Culture / Religion

Demographics

In 2008 the population of Spain officially reached 46 million people, as recorded by the Padrón municipal (Spain's Municipal Register). Spain's population density, at 91/km² (235/sq mi), is lower than that of most Western European countries and its distribution across the country is very unequal. With the exception of the region surrounding the capital, Madrid, the most populated areas lie around the coast. The population of Spain more than doubled since 1900, when it stood at 18.6 million, principally due to the spectacular demographic boom in the 1960s and early 1970s.

Native Spaniards make up 88% of the total population of Spain. After the birth rate plunged in the 1980s and Spain's population growth rate dropped, the population again trended upward, based initially on the return of many Spaniards who had emigrated to other European countries during the 1970s, and more recently, fuelled by large numbers of immigrants who make up 12% of the population. The immigrants originate mainly in Latin America (39%), North Africa (16%), Eastern Europe (15%), and Sub-Saharan Africa (4%). In 2005, Spain instituted a three-month amnesty programme through which certain hitherto undocumented aliens were granted legal residency.

In 2008, Spain granted citizenship to 84,170 persons, mostly to people from Ecuador, Colombia and Morocco. A sizeable portion of foreign residents in Spain also comes from other Western and Central European countries. These are mostly British, French, German, Dutch, and Norwegian. They reside primarily on the Mediterranean coast and the Balearic islands, where many choose to live their retirement or telecommute.

Substantial populations descended from Spanish colonists and immigrants exist in other parts of the world, most notably in Latin America. Beginning in the late 15th century, large numbers of Iberian colonists settled in what became Latin America and at present most white Latin Americans (who make up about one-third of Latin America's population) are of Spanish or Portuguese origin. Around 240,000 Spaniards emigrated in the 16th century, mostly to Peru and Mexico. Another 450,000 left in the 17th century. Between 1846 and 1932 it is estimated that nearly 5 million Spaniards emigrated to the Americas, especially to Argentina and Brazil. Approximately two million Spaniards migrated to other Western European countries between 1960 and 1975. During the same period perhaps 300,000 went to Latin America.

Peoples

The Spanish Constitution of 1978, in its second article, recognises several contemporary entities—nationalities— and regions, within the context of the Spanish nation.

Spain is de facto a plurinational state. The idendity of Spain rather accrues of an overlap of different territorial and ethnolinguistic identities than of a sole Spanish identity. In some cases some of the territorial identities may conflict with the dominant Spanish culture. Distinct traditional identities within Spain include the Basques, Catalans, Galicians, Andalusians and Valencians, although to some extent all of the 17 autonomous communities may claim a distinct local identity.

It is this last feature of "shared identity" between the more local level or autonomous community and the Spanish level which makes the identity question in Spain complex and far from univocal.

Minority groups

Spain has a number of descendants of populations from former colonies, especially Latin America and North Africa. Smaller numbers of immigrants from several Sub-Saharan countries have recently been settling in Spain. There are also sizeable numbers of Asian immigrants, most of whom are of Middle Eastern, South Asian and Chinese origin. The single largest group of immigrants are European; represented by large numbers of Romanians, Britons, Germans, French and others.

The arrival of the gitanos, a Romani people, began in the 16th century; estimates of the Spanish Roma population range from 750,000 to over one million. There are also the mercheros (also quinquis), a formerly nomadic minority group. Their origin is unclear.

Historically, Sephardi Jews and Moriscos are the main minority groups originated in Spain and with a contribution to Spanish culture. The Spanish government is offering Spanish nationality to Sephardi Jews.

Immigration

According to the Spanish government there were 5.7 million foreign residents in Spain in 2011, or 12% of the total population. According to residence permit data for 2011, more than 860,000 were Romanian, about 770,000 were Moroccan, approximately 390,000 were British, and 360,000 were Ecuadorian. Other sizeable foreign communities are Colombian, Bolivian, German, Italian, Bulgarian, and Chinese. There are more than 200,000 migrants from Sub-Saharan Africa living in Spain, principally Senegaleses and Nigerians. Since 2000, Spain has experienced high population growth as a result of immigration flows, despite a birth rate that is only half the replacement level. This sudden and ongoing inflow of immigrants, particularly those arriving illegally by sea, has caused noticeable social tension.

