The National Day of Catalunya

    Catalunya has a long, complicated and often bloody history stretching back to the days when the Romans first conquered this part of Spain.
    In the intervening centuries, Catalunya was conquered by Visigoths, later by Muslims and then by Christians. It became an economic power in its own right under the Counts of Barcelona, starting with Wilfred the Hairy and including Ramon Berenguer IV, whose marriage to Petronila of Aragon united Catalunya and Aragon into a single powerful kingdom. Barcelona became the launch point in those days for Aragon's expansionist designs that included the conquest of  the Kingdom of Valencia and the Balearic Islands. Those victories were followed later by the conquest of Sardinia, Sicily, Corsica, Naples and Athens.
    Trouble began following the reign of Ferdinand of Aragon and Isabella of Castille in the late 1400s. Their marriage is generally considered the foundation of a unified Spain, which began the slow erosion of what many Catalans consider their traditional right to determine their own destiny. They began rebelling against what they considered to be infringements on their liberties in the 1600s and, finally, during the War of the Spanish Succession, lost their independence on Sept. 11, 1714 with the conquest of Barcelona following a long siege. With the conquest of the city, the Habsburg dynasty was replaced by the Bourbons and the new king, feeling that he had been betrayed by Catalunya, terminated its right to have its own institutions and rights.
   Catalans have never really accepted that, however, and have been agitating for their own independence ever since, which kind of explains why Sept. 11 every year is the National Day of Catalunya. Celebrated around the world by Catalans, in Reus it means a parade, speeches and music. The festivities start early in the morning and go well into the night.

These three girls climbed a telephone pole to get a better view of the festivities. The brown shirts two of the girls are wearing indicate they are members of an organization that builds human castles on special occasions.

Reus is famous for its "giants," who make an appearance at major festivals. It takes a strong man or woman to walk around for hours wearing these huge costumes.

"The Queen" is one of the most popular giants.

Everyone - including the statue of Reus native son Gen. Prim - gets into the spirit on the National Day of Catalunya.

Some people carried flags, others wore t-shirts and still others wore capes. The traditional Catalunyan flag is yellow with four red stripes. The new  "independence flag" also features a blue triangle with a white star.

People began gathering for the festivities early in the morning.

In addition to the big giants (sounds strange to say that) Reus also has "little" giants.

Taking a break for lunch and a little flirting.

As the parade was about to start people hurried to find a place to see it.

Some people painted their faces with the new independence flag.

What's a parade without drummers?

A major part of the festivities is the traditional holding of hands for 22 minutes... when that time has passed people begin gathering for the speeches.

In addition to big and little giants, there is also the bull...