Books in Catalan about greed

A 11Onze ens hem engrescat i hem recopilat alguns dels llibres que s’han escrit en català sobre l’avarícia. Com s’ha construït aquesta mala fama que diu que els catalans tenim un desig excessiu d’adquirir riqueses per guardar-les?

A través de tots aquests personatges avars, patètics, miserables i egòlatres, els escriptors catalans han retratat, no només la gasiveria de la burgesia catalana i la mesquinesa del ‘lumpen’ que malda per sobreviure, sinó la societat del seu temps en conjunt, tan patològicament malalta com tots aquells que l’habiten. 

1. L’escanyapobres (1884) de Narcís Oller (1846-1930) ha deixat a la literatura catalana algunes obres mestres, com ara aquesta, sovint lectura obligatòria de batxillerat la qual abandona el romanticisme i se submergeix de ple en el realisme i el naturalisme. La novel·la narra les desventures de l’Oleguer, l’avar que viu a la masia de la Coma i que, per culpa del seu caràcter esquerp, es baralla amb tots els pagesos de la contrada. Oleguer sempre mostra dues cares: de cara enfora, l’home treballador que manté la masia; però, de cara endins, l’home obsessionat amb els diners que humilia els seus subalterns. De l’autor és obligatori esmentar La febre d’or (1890-1892), perquè és la gran novel·la de la Barcelona del segle XIX, on la burgesia creix sense aturador gràcies a una especulació malsana. L’obra és un retrat d’un moment crucial de la història de Catalunya.
2. Terra Baixa (1897) d’Àngel Guimerà (1845 -1924). A Catalunya, sobretot durant les primeres dècades del segle XX, hem estat molt dels drames rurals i l’obra teatral d’en Guimerà és possiblement qui millor ho exemplifica. Aquesta obra mostra de forma descarnada el conflicte entre unes imaginàries terra alta i terra baixa. A partir d’una història d’amor possessiva, el drama tracta sobre les misèries de la vida al camp, les penúries de les llars catalanes de l’època i l’estructura jeràrquica de les societats rurals. 
3. Drames rurals (1904) de Víctor Català (1869-1966), pseudònim de Caterina Albert, també narra els drames rurals de la Catalunya de principis de segle XX. El Club Editor recopila en tres volums els contes d’aquesta gran autora catalana, que representa amb una sensibilitat sense precedents la cara més fosca de la vida rural, i que sovint s’acarnissa amb les dones. 
4. La Xava (1910) de Juli Vallmitjana (1873-1937), rescatat de l’oblit no fa massa, l’autor va saber retratar els ambients més pobres de la Barcelona de principis del segle XX, com també ho va fer a l’obra De la ciutat vella (1907) les quals parlen del carrer als barris de sota de Montjuïc. Narra la lluita descarnada per sobreviure i com els senyorets de Barcelona, avars i narcisistes, feien servir la pobresa més negra per construir la seva bohèmia d’or. Les seves obres, plenes d’històries petites, narren també els grans esdeveniments col·lectius de l’època, i el combat de les classes proletàries i la burgesia. 
5. L’auca del senyor Esteve (1907) de Santiago Rusiñol (1861-1931), també de principis del segle XX, narra la confrontació i la reconciliació entre el senyor Esteve, un comerciant arquetípic de la petita burgesia, i el seu fill, un artista modernista que no vol heretar el negoci familiar. L’obra va resseguint la vida del protagonista, un home prudent i pràctic, que ja de petit vol dedicar-se exclusivament a la seva botiga de vetes i fils, La Puntual, i que es casa amb Tomaseta, una dona del mateix tarannà. De fons, s’hi endevina Barcelona com una ciutat en procés de modernització. 
6. Vida Privada (1932) de Josep Maria de Sagarra (1894-1961). Després d’anys de prosperitat de la burgesia catalana a costa de l’explotació dels més pobres, qui narra com ningú la seva decadència és aquest autor. Ho fa a través de la història familiar dels Lloberola, que veu com s’esvaeix tot el seu patrimoni en mans dels més joves de la casa. Sagarra retrata amb ironia el procés de degradació social i moral de la família i fa un retrat de l’alta i la baixa societat, a través de les reunions en salons, sales de juntes i bordells. De Sagarra també cal esmentar altres obres seves, com La rambla de les floristes (1935), El cafè de la Marina (1933) o L’hostal de la Glòria (1931), perquè fan un retrat calidoscòpic dels avars i els miserables que poblen la història de Catalunya del segle XX. 
7. El carrer de les Camèlies (1966) de Mercè Rodoreda (1908-1983) és qui retrata els anys de la Guerra Civil i la postguerra a la perfecció. La novel·la ressegueix la vida de Cecília, una supervivent, que comença la seva vida miserable a La Rambla. Després, viu engabiada en un pis de l’Eixample i acaba venent-se en unes barraques del Carmel. Rodoreda retrata una societat consumida per l’avarícia dels anys anteriors, un viatge cap a la foscor. Aquesta tristor grisa serà una constant en les obres de Rodoreda, com ara a Aloma (1936) o a la famosa La plaça del diamant (1962). També retrà comptes amb el passat a la novel·la Mirall trencat (1974), un retrat de la decadència burgesa a l’estil de Sagarra.
8. Feliçment soc una dona (1969) de Maria Aurèlia de Capmany (1918-1991). Com ho fa Rodoreda a El carrer de les Camèlies, Capmany retrata la societat del seu temps a través del personatge de la Carola, que ha viscut intensament i ha estat víctima dels clarobscurs d’una ciutat avara que creix de manera desordenada. La protagonista enceta, al principi, un viatge a la recerca de la felicitat, però agafa el camí equivocat que li farà perdre tota la innocència. Capmany també retrata aquesta ciutat vençuda pels anys avars a Betúlia (1974). 
9. Benzina (1983) de Quim Monzó. L’efervescència avariciosa dels feliços anys vuitanta del segle XX la retrata Monzó a través de la història de l’Heribert. El personatge, que ha triomfat al món de l’art després d’una conquesta àrdua, viu una vida condescendent i avorrida fins que s’adona que els seus amors l’enganyen amb homes extravagants. 
10. El cau del conill (2011) de Cristian Segura. Ja al segle XXI, Segura retrata la plàcida existència de l’empresari Amadeu Conill: les partides de tenis al migdia, les demostracions de popularitat a la tribuna del Barça, els vermuts al Turó Park o les tardes de compres a l’Illa Diagonal. L’autor relata les tribulacions d’un prohom de la burgesia barcelonina en caiguda lliure i el relleu generacional d’una classe social en una decadència feliçment aconseguida en ple món globalitzat. 
11. Tsunami (2020) d’Albert Pijuan. Finalment, hi trobem els tres cosins de Pijuan, fills dels tres germans fundadors d’un grup turístic amb hotels arreu del món. Als divuit anys, gaudeixen com mai i com ningú durant la inauguració del nou hotel a Sri Lanka: festes, alcohol, submarinisme, paisatges exòtics, luxe asiàtic… Però les coses canviaran dràsticament quan una alerta de tsunami s’escampa per tots els racons de l’oceà Índic.