Within the EU, Spain had the 2nd highest immigration rate in percentage terms after Cyprus, but by a great margin, the highest in absolute numbers, up to 2008. The number of immigrants in Spain had grown up from 500,000 people in 1996 to 5.2 million in 2008 out of a total population of 46 million. In 2005 alone, a regularisation programme increased the legal immigrant population by 700,000 people. There are a number of reasons for the high level of immigration, including Spain's cultural ties with Latin America, its geographical position, the porosity of its borders, the large size of its underground economy and the strength of the agricultural and construction sectors, which demand more low cost labour than can be offered by the national workforce.

Another statistically significant factor is the large number of residents of EU origin typically retiring to Spain's Mediterranean coast. In fact, Spain was Europe's largest absorber of migrants from 2002 to 2007, with its immigrant population more than doubling as 2.5 million people arrived. In 2008, prior to the onset of the economic crisis, the Financial Times reported that Spain was the most favoured destination for Western Europeans considering a move from their own country and seeking jobs elsewhere in the EU.

In 2008, the government instituted a "Plan of Voluntary Return" which encouraged unemployed immigrants from outside the EU to return to their home countries and receive several incentives, including the right to keep their unemployment benefits and transfer whatever they contributed to the Spanish Social Security. The programme had little effect; during its first two months, just 1,400 immigrants took up the offer. What the programme failed to do, the sharp and prolonged economic crisis has done from 2010 to 2011 in that tens of thousands of immigrants have left the country due to lack of jobs. In 2011 alone, more than half a million people left Spain. For the first time in decades the net migration rate was expected to be negative, and nine out of 10 emigrants were foreigners.

Languages

Spain is openly multilingual, and the constitution establishes that the nation will protect "all Spaniards and the peoples of Spain in the exercise of human rights, their cultures and traditions, languages and institutions.

Spanish (español)—officially recognised in the constitution as Castilian (castellano)—is the official language of the entire country, and it is the right and duty of every Spaniard to know the language. The constitution also establishes that "all other Spanish languages"—that is, all other languages of Spain—will also be official in their respective autonomous communities in accordance to their Statutes, their organic regional legislations, and that the "richness of the distinct linguistic modalities of Spain represents a patrimony which will be the object of special respect and protection."

The other official languages of Spain, co-official with Spanish are:

Basque (euskara) in the Basque Country and Navarre;
Catalan (català) in Catalonia, the Balearic Islands and in the Valencian Community, where its distinct modality of the language is officially known as Valencian (valencià); and
Galician (galego) in Galicia

As a percentage of the general population, Basque is spoken by 2%, Catalan (or Valencian) by 17%, and Galician by 7% of all Spaniards.

In Catalonia, Aranese (aranés), a local variety of the Occitan language, has been declared co-official along with Catalan and Spanish since 2006. Occitan itself is spoken only in the comarca of Val d'Aran by roughly 6,700 people. Other Romance minority languages, though not official, have special recognition, such as the Astur-Leonese group (Asturian – asturianu, also called bable – in Asturias and Leonese – llionés – in Castile and León) and Aragonese (aragonés) in Aragon.

In the North African Spanish autonomous city of Melilla, Riff Berber is spoken by a significant part of the population. In the tourist areas of the Mediterranean coast and the islands, English and German are widely spoken by tourists, foreign residents, and tourism workers.

Education

State education in Spain is free and compulsory from the age of six to sixteen. The current education system is regulated by the 2006 educational law, LOE (Ley Orgánica de Educación), or Fundamental Law for the Education. In 2014, the LOE was partially modified by the newer and controversial LOMCE law (Ley Orgánica para la Mejora de la Calidad Educativa), or Fundamental Law for the Improvement of the Education System, commonly called Ley Wert (Wert Law). Since 1970 to 2014, Spain has had seven different educational laws (LGE, LOECE, LODE, LOGSE, LOPEG, LOE and LOMCE).

Institución Libre de Enseñanza was an educational project that developed in Spain for the half a century of about 1876–1936 by Francisco Giner de los Ríos and Gumersindo de Azcárate. The institute was inspired by the philosophy of Krausism. Concepción Arenal in feminism and Santiago Ramón y Cajal in neuroscience were in the movement.

Health

The health care system of Spain (Spanish National Health System) is considered one of the best in the world, in 7th position in the ranking elaborated by the World Health Organization. The health care is public, universal and free for any legal citizen of Spain. The total health spending is 9.4% of the GDP, slightly above the average of 9.3% of the OECD.

