Catalan Pride Decorations seen around Barcelona

In my time in Barcelona, I’ve encountered several people who are also visiting from the States and one thing they say always resonates in my head and it goes a little something like – “Catalan people are rude,” or “Why do people in Barcelona always respond to me in Catalan?” “Why do they have that red and yellow flag everywhere?” My reaction was that of confusion because I never got this feeling from people I met – I mean sure I got shoved in the Metro a few times but I’m pretty sure the NYC metro is worse – but the more and more time I spend here, the more I realize how close minded it all sounds. I guess to see where I come from we have to look at the history of Catalania – and of course its people. The first mistake one makes, is in thinking Catalan developed from Spanish, or any other language for that matter. In fact, it came about at the same time as Spanish and while derived from Latin like Castilian Spanish, it is on its own, perfectly unique. The second mistake comes in trying to categorize Catalonia into the same box as all other Spanish territories. For years and years on end, Catalan language, and culture was prohibited and the people of Catalonia thought they wouldn’t see a day when they could fly their flag – the Senyera – with pride again. Though this is now over and everywhere you look today you can see a bit of that pride, many if not most of the Catalan people think they should be a nation of their own. With all this in mind its only reasonable that a people who have been oppressed for so long would want to embody Catalan pride in every day life. Sure that can come off as rude, especially if you don’t understand Catalan. While this is true, I’m sure the people here are also thinking, “who are these rude Americans who insist on yelling ‘MURICAH’ every 15 minutes?” Part of the beauty and wonder of traveling the world is to seek to understand the places you see – at least in my opinion. Culture and norms change across borders and that’s the greatest thing about seeing the world – realizing that our similarities and differences are what make us all so unique and interesting. Just because something is different doesn’t mean people should remained myopic of the history of other peoples of the world. We are all proud of our nation and in a year of the FIFA world cup we all wish to fly the colors of our flags but it remains vital that we understand why others fly their flag as well.