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Si hi ha un moment clau en la història d’Espanya, aquest és l’arribada a Amèrica i el posterior saqueig. Aquella riquesa va ser la llavor del que s’anomenaria Imperi Espanyol i que, tal com explica l’historiador d’11Onze Oriol Garcia Farré, no va ser res més que la presa de pèl a uns catalans.

Toni Mata, director de continguts i mitjans d’11Onze

El 12 d’octubre és la data preferida del nacionalisme espanyol. La celebren a mà alçada els feixistes a Montjuïc i rememora, amb nostàlgia, aquell Dia de la Raça de l’època franquista que, al seu torn, s’emmirallava en “el Imperio Español donde nunca se ponía el sol”. Quin mal de panxa els agafaria si sabessin que el ‘descobriment’ va ser cosa dels catalans. La cursiva de ‘descobriment’ es deu, efectivament, a què a les terres americanes ja hi vivia gent i que tant xinesos com vikings ja hi havien arribat. Però els espanyols van ser els que es van decidir a espoliar riqueses i esclavitzar indígenes. Per tant, en aquest sentit sí, la primícia és 100% europea. Des d’aleshores, aquests fets duen el malnom de “colonització”. 

Colom era català? Va home, va

Però anem al que ens ocupa: si dieu en veu alta “Colom era català”, us caurà al damunt una allau de desqualificacions que us titllaran de fanàtic, il·luminat, supremacista o ves a saber què. I, per tal d’evitar el soroll, qualsevol català dirà “deixem-ho estar”. Ara bé, els historiadors tenen l’obligació d’analitzar els fets i això és el que hem demanat a l’historiador Oriol Garcia Farré. Mirant-ho amb una mica de detall, tal com podeu llegir en aquest article, costa de sostenir el relat espanyol.

Per què? Vegem-ho. El 1492 Espanya no existia. Era la unió de dues corones: la Corona de Castella i la Corona catalanoaragonesa. El tan estimat (a Espanya) Ferran el Catòlic, era el rei català, però això no vol dir que fos gaire estimat a Catalunya. Era de la família Trastàmara, que havia accedit al tron després de l’extinció del llinatge dels comtes de Barcelona amb la mort de Martí l’Humà, i que en aquella època tenia força contestació social a Catalunya. De fet, el pare de Ferran, Joan II d’Aragó, va protagonitzar la Guerra Civil catalana contra les institucions catalanes per obtenir el control polític. També es va enfrontar amb els pagesos, en les famoses guerres remences que encara recordem amb el crit de “Via fora!”.

Des d’aleshores no eren la dinastia més estimada de la història de Catalunya. És més, el 7 de desembre de 1492, al Palau Reial de Barcelona un remença del Maresme va intentar assassinar Ferran el Catòlic. El magnicidi va estar a punt de culminar-se, i, si hi voleu aprofundir, ho podeu fer amb aquest capítol d’El Lloc dels Fets que vaig escriure fa uns anys per TV3.

Per tant, el casament de Ferran el Catòlic amb Isabel de Castella era pels Trastàmara, allò que ara diuen els ‘influencers’, escriptors o cantants catalans que treballen en castellà: buscaven més públic. L’ampliació de la corona cap a Castella era la millor opció per mantenir-se en el poder, per als Trastàmara. I un bon dia, un senyor anomenat Cristòfor Colom els proposa una idea boja: anar a descobrir les terres de l’altre cantó de l’oceà Atlàntic. Com sabem que aquesta era una empresa catalana? Fent servir les dades i la lògica.

D’una banda, la Corona catalanoaragonesa era una potència naval, mentre que a Castella no devien saber ni si la mar era salada. Penseu que estem al segle XV i que les distàncies no eren les mateixes. Catalunya, en canvi, havia dominat el Mediterrani i havia impulsat el Llibre del Consolat de Mar, que regulava el dret marítim internacional des del segle XIV.