Religion

Roman Catholicism has long been the main religion of Spain, and although it no longer has official status by law, in all public schools in Spain students have to choose either a religion or ethics class. Catholicism is the religion most commonly taught, although the teaching of Islam, Judaism, and evangelical Christianity is also recognised in law. According to a June 2016 study by the Spanish Centre for Sociological Research about 68% of Spaniards self-identify as Catholics, 2% other faith, and about 27% identify with no religion. Most Spaniards do not participate regularly in religious services. This same study shows that of the Spaniards who identify themselves as religious, 59% hardly ever or never go to church, 16% go to church some times a year, 9% some time per month and 15% every Sunday or multiple times per week. Recent polls and surveys have revealed that atheists and agnostics comprise anywhere from 20% to 27% of the Spanish population.

Altogether, about 9% of the entire Spanish population attends religious services at least once per month. Though Spanish society has become considerably more secular in recent decades, the influx of Latin American immigrants, who tend to be strong Catholic practitioners, has helped the Catholic Church to recover.

There have been four Spanish Popes. Damasus I, Calixtus III, Alexander VI and Benedict XIII. Spanish mysticism was an important intellectual fight against Protestantism with Teresa of Ávila, a reformist nun, ahead. The Society of Jesus was founded by Ignatius of Loyola and Francisco Javier. In the 1960s, Jesuits Pedro Arrupe and Ignacio Ellacuría were inside the movement of Liberation Theology.

Protestant churches have about 1,200,000 members. There are about 105,000 Jehovah's Witnesses. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has approximately 46,000 adherents in 133 congregations in all regions of the country and has a temple in the Moratalaz District of Madrid.

A study made by the Union of Islamic Communities of Spain demonstrated that there were about 1,700,000 inhabitants of Muslim background living in Spain as of 2012, accounting for 3–4% of the total population of Spain. The vast majority was composed of immigrants and descendants originating from Morocco and other African countries. More than 514,000 (30%) of them had Spanish nationality.

The recent waves of immigration have also led to an increasing number of Hindus, Buddhists, Sikhs and Muslims. After the Reconquista in 1492, Muslims did not live in Spain for centuries. Late 19th-century colonial expansion in northwestern Africa gave a number of residents in Spanish Morocco and Western Sahara full citizenship. Their ranks have since been bolstered by recent immigration, especially from Morocco and Algeria.

Judaism was practically non-existent in Spain from the 1492 expulsion until the 19th century, when Jews were again permitted to enter the country. Currently there are around 62,000 Jews in Spain, or 0.14% of the total population. Most are arrivals in the past century, while some are descendants of earlier Spanish Jews. Approximately 80,000 Jews are thought to have lived in Spain prior to its expulsion.

Culture

Culturally, Spain is a Western country. Almost every aspect of Spanish life is permeated by its Roman heritage, making Spain one of the major Latin countries of Europe. Spanish culture is marked by strong historic ties to Catholicism, which played a pivotal role in the country's formation and subsequent identity. Spanish art, architecture, cuisine, and music has been shaped by successive waves of foreign invaders, as well as by the country's Mediterranean climate and geography. The centuries-long colonial era globalised Spanish language and culture, with Spain also absorbing the cultural and commercial products of its diverse empire.

World Heritage Sites

It should be noted that after Italy (49) and China (45), Spain is the third country in the world with the most World Heritage Sites. At the present time it has 44 recognised sites, including the landscape of Monte Perdido in the Pyrenees, which is shared with France, the Prehistoric Rock Art Sites of the Côa Valley and Siega Verde, which is shared with Portugal (the Portuguese part being in the Côa Valley, Guarda), and the Heritage of Mercury, shared with Slovenia. In addition, Spain has also 14 Intangible cultural heritage, or "Human treasures", Spain ranks first in Europe according to UNESCO's Intangible Cultural Heritage List, tied with Croatia.

