent austerity programme in the eurozone. This is having a devastating impact on health and well-being, the Red Cross says; the suicide rate among women has doubled since the start of the crisis.

Spain

Austerity cuts are causing soaring unemployment in Spain, where a quarter of young people are now out of work. The Red Cross said unemployment in Europe was “a ticking time bomb” increasing the risk of social unrest and upheaval.

Russia

Migrants from all over the world who move to Europe for jobs get no social support. The report tells the story of Meerby from Kyrgyzstan, who went to Russia to work but ran out of money and was offered $3,000 to sell her newborn baby. She refused and fled.

Italy

Up to 150,000 small businesses have closed, sending homelessness soaring. Some 50,000 people in Milan alone are receiving food aid. The Red Cross tells how Maurizio, whose business went bust, now lives in the camper van which was once his holiday home.

Moldova

Human trafficking is also rising because of the crisis, the report says, as more people are desperate to move to places where they can earn more money. Moldovans pay up to €3,800 (£3,200) to be smuggled to another country, putting women and children at risk of exploitation.

Luxembourg

Even in the richest nation in the EU, with a per capita income of about £67,000, the Red Cross is running a programme providing food to the needy. France, meanwhile, has seen 350,000 people fall below the poverty line from 2008 to 2011.