Però si anem als fets, la cosa és encara pitjor. En la comptabilitat de la corona castellana de l’època no hi consta cap inversió per l’expedició de Colom. Recordem que es tracta de dues corones i només consten pagaments en ducats, que és la moneda que s’utilitzava a la Corona catalanoaragonesa. Què ens diu això? Ras i curt que l’expedició la van pagar els catalans. I si la van pagar és perquè tenien experiència en el comerç marítim i confiaven que aquell tal Colom duria riqueses. Per cert, Colón costa força de trobar com a cognom espanyol. Sembla, més aviat, una apropiació castellana. De fet, el mateix que va passar amb tot el que va comportar el ‘descobriment’ d’Amèrica.

Quan a Castella es van adonar que el negoci era massa lucratiu per deixar-lo en mans catalanes, van canviar els acords amb Colom, el van acusar de traïció (sedició no era un terme utilitzat a l’època!) i la família va caure en desgràcia. Vaja, que tot plegat havia de servir a la glòria d’Espanya. Això explica també la destrucció de documentació de tots aquells fets. Resulta evident que es va voler esborrar la petjada catalana de la més gran fita espanyola de tota la història.

Colom potser va ser, doncs, el primer català entabanat pel projecte espanyol. S’encetava així la tradició catalana de contribuir al projecte espanyol, quedar-ne apartat de les bones notícies i maleir-se per haver-hi contribuït. Una tradició que ha seguit vigent fins als nostres dies amb una bonhomia aclaparadora.

No m’ho acabo de creure

És normal no creure’s aquesta història perquè estem tan avesats a la història oficial (adoctrinats, se’n diu), que l’impuls és pensar que tot plegat és una invenció. Però cal fer revisar els fets de manera crítica i tan freda com sigui possible. Quin port tenia Palos de la Frontera al segle XIV? I quin port tenia Pals a la mateixa època? És important informar-se, veure els estudis de restes arqueològiques i lligar caps. I els famosos germans Pinçon? Valencians que tenien els seus negocis a terres gironines, molt a prop de Pals. En propers articles, l’Oriol Garcia aprofundirà sobre aquestes proves esborrades per la historiografia espanyola. La veritat, però, sembla òbvia. La presa de pèl potser va començar el 1492.

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Accused of having eaten an apple. Stigmatised for men’s sin. Controlled by confessors. Purified through redemptive fire. Attacked by misogyny. The history of women paints a bleak picture, given that they have had to abide by a reality imposed by the male gender. We begin a journey through history with the first of six articles, on the struggle of contemporary women to achieve full equality.

At the beginning of the 20th century, Catalonia made the definitive leap toward modernity. The generation of 1900 worked hard to modernise Catalan society to the point of transforming all areas of daily life. Everything from culture to politics was redefined and, even today, those profound changes are still very much alive in our collective memory.

Modernity longed to change the previous patterns through culture, science and education, and it was in this last area that it came up against the Church, which for centuries had held a monopoly on education. The debate then focused on whether, in order to be modern, it was absolutely necessary to move towards a fully secular society, or whether there was another option.

Conservative Catalan society at the time expected the wife of one of the most important figures on the political scene at the time – the lawyer and founding member of the Regionalist League, Narcís Verdaguer i Callís – to remain on the fringes of all the social and cultural effervescence of the country.

The social model of the time understood that women – with sufficient economic resources – had to limit their activity to being a housewife and social activities, including charitable work in the parish. Therefore, the whiter her skin was, the more important her social status was.

The reality was different when Francesca Bonnemaison y Farriols (1872-1949) – of deep religious convictions, passed down through her mother’s line – embarked on a revolutionary project that would change everything. Without realising it, she would shake the most conservative foundations of the Catalan society.

Democratising access to education

Gathered around the parish church of Santa Anna in Barcelona, the so-called ‘cooperating ladies’ met in a vicarage, on a Friday in May 1909. Long gone were the heated discussions as to which was the most suitable option for setting up the new organisation within the parish: either to create a social work for wealthy young women or to found a literary circle exclusively for women from high society. But neither of these things happened.

With the support of Father Gatell, the option suggested by Mrs. Bonnemaison prevailed. On that Friday 28 May 1909, the first public library for women in Barcelona was set up. Yes, for all the women of the city and open to both well-to-do and working women.

In this way, the renaissance ideology defended by Francesca Bonnemaison was put into practice, which believed it was essential to bring culture closer to women, social regeneration, and the economic development of the country. A year later, the Institut de Cultura de la Dona was founded, thus laying the foundations for training women from all social strata to move towards their personal liberation, the recognition of some of their basic rights, and equal employment opportunities.

The ideology of the new institution – so revolutionary in its time – was based on three essential pillars: The first was based on the promotion of reading and the sensible practice of Christian doctrine. The second understood that the intellectual learning acquired by women – through education – was necessary to help men and not to compete with them. And the third hinged on the understanding that women had to be good domestic managers who could collaborate in the economic support of the family and in the transmission of knowledge to their children.

The setting up of the Institut de Cultura and the Biblioteca Popular de la Dona was an unprecedented success, as can be seen from the registers of women readers who met every Sunday after mass and the sharp increase in demand for teachers. They soon had to leave the parish to move first to Elisabets’ street and then to what is now Sant Pere Més Baix street in Barcelona. It is documented that until July 1936, the library had a collection of more than 23,000 volumes and the Institute taught some 6,200 pupils.