1984 — Alhambra, Generalife and Albayzín (Granada, Andalusia).
1984 — Burgos Cathedral (Burgos, Castile-León).
1984 — Historic Centre of Córdoba (Córdoba, Andalusia).
1984 — Monastery and Royal Site of El Escorial (Madrid).
1984 — Works of Antoni Gaudí (Barcelona, Catalonia).
1985 — Cave of Altamira and Palaeolithic Cave Art of Northern Spain (Asturias, Basque Country and Cantabria regions).
1985 — Monuments of Oviedo and the Kingdom of Asturias (Asturias).
1985 — Old Town of Ávila with its Extra-Muros Churches (Ávila, Castile-León).
1985 — Old Town of Segovia and its Aqueduct (Segovia, Castile-León).
1985 — Santiago de Compostela (Old Town) (A Coruña, Galicia).
1986 — Garajonay National Park (La Gomera, Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Canary Islands).
1986 — Historic City of Toledo (Toledo, Castile-La Mancha).
1986 — Mudéjar Architecture of Aragon (Provinces of Teruel and Zaragoza in Aragon).
1986 — Old Town of Cáceres (Cáceres, Extremadura).
1987 — Cathedral, Alcázar and Archivo de Indias in Seville (Seville, Andalusia).
1988 — Old City of Salamanca (Salamanca, Castile-León).
1991 — Poblet Monastery (Tarragona, Catalonia).
1993 — Archaeological Ensemble of Mérida (Badajoz, Extremadura).
1993 — Route of Santiago de Compostela (Provinces of Burgos, León and Palencia in Castile-León, Provinces of A Coruña and Lugo in Galicia, La Rioja, Navarre, and the Province of Huesca in Aragon).
1993 — Royal Monastery of Santa María de Guadalupe (Cáceres, Extremadura).
1994 — Doñana National Park (Provinces of Cádiz, Huelva and Seville in Andalusia).
1996 — Historic Walled Town of Cuenca (Cuenca, Castile-La Mancha).
1996 — Silk Exchange of Valencia (Valencia).
1997 — Las Médulas (León, Castile-León).
1997 — Palau de la Música Catalana and Hospital de Sant Pau in Barcelona (Barcelona, Catalonia).
1997 — Pirineos – Monte Perdido (Huesca, Aragon – Spanish part / Midi-Pyrénées and Aquitaine – French part). (Shared with France).
1997 — San Millán Yuso and Suso Monasteries (La Rioja).
1998 (2010) — Prehistoric Rock Art Sites in the Côa Valley (Guarda, Norte Region – Portuguese part) and Siega Verde (Salamanca, Castile-León – Spanish part). (Shared with Portugal).
1998 — Rock art of the Iberian Mediterranean Basin on the Iberian Peninsula (Andalusia, Aragon, Castile-La Mancha, Catalonia, Murcia and Valencia regions).
1998 — University and Historic Precinct of Alcalá de Henares (Madrid).
1999 — Ibiza, Biodiversity and Culture (Ibiza, Balearic Islands).
1999 — San Cristóbal de La Laguna (Tenerife, Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Canary Islands).
2000 — Archaeological Ensemble of Tarraco (Tarragona, Catalonia).
2000 — Archaeological Site of Atapuerca (Burgos, Castile-León).
2000 — Catalan Romanesque Churches of the Vall de Boí (Lleida, Catalonia).
2000 — Palmeral of Elche (Alicante, Valencia).
2000 — Roman Walls of Lugo (Lugo, Galicia).
2001 — Aranjuez Cultural Landscape (Madrid).
2003 — Renaissance Monumental Ensembles of Úbeda and Baeza (Jaén, Andalusia).
2006 — Vizcaya Bridge (Biscay, Basque Country).
2007 — Teide National Park (Tenerife, Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Canary Islands).
2009 — Tower of Hercules (A Coruña, Galicia).
2011 — Cultural Landscape of the Serra de Tramuntana (Majorca, Balearic Islands).
2012 — Heritage of Mercury. Almadén (Ciudad Real, Castile-La Mancha – Spanish part) and Idrija (Slovene Littoral – Slovenian part). (Shared with Slovenia).

Literature

The earliest recorded examples of vernacular Romance-based literature date from the same time and location, the rich mix of Muslim, Jewish, and Christian cultures in Muslim Spain, in which Maimonides, Averroes, and others worked, the Kharjas (Jarchas).

During the Reconquista, the epic poem Cantar de Mio Cid was written about a real man—his battles, conquests, and daily life.

Other major plays from the medieval times were Mester de Juglaría, Mester de Clerecía, Coplas por la muerte de su padre or El Libro de buen amor (The Book of Good Love).

During the Renaissance the major plays are La Celestina and El Lazarillo de Tormes, while many religious literature was created with poets as Luis de León, San Juan de la Cruz, Santa Teresa de Jesús, etc.

