Specialized Online Reference Site (2)

"Spain Culture - Guide to the Culture of Spain." 2002. Spain4UK. 2 June 2008 http://www.spain4uk.co.uk/hotels_spain_festivals.htm.

This online guide Spain provides tourists and researchers alike with important information about Spain. Spain4uk was established in 2002 to promote tourism in Spain to residents in the United Kingdom. The web site is hosted by Fred Tompkins & Associates web designers who specialize in European marketing. The link above would be of particular interest to a journalist looking for information about the Spanish fiesta and the culture that surrounds it. The website provides a table organized by months of the year. It lists more than 15 fiestas, from the most popular ones to the lesser known ones. The table also provides areas in which each festival is celebrated, as well as a short description of each. There are also helpful links with many of the festivals which provide even more detailed information that is easily accessed.

“Spanish Fiestas. Pictures of Fiestas of Spain.” 2008. Don Quijote. 27 May 2008 http://www.donquijote.org/culture/spain/fiestas/.

The Don Quijote organization was established in 1986 to create schools that promote education about the Spanish language and culture. From the 1990’s to 2000, the organization created several schools in Spain, the United Kingdom, France, Mexico and the United States. The organization also promotes online-education, and the website is a very powerful tool for that. This source would be great for journalists interested in the fiesta culture of Spain. There is an entire section of the website dedicated to this topic, and the site includes an extensive list of more than twenty fiestas, as well as descriptions and pictures for each. Some of these festivals include Las Fallas, the April Fair, Holy Week, and the Running of the Bulls. Bits of information provided with each description includes facts about the religious and secular histories of the events, musicals aspects and specific traditions. This is certainly one of the best sources for a person researching this topic.

Specialized Print Reference Book (2)

Rodgers, Eamonn, Encyclopedia of Contemporary Spanish Culture. London and New York: Routledge, 1999.

This encyclopedia is a specialized print reference book that targets the contemporary culture of Spain. The publisher, Routledge, distributes academic books, journals and online resources in the humanities and social sciences on a global scale. These reference works have earned a credible reputation and have been recommended by organizations such as Booklist, Choice, and Library Journal, to name a few. This source would be helpful to a journalist because there are many easy-to-find entries that are extremely relevant to this topic. For example, relevant entries include those about Fallas, Holy Week processions, Sanfermines (the running of the bulls), Moors and Christians, the April Fair and Corpus Christi, which are all major fiestas in the country. Furthermore, this is an important source because there is an entry simply about the culture of the fiesta. This entry will give an easy overview of the importance of the Spanish fiesta, without overwhelming the reader with long extensive lists of the fiestas. Individual fiestas are in separate entries, which allows the reader to have better understanding of the topic as a whole.

Truscott, Sandra, and María García. A Dictionary of Contemporary Spain. Chicago: Fitzroy Dearborn Publishers, 1998.

This dictionary of contemporary Spain includes more than 2,000 entries pertaining to words that may appear while researching any topic about modern Spain. For this reason, this is a pertinent source for any journalist researching this topic. It would be handy to keep during the entire research process as a reference for when the researcher finds unfamiliar concepts or Spanish words. The publisher, Fitzroy Dearborn Publisher, issues scientific, academic books and journals internationally. FDP specializes in producing reference materials in the arts, humanities, business and sciences subject areas for public, high school, college/university and libraries. It publishes about 25 new books per year and has a backlist of 350 titles. Under the “fiesta” entry, one will find seven subsequent entries explaining some of the region-specific celebrations, all of which are relevant to the topic of the Spanish fiesta. These subsequent entries address several of the main Spanish festivals, and provides the reader with a brief summary of what is to be expects of each festival.

Trade Magazine/Scholarly Article (3)

Kenwood, Alun. "Teaching Sociological Literacy. Spanish Fiesta. Babel: Australia. Oct-Dec 1998: 10-13, 34-35, 38.

This scholarly article by Kenwood describes the rich, historical tradition of festivals in Spain. Unlike many sources used in this project, he explains that a multidisciplinary focus is necessary to understand the full significance of fiesta in Spain. This means to fully understand the rich culture of the Spanish fiesta, one must encompass geography, history, music, literature, and the fine arts into the study. This is not a common view when discussing the Spanish fiesta, which makes it such a beneficial source for a journalist researching this topic. He feels that in order to develop a deep understanding of the diversity of Spain's culture as a whole, journalists and researchers should to study Spanish fiestas.

Moreno, Teresa. "Recreational atmospheric pollution episodes: Inhalable metalliferous particles from firework displays." Atmospheric Environment. Feb. 2007: 913-922.

This scholarly article touches on effects some Spanish festivals have on the environment in terms of pollution. In many of the major festivals, large quantities of fireworks are used, sometimes every night over the course of a week. This article discusses the harmful effects these large quantities of fireworks can have on the environment. The article specifically looks at the 6-day festival in Valencia, Las Fallas, which features fireworks not only during the nights, but also during certain days for the "mascleta." This article is useful for a person researching the Spanish fiesta culture, especially because scientific aspects of the fiestas rarely become present in popular literature about the topic. It is important to have a well-rounded and interdisciplinary view of the topic.