Forced exile and change of political paradigm

Francesca Bonnemaison believed that history offered her a second chance to amplify her women ideals, and began to campaign after the proclamation of the Second Republic. On the advice of Francesc Cambó, she set up the women’s section of the conservative Regionalist League. From then on, she worked tirelessly to spread her model of womanhood, based on religion, knowledge, and family.

But everything changed in July 1936. After the failed coup d’état and the subsequent outbreak of the Civil War, everything became polarised. Members of the Regionalist League – let’s remember, a conservative Catalanist party – would become collaborators of fascism through internal espionage and press offices abroad – such as the one in Paris – which would devote themselves to producing content to explain Franco’s new narrative to the world.

The “proletarianisation” carried out by the anarchist insurrection at the beginning of the conflict at the Institut de la Cultura and Biblioteca Popular de la Dona made Bonnemaison realise that her life was in danger. That insecurity took her to Paris, where she became the personal secretary of Francesc Cambó, whose godmother she was. Abroad, she worked tirelessly to spread the ideals of the insurrectionists, as she was confident that they would once again guarantee order and social stability, with which her ideal of a woman fitted in perfectly.

When she returned to Barcelona in 1941, she realised that the Franco dictatorship had organised society around the family and along Catholic lines, but that most women had been forced to give up their jobs to devote themselves exclusively to domestic and family tasks. In this way, women were considered inferior to men and had no autonomy whatsoever.

Discovering that the victors practised this ideological sectarianism, together with an unprecedented aggressiveness towards anything Catalan, plunged her into a deep depression from which she never recovered. Even more so when the Institut de la Cultura and the Biblioteca Popular de la Dona were controlled by the Falange and the latter devoted itself to completely distorting the founding spirit of that Friday in 1909.

Although it is true that Francesca Bonnemaison’s ideal of woman was of conservative and paternalistic inspiration, we must never forget that she gave wings to thousands of Barcelona women with the creation of her institutions, long before the mythical ‘Fawcett Library’ in London or the ‘Biblioteque Marguerite Durand’ in Paris. Francesca Bonnemaison was a pioneer in her time, creating the necessary elements to empower women, an essential step towards social equality.

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The Recaredo winery, Corpinnat, is located in the old centre of Sant Sadurní d’Anoia. It is the only winery that continues to carry out the entire winemaking process in the centre of the village, and has been doing so since the beginning of the 20th century. Everything that is produced at Recaredo is made from conscience.

Ton Mata, the third generation of the Recaredo winery, decided to join the family business 25 years ago. After studying aeronautical engineering, when he returned home, he had a long conversation with his father and decided to study agricultural engineering and join the family business. He has been technical director, general manager and is now managing director. Together with two other cousins, he manages the company under the direction of a person outside the family.

Doing what you like

The history of the winery is curious, given that all the Corpinnat that comes out of the company is the fruit of its own harvests. “We come from a family that had no vineyards,” explains Ton Mata, “My grandfather, when he started, didn’t have a single vineyard, and now we own 80 hectares, from which we produce 100% Recaredo Corpinnat.” To produce still wine, they need to buy grapes.

Ton Mata’s grandfather was the son of a family of pottery craftsmen who made the typical pieces for construction. “My great-grandmother sent my grandfather to work in some cellars when he was very young. And this is where it all began,” he explains. There, the grandfather learned the craft of secondary fermentation, everything that goes on inside the bottle (ageing, pupitre, secondary fermentation, disgorging) and he became “an expert in the art of manual disgorging.” “Then he set up his own winery and, little by little, he transformed the family’s roof into a cellar,” he adds. In fact, the winery still conserves part of the old roof.

“My grandfather,” explains Ton Mata, “realised that if he wanted to make a good wine, he needed a good vineyard. And that’s how we started the vertical integration, but instead of doing it from the vineyard forward, we do it backwards.” The third generation is reaping the fruits of the work done by the grandfather. Ton Mata says that this inheritance allows them to follow “a dream path”: “Doing what we really like and want to do. We try to be free, not to have any ties, that is to say, that it is not the market that shows us the way. Fortunately, so far, we have found the complicity of people who have liked what we do.”

The ‘terroir’ that shelters the vines

Ton Mata explains that the winery has undergone a transformation from traditional farming to organic farming and then to biodynamic farming. “This process has made us stronger in our convictions, which are: to make only brut nature sparkling wines, to make wines that are really capable of representing a landscape, a territory, with all the consequences and not just blah, blah, blah; to age much longer…”

Recaredo has a production of 280,000 bottles. It exports 15 percent outside Spain, another 15 percent within Spain, and its main market is Catalonia, with 70 percent. Ton Mata considers that they are a small winery. Although he looks at the sector with concern, he celebrates the birth of new companies that bring their products to the market from the vineyard. He believes that the Penedès wine sector must be fragmented if the prestige of the area is to be maintained. “It is interesting that there are small companies, each with its own style and personality. It’s good for maintaining balance,” he argues.

However, he is concerned about the territory, the landscape, and the environment. “It is so threatening that it makes me suffer. Corpinnat is going against the tide. It is very difficult to make wines that represent a landscape if you don’t have a quality landscape. The threats of infrastructures such as the MAT, industrial estates such as Can Vies and, above all, the waste we leave on the land such as herbicides or insecticides… It is clear that it does not help to maintain a quality landscape. This type of agriculture has no future and is not sustainable. It prevents us from making wines that represent a landscape because what it does is to destroy this landscape and the wines end up showing this destroyed landscape,” he regrets.