The Baroque is the most important period for Spanish culture. We are in the times of the Spanish Empire. The famous Don Quijote de La Mancha by Miguel de Cervantes was written in this time. Other writers from the period are: Francisco de Quevedo, Lope de Vega, Calderón de la Barca or Tirso de Molina.

During the Enlightenment we find names such as Leandro Fernández de Moratín, Benito Jerónimo Feijóo, Gaspar Melchor de Jovellanos or Leandro Fernández de Moratín.

During the Romanticism, José Zorrilla created one of the most emblematic figures in European literature in Don Juan Tenorio. Other writers from this period are Gustavo Adolfo Bécquer, José de Espronceda, Rosalía de Castro or Mariano José de Larra.

In Realism we find names such as Benito Pérez Galdós, Emilia Pardo Bazán, Leopoldo Alas (Clarín), Concepción Arenal, Vicente Blasco Ibáñez and Menéndez Pelayo. Realism offered depictions of contemporary life and society 'as they were'. In the spirit of general "Realism", Realist authors opted for depictions of everyday and banal activities and experiences, instead of romanticised or stylised presentations.

The group that has become known as the Generation of 1898 was marked by the destruction of Spain's fleet in Cuba by US gunboats in 1898, which provoked a cultural crisis in Spain. The "Disaster" of 1898 led established writers to seek practical political, economic, and social solutions in essays grouped under the literary heading of Regeneracionismo. For a group of younger writers, among them Miguel de Unamuno, Pío Baroja, and José Martínez Ruiz (Azorín), the Disaster and its cultural repercussions inspired a deeper, more radical literary shift that affected both form and content. These writers, along with Ramón del Valle-Inclán, Antonio Machado, Ramiro de Maeztu, and Ángel Ganivet, came to be known as the Generation of '98.

The Generation of 1914 or Novecentismo. The next supposed "generation" of Spanish writers following those of '98 already calls into question the value of such terminology. By the year 1914—the year of the outbreak of the First World War and of the publication of the first major work of the generation's leading voice, José Ortega y Gasset—a number of slightly younger writers had established their own place within the Spanish cultural field.

Leading voices include the poet Juan Ramón Jiménez, the academics and essayists Ramón Menéndez Pidal, Gregorio Marañón, Manuel Azaña, Maria Zambrano, Eugeni d'Ors, Clara Campoamor and Ortega y Gasset, and the novelists Gabriel Miró, Ramón Pérez de Ayala, and Ramón Gómez de la Serna. While still driven by the national and existential questions that obsessed the writers of '98, they approached these topics with a greater sense of distance and objectivity. Salvador de Madariaga, another prominent intellectual and writer, was one of the founders of the College of Europe and the composer of the constitutive manifest of the Liberal International.

The Generation of 1927, where poets Pedro Salinas, Jorge Guillén, Federico García Lorca, Vicente Aleixandre, Dámaso Alonso. All were scholars of their national literary heritage, again evidence of the impact of the calls of regeneracionistas and the Generation of 1898 for Spanish intelligence to turn at least partially inwards.

The two main writers in the second half of the 20th century were the Nobel Prize in Literature laureate Camilo José Cela and Miguel Delibes from Generation of '36. Spain is one of the countries with the most number of laureates with the Nobel Prize in Literature, and with Latin American laureates they made the Spanish language literature one of the most laureates of all. The Spanish writers are: José Echegaray, Jacinto Benavente, Juan Ramón Jiménez, Vicente Aleixandre and Camilo José Cela. The Portuguese writer José Saramago, also awarded with the prize, lived for many years in Spain and spoke both Portuguese and Spanish. Saramago was also well known by his Iberist ideas.

The Generation of '50 are also known as the children of the civil war. Rosa Chacel, Gloria Fuertes, Jaime Gil de Biedma, Juan Goytisolo, Carmen Martín Gaite, Ana María Matute, Juan Marsé, Blas de Otero, Gabriel Celaya, Antonio Gamoneda, Rafael Sánchez Ferlosio or Ignacio Aldecoa.

Art

Artists from Spain have been highly influential in the development of various European artistic movements. Due to historical, geographical and generational diversity, Spanish art has known a great number of influences. The Moorish heritage in Spain, especially in Andalusia, is still evident today and European influences include Italy, Germany and France, especially during the Baroque and Neoclassical periods.

