It’s very interesting to observe the process of mixing, internationalization, globalization or, to use a word which is more appropriate in the majority of cases, cultural hodgepodge transforming our cities.
Yesterday, having a walk in the old quarter of Palma, I arrived at one of the most hidden squares of the city, Santa Fe, in front of the church of the same name, also the oldest one in the city.
Yesterday, having a walk in the old quarter of Palma, I arrived at one of the most hidden squares of the city, Santa Fe, in front of the church of the same name, also the oldest one in the city.
The opposite corner is the Convent of the Jeronimes. At the end of the street,to the right is the square and to the left the church of Santa Fe.
Ecumenism or God knows what has recently converted this church into an Ukrainian Greek Catholic church.
On the side of the Porta d’es Camp rises the last remnant of the Arabic city wall that is now the wall of the Convent of the the Jeronimites. Here was also the Jewish cemetery until well after the Conquest of Mallorca by Jaime I.
So far everything was more or less normal and predictable. Instead, the graffiti on the building which is being reconstructed at the end of the Arabic wall, is amazing: Visca Transilvania Lliure! – “Free Transylvania Forever!” – in Catalan! “Visca Catalunya Lliure” (Free Catalonia Forever) was a common inscription all over the city some years ago, it is much less now. In contrast, the Catalan independence movement seems to have expanded its borders and inflamed with altruism in its fight for the independence of all peoples… And it has reached as far as the Carpathians. Visca la Terra Lliure!
C'est amusant, car "Visca" signifie à la fois "Vive" (Vive la Catalogne, vive la Terre, etc.) et aussi "j'habite à" quand c'est écrit en deux mots ("Visc a" = I live in).
ResponderEliminarD'où une campagne de pub très connue à Barcelone : Visc(a) Barcelona ! Qui signifie "Vive Barcelone" mais aussi "J'habite à Barcelone".
Visca el teu blog !
Est
Merci beaucoup! Oui, c’est vraiment amusant. Une homonymie un peu chauviniste, n’est-ce pas? :)
ResponderEliminarSûr, le chauvinisme est de tous les pays le plus international ;)
ResponderEliminarCordialement
Est
…c’est vrai… mais il paraît que dans la langue catalane c’est directement encodé! :)
ResponderEliminarIt was surprising to find that the Ukrainian Greco-Catholic authorities insist of translating Покров as "Under the Protection" even though this same icon is equally renowned in Spain, as Virgen de la Merced (and especially in Catalonia).
ResponderEliminarWell, apart from the presumable ignorance of the Ukrainian authorities about the local cult of the Virgen de la Merced, I assume that the two iconographic formulas appear the same only for us who see it in a historical continuity. Nobody in the Middle Ages would have told that the Madonna della Misericordia with the many small people under her blue cloak is the Latin equivalent of the Orthodox Покров Пресвятой Богородицы, and vice versa. And especially not in Catalonia where the Virgen de la Merced, has a quite different iconography than the other Madonnas della Misericordia, and has its own independent history of origin in the vision of 13th-century St. Pedro Nolasco.
ResponderEliminarAnd of course it shouldn't be surprising if any religion defies the seeming rules of logic in naming any of its symbols.
ResponderEliminarThis said, the conviction that the Virgin of Mercy is a gift of the Slavic world to the Christian civilization is actively pushed by the Orthodox. So it may be obscure to the Catalan but probably familiar to the proud Ukrainian Church hierarchy, who seem to have missed a chance to make the "hey it was ours all along" kind of a point.
Supposedly Virgin of Mercy has its roots in the Miracle of Blachaernae, a Xth c. vision of Virgin in Byzantium by a Slavic fool-for-Christ, Andrew the Blessed.
The Catholic and Eastern Orthodox holidays are celebrated a few days apart in a manner consistent with the Churches' calendar differences.