For Ton Mata, practising biodynamic agriculture means that their wines reflect the soil where they have been grown, the ‘terroir’. “We offer a sparkling wine that represents transparency: of a harvest, a vintage, a ‘terroir’, people and a team. A brut nature is the one that gives the greatest transparency, and with this obsession to represent the ‘terroir’ you realise that the buried landscape is very damaged,” he explains.

Preserve the landscape

For Mata, practising biodynamic agriculture means working to preserve the landscape, working with nature and not against nature. “We introduced the more rational part of biodynamics in 2006. We have been opening up to biodynamics, not only to the rational and biological part, but also to the more philosophical and more conscious part, to be more attentive to what you do and why you do it. This is a challenge, because when you have a job done, it doesn’t just have to be a mechanical execution, it has to involve an awareness of how it is being done and why it is being done,” he explains. For Mata, working from the point of view of awareness has a consequence on the result of the wine. 

Recaredo forms part of the Corpinnat group (a collective brand of the European Union) along with ten other wineries. Its commitment to the territory is reflected in the principles of this brand.

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The confinement in the wake of the pandemic popularised remote working. A trend that has blurred the boundary between the office and our personal lives. Workation is a new form of telecommuting that merges work and holidays.

For anyone who has the option to work remotely, the benefits of taking a workation, the sum of ‘work’ and ‘vacation’, are hard to pass up. Until 2019, the image of working from a laptop with a panoramic view in the background was almost exclusively associated with a digital nomad lifestyle, but, thanks to the sanitary crisis, telecommuting became exponentially more popular.

This new form of remote work is not designed for you to work while on holiday, but to work as if you were on holiday. Setting up our office in a place we would normally only visit when we are on holiday can have many benefits beyond the view.

You’ll still have all the essentials you were used to in office life and many luxuries you didn’t have

From sturdy workstations built for hours of tapping away on your laptop, access to conference rooms made available when needed, all the way to a strong Wi-Fi connection that won’t quit, many hotels offer a large variety of beautifully designed spaces that you can move through depending on your mood and preferences.

In many ways, hotels served as the original version of coworking spaces, it was common to see people in suits with laptops flipped open while enjoying a meal in the restaurant. Today, you’re more likely to find someone wearing shorts and flip-flops.

You’ll increase your productivity

As digital nomads are 13% more productive than their in-office counterparts, it turns out employers also see the benefit in their employees working from abroad. Being able to work in a space tailored to individual needs and preferences, as well as having uninterrupted blocks of time during the day, all means that people are not only more productive and comfortable at work, but they’re also much more willing to occasionally put in extra hours in order to get things done.

Your mental health will thank you

Feeling the winter blues coming on? Getting overwhelmed by work, or finding it tough to keep up with office politics? Maybe you could use a change from the home-to-office routine you’ve become so used to; something to remind you that life is for living, and not just working and commuting.

You’ll relax, without having to take time off work

Many hotels have amenities that, let’s face it—most of us simply just don’t have at work or home. Ditch the communal shower, pool table, and stiff massage chairs in favour of the hotel pool, steam room, and sauna—where you can unwind after a day of hard work, without even going outside. The more you use those precious after-work hours to unwind and recharge, the more you go into your working hours feeling fulfilled, refreshed, and focused.

You’ll discover new places 

Exchange predictable commutes for lengthy walks in an unfamiliar city; explore different districts and restaurant recommendations; try your hand at leisure photography; or broaden your horizons by meeting locals and doing a deep dive into your local culture. Become friends with the barista at that coffee shop you frequent daily, or do some research on where to go and what to see from your new location.

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The Epiphany is the best known celebration of the Christmas cycle. And, instead, only the Gospel of St. Matthew gives specific news of the Three Wise Men, but in a rather enigmatic way. It does not even specify the names, the number or the exact origin. So, what is the true story of the biblical Magi? 

Let’s start by taking a good look at how St. Matthew introduces the Magi in his Gospel. First, he assures us that Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea, in the time of King Herod, and then he relates the appearance of the Magi as follows: “Shortly afterward there came to Jerusalem wise men from the East who asked ‘Where is the King of the Jews, who has just been born? We have seen his star there in the East and have come to prostrate ourselves before him’.”

In fact, St. Matthew tells us in the Gospel that “the news greatly troubled King Herod, and with him all Jerusalem.” So Herod let the Magi go, but asked them to inform him of the exact place where the child was born before returning to their villages, so that he too could go and worship him. But it seems that the magi did not keep the word given to Herod…

The Gospel says that the wise men continue on their way, always following the star, until it stops just at the point where Jesus is. Then, St. Matthew narrates: “And when they entered the house, they saw the child with Mary, […] they fell down before him and opened the chests they were carrying to offer him gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh. And as a dream warned them that they were not to see Herod again, they returned to their own country by another way.” After this, they are never spoken of again.

The mess that surrounds the story

If we carefully analyze the Gospel narrative of St. Matthew, we quickly realize that at no time are we told that there were three characters, but, instead, we are told that “some magi” left three gifts (gold, frankincense and myrrh). Nor is the exact point of the meeting specified. And most surprising of all: at no time is the kingly status of these characters specified.

If we look for more canonical information —the official one— about these characters, nowhere do we find more information. Even so, if we go to the other Gospel that narrates the birth and infancy of Jesus, that of St. Luke, nowhere are the Magi mentioned, nor the slaughter of the innocents, nor the flight into Egypt. On the other hand, St. Luke does provide details about the annunciation, the transfer of Joseph and pregnant Mary to Bethlehem to be registered in the census ordered by the Roman Emperor Augustus, the adoration of the shepherds and the birth of Jesus in a stable. 