Pitt-Rivers, Julian. “The Spanish Bull-Fight: And Kindred Activities.” Anthropology Today. Aug. 1993: 11-15.

This is an interesting article that touches on one aspect of the Spanish fiesta culture—the Spanish bull-fight. This is an activity that occurs at almost every major festival in Spain. The bull is an important icon in the Spanish culture and the author, Pitt-Rivers, points out how the bull even has a religious importance in the ritual of the bull-fight. He did field work in Andalucía, Spain. Pitt-Rivers, who died in 1991, was a British social anthropologist and a professor at UC Berkley, the University of Chicago, theLondon School of Economics and several universities in France, including the Eole Pratique des Hautes Etudes in Paris. This scholarly article would be important for a journalist researching the Spanish fiesta culture because the tradition of the bull-fight is prominent in Spain, and can be easily misunderstood by foreigners. Thanks to Pitt-Rivers, many of the common misunderstandings are clarified.

Newspaper/Magazine Articles (3)

Coplans, Chris. “Fired up in Valencia.” Sunday Express 9 Mar. 2008.

This article by Coplans gives a great explanation of one of Spain’s most famous fiestas, Las Fallas in Valencia. He captures some of the feelings that are very specific to foreigners by addressing issues of safety and crowd control. Perhaps one of the most astounding aspects of Las Fallas, particularly to an American, is the fact that spectators stand only a matter of yards away from the 9-story tall flaming sculpture. This is an emotion that Coplans expresses in his newspaper article. I think this article is extremely beneficial to a journalist researching the topic of the Spanish fiesta because not all sources will explain some of the oddities of the festival quite like Coplans does. He uses words such as "pyromaniac," "bonfire," and "Dante's Inferno." These interesting and slightly comical words help to create this article that would help any journalist researching this topic.

Farnham, Alan. “Got a Match.” Forbes 10 Mar. 2008: 102-104.

This article highlights the annual Fallas festival in Valencia, Spain. It discusses components of the festival, including the loud fireworks, bullfighting, marching bands, and religious ceremonies. The article discusses the height of the festival which includes the burning of more than 700 oversized, flammable statues. The statues, called “fallas” in Spain, can be more than nine stories tall, and they mostly depict persons who have fallen out of public favor. They often exhibit artistic satire in the construction and in decoration. Some of the people who have been featured as satirical structures include performer Michael Jackson, Pope Benedict XVI, and the current mayor of the city of Valencia, Rita Barberá Nolla. This article would be helpful for a journalist because it does a good job describing the statues that are burned during the festival, which happens to be the most important component of the entire week-long celebration. A good understanding of the “fallas” would allow a journalist to comprehend the festival on a level at which natives of Spain do. This is helpful if the journalist is trying to present this aspect of the culture to one other than the Spanish culture.

Harvey, David. “Must-Visit Spanish Festivals.” National Geographic Traveler Sept.-Dec. 2002.

This article contains a large list of descriptions about various Spanish fiestas around the country. The author, David Harvey, is a photographer for National Geographic, and complied information he gathered during his tour around Spain, as well as photograph s from each fiesta. These photographs are extremely important to a journalist researching this topic because they allow the researcher to understand a visual part of the culture that would be impossible to understand without pictures or without actually attending the event. Not only does the site feature a list of more than 20 festivals with a small description and links, it also includes phone numbers to contacts for each festival who can give the researcher more specific information. This compilation of phone numbers would be extremely helpful to an individual interested in this topic.

Recent Books (3)

Dunlop, Fiona. The National Geographic Traveler—Spain. Washington, D.C.: National Geographic Society, 2001.

National Geographic Society is the world’s largest nonprofit scientific and educational organization. The author of the book, Fiona Dunlop, is an expert in travel writing about the Spanish culture. In this book, Dunlop describes the atmosphere in a poetic way that captures the essence and the aura that is so specific to the Spanish fiesta culture. She also specifically talks about different fiestas in different regions including the festival of the Moors and Christians, the Running of the Bulls, Semana Santa, Los Mayos, Los Tres Reyes, Carnival, Las Fallas and San Isidrio. This book would be an extremely useful source for any journalist covering this topic for several reasons. First, the book is a guide book written for foreigners. Dunlop does a great job explaining cultural aspects that would be easy for a visitor to understand. Secondly, this book would be great because it has other helpful sections that would aid a journalist during his or her research. Some of these helpful sections include illustrations, pictures, vocabulary explanations, and phone numbers of important contacts.

Rambow, John D. Fodor’s Spain 2006. New York: Random House, Inc., 2006.