During the Golden Age we find painters such as El Greco, José de Ribera, Bartolomé Esteban Murillo and Francisco Zurbarán. Also inside Baroque period Diego Velázquez created some of the most famous Spanish portraits, like Las Meninas or Las Hilanderas.

Francisco Goya painted during a historical period that includes the Spanish Independence War, the fights between liberals and absolutists, and the raise of state-nations.

Joaquín Sorolla is a well-known impressionist painter and there are many important Spanish painters belonging to the modernism art movement, including Pablo Picasso, Salvador Dalí, Juan Gris and Joan Miró.

Sculpture

The Plateresque style extended from beginnings of the 16th century until the last third of the century and its stylistic influence pervaded the works of all great Spanish artists of the time. Alonso Berruguete (Valladolid School) is called the "Prince of Spanish sculpture". His main works were the upper stalls of the choir of the Cathedral of Toledo, the tomb of Cardinal Tavera in the same Cathedral, and the altarpiece of the Visitation in the church of Santa Úrsula in the same locality. Other notable sculptors were Bartolomé Ordóñez, Diego de Siloé, Juan de Juni and Damián Forment.

There were two Schools of special flair and talent: the Seville School, to which Juan Martínez Montañés belonged, whose most celebrated works are the Crucifix in the Cathedral of Seville, another in Vergara, and a Saint John; and the Granada School, to which Alonso Cano belonged, to whom an Immaculate Conception and a Virgin of Rosary, are attributed.

Other notable Andalusian Baroque sculptors were Pedro de Mena, Pedro Roldán and his daughter Luisa Roldán, Juan de Mesa and Pedro Duque Cornejo. In the 20th century the most important Spanish sculptors were Julio González, Pablo Gargallo, Eduardo Chillida and Pablo Serrano.

Cinema

Spanish cinema has achieved major international success including Oscars for recent films such as Pan's Labyrinth and Volver. In the long history of Spanish cinema, the great filmmaker Luis Buñuel was the first to achieve world recognition, followed by Pedro Almodóvar in the 1980s (La Movida Madrileña). Mario Camus and Pilar Miró worked together in Curro Jiménez.

Spanish cinema has also seen international success over the years with films by directors like Segundo de Chomón, Florián Rey, Luis García Berlanga, Carlos Saura, Julio Medem, Isabel Coixet, Alejandro Amenábar, Icíar Bollaín and brothers David Trueba and Fernando Trueba.

Actresses Sara Montiel and Penélope Cruz or actor Antonio Banderas are among those who have become Hollywood stars.

Architecture

Due to its historical and geographical diversity, Spanish architecture has drawn from a host of influences. An important provincial city founded by the Romans and with an extensive Roman era infrastructure, Córdoba became the cultural capital, including fine Arabic style architecture, during the time of the Islamic Umayyad dynasty. Later Arab style architecture continued to be developed under successive Islamic dynasties, ending with the Nasrid, which built its famed palace complex in Granada.

Simultaneously, the Christian kingdoms gradually emerged and developed their own styles; developing a pre-Romanesque style when for a while isolated from contemporary mainstream European architectural influences during the earlier Middle Ages, they later integrated the Romanesque and Gothic streams. There was then an extraordinary flowering of the Gothic style that resulted in numerous instances being built throughout the entire territory. The Mudéjar style, from the 12th to 17th centuries, was developed by introducing Arab style motifs, patterns and elements into European architecture.

The arrival of Modernism in the academic arena produced much of the architecture of the 20th century. An influential style centred in Barcelona, known as modernisme, produced a number of important architects, of which Gaudí is one. The International style was led by groups like GATEPAC. Spain is currently experiencing a revolution in contemporary architecture and Spanish architects like Rafael Moneo, Santiago Calatrava, Ricardo Bofill as well as many others have gained worldwide renown.

Music and dance

Spanish music is often considered abroad to be synonymous with flamenco, a West Andalusian musical genre, which, contrary to popular belief, is not widespread outside that region. Various regional styles of folk music abound in Aragon, Catalonia, Valencia, Castile, the Basque Country, Galicia, Cantabria and Asturias. Pop, rock, hip hop and heavy metal are also popular.