Therefore, the New Testament offers very different versions of Christmas that, with the maturation of the passing of the centuries, with intentional contributions and biased interpretations, have ended up shaping the fantastic and braided story that we know. We must not lose sight of the fact that along the way new characters were added, such as the ox and the mule, which Pope Benedict XVI has publicly rejected, or the fourth wise man and other inventions.

Does Magi mean magicians?

Then, The question that the initial story suggests to us is: why does Matthew make these curious characters appear? The important fact to keep in mind is that the original Gospel of St. Matthew was written in Greek, a manuscript of which has not reached us until our days. We only have the version translated into Latin by St. Jerom, but already in the fourth century.

If we continue analyzing the text, the key to everything lies in the word “magi”. Is this the word used in the original text written in Greek? And then another rather disturbing question arises: what did it mean to be a “magi” in the context in which the gospel is written?

Historical etymology offers us two possibilities. If the original word written was Greek “μάγο”, it would be used with a pejorative connotation. An expression aimed at defining sorcerers, dream interpreters, enchanters, practitioners of dark rites and, even, charlatans. It seems that this is not the case! On the other hand, if the original Greek word was translated from an Old Persian word, “maguusha”, then the meaning would be: priest. Surely, the most likely!

Therefore, if we follow this etymological path, we find in the Babylonian past a religious caste of Persian priests known as “magi” with a recognized prestige in astrological knowledge and followers of the Zoroastrian religion. To understand the historical etymology even better, we must keep in mind that the Jewish presence in Persia was very notable from the time of Nebuchadnezzar (6th century B.C.), when the Babylonian ruler conquered Judah and enslaved the Jews. 

These Hebrew communities, who awaited the Messiah, would surely have influenced the Persian astrological tradition. In the 6th century A.D., these magi —now named and numbered— were depicted in the Persian style —mainly in their clothing— in the well-known mosaic of St. Apollinaris the New in the basilica of Ravenna (Italy).

The legend consolidates with the biblical canon

Whether the visit of the Magi happened or not, we arrive at the Council of Nicaea in 325, when the official discourse of the Church was institutionalized and it was agreed that only four official gospels —Matthew, Luke, John and Mark— would mark the discourse of dogma. The rest of the texts, more than 70, will be considered apocryphal, that is to say, unreliable, since they are based on suppositions that cannot be contrasted.

It is curious because all these texts were written at the same time as the four canonical gospels. What is evident is that, with the passing of the centuries, theology, liturgy and Christian tradition were forged, complemented by other writings that filled the gaps left by the official texts. It was in this process that the story of the Persian magi took shape.

If we avoid the fantastic and we are absolutely rational, the textual analysis places us before a purely propagandistic story. The incipient and modern Christian discourse that emerged from Nicaea had the need to demonstrate that its radius of action was broad, integrating cultures and endowed with a universal dimension. The story of the Magi fulfilled this message and —no less important— allowed linking the prophecies of the Old Testament with the New Testament, since it demonstrated that the sacred scriptures were not mistaken in the fact that “all kings coming from everywhere will prostrate themselves before him.”

Nor is it by chance that the number of the magi was set at three: because it is the number of the divinity par excellence, of the Holy Trinity; because it is the reflection of the three ages of the human being, youth, maturity and old age; because they are the three continents known at that time, Europe, Asia and Africa; and because they are the three dimensions of time, past, present and future.

The pieces that build history

It was from then on that a special iconography began to be created, with diverse meanings. Soon the authentic reality of the characters from the East ceased to be relevant and the ritual symbolism of the Middle Ages became important. The Carolingian world turned them into kings. The story goes that Frederick I Barbarossa, during the Third Crusade, found the bodies of the three kings in Constantinople and brought them to Germany. Today, Cologne Cathedral preserves the relics of the Magi. The mendicant orders of the 13th century contributed to the tradition of making the nativity scene, and the epiphany has a prominent place. The Renaissance brought blackness to King Balthasar.

The long night of time fixed and generated new details about the Magi, which impregnated the European cultural tradition forever and ever. The story of the Three Wise Men is a story built in pieces, which has changed generation after generation and has reached our days as a commercial spectacle. And, like all good stories, it is made over a slow fire.

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The date of 1714 lingers vividly in our memory. Little or much, everyone would know how to explain what it meant to Catalonia. Even so, this dark period in history began to change with the Royal Decree on free trade with America. This regulatory text would be the crack that would lead to industrialisation in our country. We find out about it from agent Oriol Garcia Farré.

After the war of 1714, Catalonia had been banned from direct trade with the American colonies, which meant a brutal impoverishment. From the 1750s onwards, this began to change. The system of privileges of Bourbon trade policy was failing, and the powers that were being forced to introduce new agents to guarantee the viability of trade with America.

Thus, in 1756 the Crown once again allowed ships to leave Catalan ports for the new continent, and in 1778 Carlos III signed the Royal Decree on free trade, putting an end to the monopoly of Cadiz and Seville and once again favouring trade from Catalonia. This marked the beginning of a significant export of agricultural products, such as wine, eau-de-vie, nuts and paper, which allowed Catalonia’s balance of trade to increase spectacularly. This was the true genesis of Catalonia’s industrialisation.

Merchants and Indianos, a chronicle of entrepreneurship

Merchants were the necessary driving force behind the modernisation of the country. The trading companies of the 18th century were the model to be followed for more than a century in organising exports and imports. The cotton trade with the colonies was extremely important for Catalonia to begin a process of mechanisation, which led to the beginning of the industrial revolution.

