As crowds put together to take to the streets for ‘La Diada’ – Catalan Nationwide Day – The Native takes a take a look at the historical past and significance of September eleventh within the northeastern Spanish area famed for its independence push.
Catalonia’s Nationwide Day, identified domestically as La Diada Nacional de Catalunya, is a vacation held within the area yearly on September eleventh.
Greater than an event to have fun Catalan tradition and customs, nonetheless, it has turn out to be a day of protest and an opportunity for individuals who help the independence motion to show how they really feel.
However why do Catalans have fun La Diada? What occurs in the course of the competition?
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1. It commemorates a well-known defeat
La Diada really marks a army catastrophe. Catalan troops who fought Bourbon King Philip V of Spain in the course of the Conflict of Spanish Succession had been lastly defeated on September eleventh 1714, following the 14-month Siege of Barcelona. The give up marked the dissolution of autonomous Catalan establishments, the elimination of Catalan as an official language and the imposition of recent legal guidelines from the newly centralised Spain. Yearly, the independence march begins at 17.14 (5:14 pm) to commemorate the date.
2. It was banned by Spanish dictator Common Franco
The primary celebration of La Diada passed off in 1886, however it was formally suppressed in 1939 and all through the dictatorship of Francisco Franco. The Catalan regional authorities reinstated the festivo in 1980, 5 years after Franco’s loss of life.
Catalonia’s regional authorities head Salvador Illa attends a ceremony forward of the “Diada” celebrations, the nationwide day of Catalonia, in Barcelona on September eleventh 2024. (Picture by Josep LAGO / AFP)
3. It’s a tribute to misplaced Catalan lives
Round 4,000 folks died defending the town in the course of the Siege of Barcelona and are buried in a cemetery close to the Santa María del Mar church within the Gothic Quarter. A memorial plaza, the Fossar de les Moreres, now covers the cemetery and 1000’s of Catalans lay flowers there yearly on La Diada.
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4. It is an incredible day to be a flag vendor
La Senyera, the Catalan flag of 4 crimson stripes on a yellow background, is in every single place on La Diada. Large variations are hung throughout whole buildings whereas innumerable smaller variations flutter from balconies or are draped throughout automobiles. A excessive proportion of individuals strolling the streets both put on or carry a model of the flag, though many variations on sale at the moment are fairly unpatriotically made in China. A barely completely different flag, la Estelada, can also be very talked-about. It encompasses a white star on a blue triangle (or generally a crimson star on a yellow triangle) over the Senyera‘s red-and-yellow stripes, and is the unofficial image of the Catalan independence motion.
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5. The day has turn out to be extra concerning the independence motion than anything
La Diada has at all times been a magnet for supporters of Catalan separatism. For some folks, the day is a straightforward celebration of their Catalan identification, however many others use the event to precise their political emotions.
The primary mass demonstration was held in 2012 when between 600,000 and two million folks (relying on whose estimates you consider) gathered in Barcelona to demand independence from Spain. The next yr, roughly 1.6 million folks joined fingers to type an unbroken human chain throughout the entire area. In the previous couple of years, help for independence has declined, nonetheless, and fewer folks attend the protests.
Individuals maintain a banner displaying fugitive separatist politician Carles Puigdemont which reads ‘By no means give up’, as they march in the course of the “Diada” celebrations. Picture: Lluis Gené/AFP
6. Organisers use it as an opportunity for mobilisation
This yr’s occasion will mark eight years for the reason that failed independence referendum in October 2017. Protesters will march down 4 streets representing the 4 calls for of the independence motion – freedom, language, nation and sovereignty – and can all converge on Plaça d’Espanya.
Organisers are eager to point out that the area continues to be dedicated to breaking away from Spain – however a survey by the Catalan authorities’s CEO social analysis centre in March 2025 confirmed that 38 p.c of Catalans need an impartial state, whereas 54 p.c at the moment are in opposition to it.
READ MORE: Why Catalan separatists are in crisis
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7. Authorities establishments and museums are free to enter
In the event you’re curious to see inside varied Catalan authorities establishments otherwise you wish to study extra concerning the area and its historical past and tradition, you are in luck, as a number of locations are free to go to on La Diada. These embody the grand Palau de la Generalitat on Plaça de Sant Jaume, the seat of the Catalan president, and the Parlament de Catalunya (Catalan Parliament) positioned within the Ciutadella Park.
Sure museums are open too, together with the Museu d’Història de Catalunya (Catalan Historical past Museum), the Museu d’Arqueologia de Catalunya (Archeological Museum of Catalonia) and the Museu Nacional d’Artwork de Catalunya (Nationwide Museum of Catalan Artwork), in addition to Gaudí’s Palau Güell. Examine on-line at every place earlier than you go as some are free solely between sure hours, whereas others require you to order prematurely.