In the field of classical music, Spain has produced a number of noted composers such as Isaac Albéniz, Manuel de Falla and Enrique Granados and singers and performers such as Plácido Domingo, José Carreras, Montserrat Caballé, Alicia de Larrocha, Alfredo Kraus, Pablo Casals, Ricardo Viñes, José Iturbi, Pablo de Sarasate, Jordi Savall and Teresa Berganza. In Spain there are over forty professional orchestras, including the Orquestra Simfònica de Barcelona, Orquesta Nacional de España and the Orquesta Sinfónica de Madrid. Major opera houses include the Teatro Real, the Gran Teatre del Liceu, Teatro Arriaga and the El Palau de les Arts Reina Sofía.

Thousands of music fans also travel to Spain each year for internationally recognised summer music festivals Sónar which often features the top up and coming pop and techno acts, and Benicàssim which tends to feature alternative rock and dance acts. Both festivals mark Spain as an international music presence and reflect the tastes of young people in the country.

The most popular traditional musical instrument, the guitar, originated in Spain. Typical of the north are the traditional bag pipers or gaiteros, mainly in Asturias and Galicia.

Cuisine

Spanish cuisine consists of a great variety of dishes which stem from differences in geography, culture and climate. It is heavily influenced by seafood available from the waters that surround the country, and reflects the country's deep Mediterranean roots. Spain's extensive history with many cultural influences has led to a unique cuisine. In particular, three main divisions are easily identified:

Mediterranean Spain – all such coastal regions, from Catalonia to Andalusia – heavy use of seafood, such as pescaíto frito (fried fish); several cold soups like gazpacho; and many rice-based dishes like paella from Valencia and arròs negre (black rice) from Catalonia.

Inner Spain – Castile – hot, thick soups such as the bread and garlic-based Castilian soup, along with substantious stews such as cocido madrileño. Food is traditionally conserved by salting, like Spanish ham, or immersed in olive oil, like Manchego cheese.

Atlantic Spain – the whole Northern coast, including Asturian, Basque, Cantabrian and Galician cuisine – vegetable and fish-based stews like caldo gallego and marmitako. Also, the lightly cured lacón ham. The best known cuisine of the northern countries often rely on ocean seafood, like the Basque-style cod, albacore or anchovy or the Galician octopus-based polbo á feira and shellfish dishes.

Sport

While varieties of football had been played in Spain as far back as Roman times, sport in Spain has been dominated by English style association football since the early 20th century. Real Madrid C.F. and FC Barcelona are two of the most successful football clubs in the world. The country's national football team won the UEFA European Football Championship in 1964, 2008 and 2012 and the FIFA World Cup in 2010, and is the first team to ever win three back-to-back major international tournaments.

Basketball, tennis, cycling, handball, futsal, motorcycling and, lately, Formula One are also important due to the presence of Spanish champions in all these disciplines. Today, Spain is a major world sports powerhouse, especially since the 1992 Summer Olympics that were hosted in Barcelona, which stimulated a great deal of interest in sports in the country. The tourism industry has led to an improvement in sports infrastructure, especially for water sports, golf and skiing.

Rafael Nadal is the leading Spanish tennis player and has won several Grand Slam titles including the Wimbledon 2010 men's singles. In north Spain, the game of pelota is very popular. Alberto Contador is the leading Spanish cyclist and has won several Grand Tour titles including two Tour de France titles.

Public holidays and festivals

Public holidays celebrated in Spain include a mix of religious (Roman Catholic), national and regional observances. Each municipality is allowed to declare a maximum of 14 public holidays per year; up to nine of these are chosen by the national government and at least two are chosen locally. Spain's National Day (Fiesta Nacional de España) is 12 October, the anniversary of the Discovery of America and commemorate Our Lady of the Pillar feast, patroness of Aragon and throughout Spain.

There are many festivals and festivities in Spain. Some of them are known worldwide, and every year millions of people from all over the world go to Spain to experience one of these festivals. One of the most famous is San Fermín, in Pamplona. While its most famous event is the encierro, or the running of the bulls, which happens at 8:00 am from 7 to 14 July, the week-long celebration involves many other traditional and folkloric events. Its events were central to the plot of The Sun Also Rises, by Ernest Hemingway, which brought it to the general attention of English-speaking people. As a result, it has become one of the most internationally renowned fiestas in Spain, with over 1,000,000 people attending every year.

Other festivals include the carnivals in the Canary Islands, the Falles in Valencia or the Holy Week in Andalusia and Castile and León.

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spain