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Chapter 7: Civic Rejuvenation
- The University of Alabama Press
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7 Civic Rejuvenation the 1980s brought a shift in the Ajuntament, the elected government in Mieres, away from an older and more conservative oligarchy toward a much younger cadre explicitly interested in change.the funds for development came mainly from outside, from the governments of Catalonia and spain and from the european Union, and increasingly it was the newcomers to the valley and the Mierencs with links to the wider world who mediated the flow. the mayor in this transitional period was a young man from a long-established village family who lived and worked in the nearby town of banyoles (and is now its mayor);his successor in Mieres married into the community and commutes to work in banyoles.this new generation of elected regidors has led the community through the political and bureaucratic processes of local planning. While generating passionate debate about the future, they have also applied unflagging energy to building community sentiment, resorting often to the familiar idiom of the fiesta and sponsoring, throughout the year, civic parties that celebrate the vital coalition of youth and age, newcomer and native. the Festa Major the Festa Major, held each year at the end of August, is the civic party par excellence. It is sponsored by the Ajuntament, and without it Mieres would in some significant sense cease to exist. throughout much of europe, the town or village fete is a public statement of national belonging and a celebration of local political identity; in some places (perhaps where survival is most at issue) its intensity is quite frenetic.1 In spain, teams from different communities compete in soccer and tug-of-war contests, or build teetering 152 / Chapter 7 human towers ten men high. the fiestas are self-consciously “traditional,” building on established ceremonial repertoires (the religious calendar, eating together), but in differentiating their local products they are also idiosyncratic and inventive. Fishing communities hold elaborate ritual funerals for sardines, people in farming towns frolic in tonnes of squashed tomatoes, or chase animals through their streets, or pay homage to shoes, hats, or other local artisanal specialties.2 this tinkering and experimentation is the stuff from which communal identities are recast, and the world is invited to join in the fun.Within the community there is an obligation to attend—there is no valid excuse for being absent in this holiday season. our older neighbors in Mieres always want assurances that we will be there, and we feel guilty in the years when other commitments oblige us to sneak away early.It is mildly annoying when these seniors themselves do not turn up at Festa events, but it is their duty to cajole juniors into doing so. neighboring communities space out the schedule to encourage each other to attend, and in theory one could indulge in almost seamless civic merrymaking throughout the summer months.While reinforcing wider social and political networks, this also serves to widen the gene pool. In Mieres, the “balls” on the successive nights of the Festa Major were regarded as an opportunity for monitored courtship as well as the dissipation of youthful energies .3 Lluís Roura, a senior Mierenc and well-known Catalan artist, describes how, having spent a busy day on the farm planting turnips, milking, and settling the cows, he would grab supper and then race off on his bike to get to the ball in time to fix himself up with a partner for the evening. the competition for the Mieres girls came in from far and wide—torn, sallent, santa Pau, banyoles—cruising into Can Caló on their scooters and mopeds, which left little scope for a lad pedaling in on an old bike with no mudguards .4 the basic pattern of the Festa Major has been long established.Its ecclesiastical link (irrelevant for most people) is to theVirgin of the Rose and saint Ysidro the plowman;not saint Peter,the patron of the village church,doubtless because of the practical need for a late-summer date in the agricultural calendar. nowadays the Festa extends from a Friday evening through to the early hours of a tuesday morning.there is an opening ceremony with a visiting dignitary, sometimes a member of the Catalan government but more usually a local radio or tV personality. this has been followed by a public entertainment,either a movie or a theatrical performance by the local youth. the play, produced by a youthful ensemble with a name like teatre Meransa de Mieres, is usually...