Folkloric and Popular Symbols
Aside of the symbols of a historic, political and religious character, there are other popular Catalan symbols which are more or less serious according to the case and the context.
Many of these symbols come from the local folklore, like the Sardana dance, the Castellers and the gegants i capgrossos, as well as the dragon, and its derivations, the cucafera, the vibria and the bat. The choosing of a "Pubilla" in the summer fairs comes from an old tradition based on the transmission of hereditary patrimony in rural Catalonia.
While other peoples and nations have a "national bird" or a "national flower", Catalonia does not have much in the way of tongue-in-cheek popular established symbols. The "ruc català" or "burro català" (Catalan donkey) is a relatively recent creation when the need was felt to produce something Catalan to oppose to the Central Spanish Osborne bull, widely perceived by Catalans as a centralistic symbol, alien to their culture.
Still, certain traditional and "typical" symbols deserve mention, like Patufet, the St George's Day red rose, the Nit de Sant Joan bonfires, the correfoc, the barretina traditional hat, the porró, the Tió de Nadal and the caganer.
One of the most famous international symbols of Catalonia is FC Barcelona. The area's footballing branch is supported with a passion by its fans, the culés. Each season the Barça engages in one of La Liga's most famous rivalries, the El Clàssic against long-time rivals Real Madrid. To a lesser extent the USAP Perpignan rugby team is also considered, especially by some Catalan nationalists, to act as unofficial national team of Catalonia.
Read more about this topic: Catalan Symbols
Famous quotes containing the words popular and/or symbols:
“There’s that popular misconception of man as something between a brute and an angel. Actually man is in transit between brute and God.”
—Norman Mailer (b. 1923)
“Many older wealthy families have learned to instill a sense of public service in their offspring. But newly affluent middle-class parents have not acquired this skill. We are using our children as symbols of leisure-class standing without building in safeguards against an overweening sense of entitlement—a sense of entitlement that may incline some young people more toward the good life than toward the hard work that, for most of us, makes the good life possible.”
—David Elkind (20th century)