A few years later, a generation of entrepreneurs would shake up and transform the economic and social structures of Catalonia. The first to do so were Josep Bonaplata, Joan Vilaregut and Joan Rull, all three linked to textile manufacturing. In 1832 they created the first steam-powered textile industry in Spain, the Bonaplata Factory.

The idea was a turning point, the definitive step towards modernity. The technological innovation brought about by mechanisation enabled them to become leaders in their sector and to boost the entire textile industry in Catalonia. The restlessness, transformation and improvement that characterised that era are still in the DNA of Catalan commerce.

Steam, the key to the country’s industrialisation

The economy created by the use of steam made it necessary to move at greater speed. Technological innovation and entrepreneurial spirit had to be accompanied by a new transport system. It was the railway that brought the country’s main textile production centres to the port of Barcelona, thus providing the backbone of the whole territory.

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Christmas holidays are celebrated all over the world, but customs vary from country to country. In 11Onze we review some of the Christmas traditions in other parts of the world.

Portugal and Italy

Nativity scenes are not only made in Catalonia, they can also be found in Portugal and Italy. Many are true works of art, with months of work, effort and investment. In many cities they are almost a tourist attraction. If you are passionate about nativity scenes, you will have already visited the living nativity scenes and the Catalan nativity scene associations. Perhaps you can visit Portuguese and Italian ones!

Christmas Day

What day is Christmas celebrated? Normally, December 25, but this is not the case everywhere. The Orthodox Church uses the Julian calendar instead of the Gregorian calendar. This means that Orthodox Christians celebrate Christmas Day on January 7 (or around that date, depending on the church). Therefore, Ukraine and Russia will celebrate Christmas for Epiphany, so to speak. Christmas Day is a holiday and the preceding days are days of reflection and often fasting. But Christmas Day is a real holiday in the company of loved ones.

Exporting the Christmas Party

If in Catalonia we often complain that we import traditions such as Halloween, it must be said that the Christmas party is also being exported to other places. It is a kind of fashion trend, often without any religious sense. This means that in these places there are activities linked to Christmas but December 25 is a working day. In the end, it ends up being just another commercial holiday. For example, in Japan at Christmas the most popular food is fried chicken, something that KFC has capitalized on.

Christmas feast

Escudella and chicken with plums and pine nuts is the classic Catalan cuisine for Christmas Day. But there are many other options. In Eastern Europe, in countries like Poland or Lithuania, people traditionally enjoy 12 different dishes on Christmas Eve. And it is necessary to eat them all to avoid bad luck. If you have a Christmas meal in these countries you will taste beet soup, cabbage with beans, poppy seed cake, and many more typical dishes.

Gifts

In many countries, besides the 25th (or the 7th, of course), a very important day is December 5. It is especially special for children, as this is when Santa Claus brings them presents. There are many versions of the story that it originated in Finland. Most say that he resorts the world to his sleigh and jumps down chimneys to put presents under the Christmas tree. But in some countries, the stories are slightly different. For example, in the Netherlands, the Sinterklaas disembarks from a steamship. Then, all the local church bells ring in celebration and the children receive their long-awaited gifts.

The Christmas holidays are a great time to travel alone or as a family. Doing so by celebrating Christmas in another country is an option to have a different holiday.

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Fans of this mountain sport are well acquainted with the Catalan and Andorran slopes, but perhaps we are not so familiar with the range of ski resorts in Europe. Let’s make a brief compilation of the best-known and some of the not-so-typical ones.

Switzerland

Known for the world’s best skiing resorts, the breathtaking views are enough to calm a first-timer’s nerves. For your non-ski-loving companions, there’s still plenty to do—explore the Matterhorn, go white water rafting, or take a tour through the mountains via train.

Poland

Bordering Slovakia, Czechia, and Germany, the Polish mountains are famous for their ski slopes. Nestle down into the comfy lobby sofa of your chalet with a warming mug of the region’s renowned take on mulled wine, known as grzaniec Galicyjski, and some tasty pierogi. For the voyeurs, it’s not all about the slopes—plenty of hot thermal baths, quad tours, and unique hikes to enjoy.

Italy

Italian ski slopes are among the best in the world, especially if you’re trying to please sun holiday lovers and adventurous skiers. Up high in the mountains of Italy, the sun is usually beaming. Sure, it may be chilly, but that is what spa jacuzzis are for.

France

The Alps are the highest and most extensive mountain range system that lies entirely in Europe. If you’re a film buff, you’ll recognise the location from the Bond movies. You’ll find some travelling treasures at the foot of some of the highest peaks, like the dainty commune called the Chamonix Valley or the spa town Aix-les-Bains.

Do you love to travel? With 11Onze Viatges you can book accommodation at the best price, without stifling the travel industry.

There are classic and contemporary books. They are nostalgic, mysterious, joyful, and romantic, but they all tell stories that happen at Christmas. At 11Onze we have compiled fifteen books for a winter by the fireplace. Do you remember any other books?

The Christmas holidays are always a good time to be reckoned with, ourselves and those around us. Maybe that’s why all Christmas stories have something of a life lesson in them. It doesn’t matter whether they take place in a 19th century mansion, an ice castle, a boarding house or a flat in Brooklyn. All these books, in the end, seem to be asking us in our ear: how will you change your life from now on?

