Spain: Culture

Well, the first country profile blog is here, and we’re starting off with culture. This upcoming fall, I’ll be travelling to study in Madrid, Spain at the Universidad Antonio de Nebrija. I’m going to go down in order on the list I was given, and explain each of my findings.

            When it comes to Spain, and especially Madrid, the sport most popular—and it isn’t very close—is soccer (or, more accurately, fútbol). Madrid itself is home to one of the most successful soccer teams in Spain, and in the world. That team is the Real Madrid Club de Fútbol (most commonly referred to as Real Madrid or simply Real). Filled with superstars such as the Portuguese Cristiano Ronaldo and the Welsh Gareth Bale, Real Madrid is one of the richest sports teams in the world, and consistently competes at the highest level in Spain within La Liga (the professional soccer league of Spain) and also at a higher level European league. Currently, Real Madrid sits third in the La Liga table. Funnily enough, their two greatest rivals sit right above them. In first place are their crosstown rivals Atlético Madrid. Atlético Madrid is generally less renowned than Real, simply because they have not achieved the historical success that Real has. However, this season, Atlético has proven themselves a team to be reckoned with. In second place, FC Barcelona sits a single point ahead of Real Madrid. Barcelona and Madrid compete in one of the most heated soccer rivalries in the world, dubbed “El Clasico.” As far as the international level goes, the Spanish national team is among the best in the world, having won the last two European Cups, as well as the last World Cup.

            In addition to soccer, basketball is also a very popular sport in Spain. While not at the level of soccer, basketball is a major sport in Spain, with Real Madrid (in Spain, athletic clubs have many teams, so Real Madrid, Atlético Madrid, and Barcelona are also basketball teams, as well as volleyball teams, among other sports). Both Real and Barcelona are consistently at the top of the Spanish league in basketball as well, and also compete in the European championships. The Spanish national basketball team includes NBA stars like Pau Gasol, Marc Gasol, and Ricky Rubio, and are currently ranked 2^nd in the world behind the United States, and just above Argentina, Lithuania, and Greece.

            Spanish music is generally regarded simply as flamenco and classical guitar music, but in truth encompasses a much wider range of sound. For Madrid, flamenco is a very popular form of music and dance. Flamenco is considered one of the most intricate and widely practiced forms of dancing around the world, and is taught and practice through the world due its wide reach. Modern music is pretty much Westernized, very similar to what is listened to in the United States and other European countries. In particular, techno is very popular among the youth, especially in the clubs during the night.

All across Spain, the cuisine varies—as is the case in pretty much any country. For that purpose, I focused my research on cuisine centered on Madrid and the surrounding areas of Madrid. Among the things I found out right away are that tapas are a huge deal in Spain. Tapas are generally smaller dishes (appetizers) that provide a variety of flavors and all together may constitute a meal. Outside of tapas, other popular dishes include cocido madrileño, a stew generally made with vegetables and some meat, most of the time beef. Bocadillos (sandwiches) are also eaten often, and Spanish cuisine is typical of other Mediterranean cuisine in that it utilizes a healthy blend of vegetables and meat. Spaniards typically eat a breakfast that is smaller, consisting usually of juice and toast, and a very large lunch (considered the most important meal of the day). Dinner is often tapas or a bocadillo.

As far as religion in Spain is concerned, Christianity—and more specifically, Catholicism—is the most dominant religion in Spain, however most Spaniards don’t identify themselves as regularly practicing. There is also a large Islamic influence in Spain as a result of Muslim conquerers many ages ago. In addition, the Spanish language has also contains Arabic influence. In a recent poll, close to 25% of Spaniards referred to themselves as non-religious altogether.

Despite Spain not being a particularly religious country, many of the holidays that are recognized are as a result of Roman Catholic beliefs and traditions. Each community of Spain (Spain is split into 17 autonomous communities) has different traditions and holidays. Madrid in particular, is the only community to celebrate the regional holiday called “Madrid Day,” and also is the sole celebrant of Corpus Christi.

In general, television in Spain is pretty similar to that of the United States, with Antena3 being the largest channel by share of viewership at nearly 13% of Spain. Similar to like an ABC sort of channel, it airs everything from programs to sports to news. Two particular Spanish stars are the married couple Javier Bardem and Penelope Cruz, who are very influential in Spain, in addition to their success in the United States.

For news, I will have a variety of options in both Spanish and English. I have kept up recently with The Telegraph and their tab pertaining to Spain in particular (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/spain/). Another source I can use is The Local (http://www.thelocal.es/) which also offers English language news for Spain, something that will help me when there are language barriers that prevent me from a total understanding of an event or another piece of news. Really, the possibilities are plenty for this, considering technology and how most news engines carry Spanish language and regionalized news as well.

The question on online forums for expatriates was a little bit more difficult to answer, but a simple Google search provided me with http://www.expatforum.com/expats/spain-expat-forum-expats-living-spain/, which is as textbook an answer for this question as I can imagine. While a little messy, it still has a lot of info and user-driven information. Another forum I found was http://www.expatica.com/es/main.html, which is much more organized.

In terms of government, I previously mentioned that Spain is split into 17 autonomous communities, which act similar to states. The capital of Spain is Madrid, and the country is a parliamentary monarchy. The chief of state is King Juan Carlos I, who has been there since 1975. The President (who operates a role similar to that of a prime minister) is Mariano Rajoy. The two largest parties are PP (People’s Party) which is more right-leaning. The other major party is PSOE, which is the socialist party. It is important to note that politics in Spain, as in other European countries, are generally much more liberal and left-leaning than the United States.