Sabbatical: What’s with Saint George and Catalans?

After 8 years and over 350 posts, it's a pity that my posts collect virtual dust at WordPress's server. So this year I'll be bringing back some of the best stuff, which doesn't disagree with publishing new material. You may have noticed it's April. If you haven't, you'd better go to your doctor because it's …

Correct these mistakes for Christmas

‘Tis the season to be jolly, and there’s nothing jollier than knowing your vocabulary. Therefore, today we’re learning about two Catalan words that foreigners tend to get wrong. Now that the tió tradition has gone properly international thanks to Kate McKinnon (see video below), it’s time to debunk the belief that tió means uncle. ‘If …

Go compare Christmas

When you celebrate Christmas in a different country go compare! That’s what happens when a Catalan spends his Christmas holiday in England. 24th Dec. In both England and Catalonia the birth of Jesus is celebrated at midnight in churches by fewer people every time. I guess that the most important thing is the expectation for …

Christmas and karma

Streets have been dressed up with lights for some weeks now, everybody is happy and nice because Christmas is coming and that’s how it’s supposed to be and choosing the best presents is the only thing that worries them. Christmas is a weird season. Goodness and love fill the air and nothing that happened before …

Saint George’s Day: books, roses and lies

I happened to post on Saint Valentine’s Day and Saint George’s Day by chance. And it seems we have another episode of the Anglo-Catalan culture. Catalan people have our version of Saint George’s legend by Jacobus de Voragine. We say that the dragon's blood turned into a beautiful rose Saint George gave the princess. On …

Saint Valentine may not be a Catalan tradition, but…

We spend our lives thinking that we betray our motherland with foreign celebrations, but maybe we were doing just fine. I’ve always been interested in things from outside Catalonia; mainly in cultures, ways of life, languages, traditions... Some years ago I told a friend of mine how I envied her intercultural relationship with an English …