1. ‘A Christmas Carol’ (1843) by Charles Dickens. The old miser Ebenezer Scrooge, who enslaves his young worker, will receive a good lesson in life on Christmas Eve from three ghosts: the one from the past takes him back to his childhood, the one from the present brings him closer to his worker’s home and the one from the future transports him to the day of his death. Frightened by the visions, will Scrooge decide to change? After the great success of ‘A Christmas Carol’, Charles Dickens wrote a story every Christmas and it was the great annual event in mid-19th century Britain. All these stories, such as ‘The Bells’, ‘The House Cricket’ or ‘The Cursed Man’, were collected in Catalan by La Magrana, and perhaps they need to be republished.
2. ‘The Best Fables’ (1844-45) by Hans Christian Andersen. The great storyteller of all times is a must for Christmas. From Andersen, in this compilation of fables, we find ‘The Match Girl’ and ‘The Snow Queen’. But we cannot fail to mention ‘The Christmas Tree’. Dark, melancholic and pedagogical, all of Andersen’s stories leave a little piece of ice in our hearts.
3. ‘Little Women’ (1868) by Louisa May Alcott. Incredible as it may seem, in Catalan today, you can only find an edition adapted for young audiences from Editorial Barcanova, but it is an indisputable Christmas classic, because its versions adapted for the cinema are a must after dinner and because the story begins at Christmas. ‘Little Women’ is one of the most influential and widely read novels in the history of literature, and explains the life of the four March sisters during the American Civil War. But it is Jo March’s central character that has become a reference point for the feminist struggle.
4. ‘The Selfish Giant’ (1888) by Oscar Wilde. This fairy tale tells the story of children playing in the magnificent garden of a giant, who is always on a journey. But one day, the giant returns from visiting his cousin and, seeing all these children jumping and playing in his garden, he decides to chase them away and build a wall to keep them out. However, as soon as the children stop using the garden for their mischief, it will wither away like winter.
5. ‘Christmas pudding’ (1932) by Nancy Mitford. Miss Bobbin, a prestigious foxhunter, is holding a Christmas party at her home. The guest list promises an entertaining feast. Mitford’s first novel, with eccentric characters, love, and heartbreak and plenty of sarcasm, was declared the funniest of the year when it was published. This winter it is brought back by Universe.
6. ‘Hercule Poirot’s Christmas’ (1938) by Agatha Christie. On Christmas Eve, the spiteful old Simeon Lee is found dead in a pool of blood with his neck cut in two. Near his mansion, detective Hercule Poirot celebrates the Christmas holidays until he is summoned to solve the case. But instead of finding a family devastated by the death of the elderly Lee, he finds a rather disturbing group of people. They all seem to have a motive for the murder, but who is the culprit? In Catalan, this Christie classic is hard to find, but in Spanish it has been republished this year under the title ‘Navidades trágicas’.
7. ‘A Child’s Christmas in Wales’ (1952) by Dylan Thomas. This Christmas novella is considered one of Thomas’s best stories and will make all your childhood memories come flooding back. Thomas builds a legend in a small Welsh seaside village full of cats, cards and children who want to play in the snow. Look out for the illustrated edition by Pep Montserrat that won the 2008 Junceda prize, because it is a work of art.
8. ‘Three Stories’ (1956) by Truman Capote. Christmas is a commonplace of childhood and Capote, in these three stories, recalls his family celebrations, two Christmases and a Thanksgiving. Little Truman, Buddy, accompanies us in each of these three stories and shares the limelight with Miss Sook, an old maid relative, naive but very wise.
9. ‘Letters from Father Christmas’ (1976), by J. R. R. Tolkien. Although Tolkien is best known for his fantasy novels ‘The Hobbit’, ‘The Lord of the Rings’ and ‘The Silmarillion’, which are common Christmas presents for young people, ‘Letters from Father Christmas’ collects the handwritten letters his children received each December, in fine, strange handwriting and beautiful, colourful illustration. With a North Pole stamp, all the letters were from Father Christmas, who told them wonderful tales of his winter life. Sometimes an elf would even hide a message in the letters. If you can find it in bookshops, it will certainly make a good gift.
10. ‘Auggie Wren’s Christmas Story’ (1991) by Paul Auster. The ‘New York Times’ commissioned Auster to write a Christmas story and, in order not to fall into sentimental plots and cloying characters, he decided to talk about Auggie Wren, a tobacconist from Brooklyn. A story about a thief, a lost wallet, a blind grandmother and a family meal. The story was the seed for the film ‘Smoke’ and is now a contemporary classic.
11. ‘Politically Correct Holiday Stories’ (1995) by James Finn Garner. The author takes classic Christmas characters such as Rudolph the reindeer, the miserly Mr. Scrooge, Santa’s elves or the characters from the mythical Nutcracker and reclaims them as dysfunctional, non-human union leaders, vegans and non-sexist pacifists. Garner gives a new social conscience to the old tales to revive the authentic Christmas spirit.
12. ‘Tres Nadals’ (2003) by Quim Monzó. This book brings together three stories that are not strictly Christmas tales, but which go beyond the genre and, with a Monzóian gaze, lead us towards an atypical, festive and satirical Christmas.
13. ‘The Weight of Snow’ (2018) by Christian Guay-Poliquin. In a wooded region that has been cut off by an electrical blackout, a young man is recovering from a serious traffic accident. His life is left in the care of Matthias, a taciturn man who has agreed to look after him. Held back by a relentless winter, they will have to face the cold and boredom together.
14. ‘Winter’ (2020) by Ali Smith. Four people, strangers and family, share a fifteen-bedroom house in Cornwall for Christmas, but there doesn’t seem to be room for everyone. An immigrant brings the warmth that the family has been unable to find. After ‘Autumn’, the author closes her tetralogy talking about post-truth, fake news, the refugee crisis and the climate crisis.

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