Fodor’s is an organization that provides travel and tourism information. Fodor's has produced guidebooks to more than 300 destinations worldwide. The Spain guide book, by John D. Rambow, would be a helpful source for anyone interested in information about the Spanish fiesta. It has an extensive list of festivals in many different regions of Spain and provides important information about each. The festivals are listed in a table separated by the seasons. Rambow mentions five winter fiestas, five spring fiestas, seven summer fiestas, and three fall fiestas. The festivals are accompanied by dates, as well as smart traveler tips for attending these festivals.

Simonis, Damien. Barecelona. Melbourne: Lonely Planet Publications, 1999.

Lonely Planet is the largest independent travel publisher in the world. It has published more than 500 titles in eight different languages. The author of the Lonely Planet Barcelona book, Damien Simonis, is a travel writer and has works published for Lonely Planet about Jordan and Syria, Egypt and the Sudan, Morocco, North Africa, the Canary Islands, and Spain. This particular book focuses only on the Spanish city, Barcelona, in the region of Cataluña. This book is important for journalists studying the topic of the Spanish fiesta because Barcelona is one of the most important cities in the country, with a rich fiesta culture. This book separates the Barcelona festivals by months of the year and lists and describes ten festivals throughout the year that are specific to Barcelona. This source would be helpful for the journalist researching the broad topic of the Spanish fiesta, but it would be particularly helpful for someone focusing on the interesting city of Barcelona.

Multimedia Resources (3)

Grandes Festivales de España (Great Festivals of Spain). Prod. Harry E. Babbitt Ph D., Oswaldo Salas, Dr. José Regalado. 2004. DVD. Babbitt Instructional Resources, 2004.

Dr. Harry E. Babbitt is a Spanish instructor who earned a Master’s and a PhD from the Universidad Nacional de Mexico. After years as an AP teacher, he felt there was a lack of good visual information that is so pertinent to teaching the linguistic and cultural aspects of another country. He created Babbitt Instructional Resources which specializes in filmmaking for foreign language instruction. His 45-minute film features five different festivals in Spain, including the Fallas in Valencia, Holy Week in Seville, the April Fair in Seville, the Fiesta of Santiago in Galicia, and the Fiesta of San Fermín in Pamplona. The video would benefit a journalist or researcher because it not only provides information about the festivals, but the person is able to actually hear the music and see the art, monuments, construction, and the religious aspects that are particular to each festival. This video captures and clearly exhibits the immense diversity among the festivals in different regions of Spain.

“Hogueras de San Juan de Alicante.” 6 June 2006. Online video clip. YouTube. Accessed 01 June 2008 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5krW96uwikQ.

This video clip comes from one of the national television stations from the Community of Valenicia, Canal 9. It features the Hogueras festival in Alicante, Spain from 2006. It features the 178 monuments that are burned during the last night of the festival. This clip is particularly interesting because it shows not only the burning of the monuments, but other important behind-the-scenes aspects of the festival. Some of these include the traffic that floods the city, the late-night fireworks, the firemen who extinguish the monuments, and the post-party clean-up crew. These lesser-seen activities that are involved in the festival process would be extremely helpful for any journalist interested in the topic because it would provide them with an all-encompassing view of the festival.

Paris-Bouvret, E and Pérez-Gironés, En Una Palabra, Sevilla, España: A CD-ROM for Exploring Culture in Spanish. CD-ROM. Washington, DC: Georgetown University Press.

This CD-ROM is published by the Georgetown University Press, a company that publishes scholarly books and journals for globally diverse audiences. It is a multimedia tool that allows researches to learn about Spanish culture interactively. This would be particularly helpful for non-Spanish journalists because the interactive CD-ROM allows the participant to understand how cultural values are embedded in the practices of a culture—for example, through fiestas. The information is given in the form of interviews of people from Seville, Spain, which makes the information extremely important because the user is connected with the cultural aspects on a personal level.

Online Blogs (2)

Carloz. “Barcelona's April Fair—Feria de Abril.” Weblog entry. Spain: The Blog. 25 May 2008. 1 June 2008 http://spaintheblog.blogspot.com/2008/05/barcelonas-april-fair-feria-de-abril.html.

Although this is a personal blog, I found the entries extremely helpful. The writer is a North American living in Spain. He works there as an English teacher and translator. His entry about the Feria de Abril I found extremely helpful. In this entry, he gives a well-rounded explanation of the culture of the event, complete with photos, a detailed history, and a description. In particular, I enjoyed the explanation of the of the food culture that takes place at the fair. Some of the region-specific food included in the entry is mantillas, Jerez sherry, manzanillas, wine, tapas, gazpacho, ham, and churros. A journalist looking for a first-hand account of this event would benefit from this blog. Other festivals which are included in this blog are Semana Santa and San Isidro in Madrid.

H., Anja. "The famous Hogueras de San Juan in Alicante." Weblog entry. Costa Brava Hotels, Hotels Costa Dorada, Hotels Costa Blanca, Costa del Sol, Apartments, Accommodation. 28 May 2008. 2 June 2008 http://costasspain.perfecttravelblog.com/2008/05/the_famous_hogueras_de_san_jua.html.

The entry in this travel blog does a great job explaining the festival of Hogueras de San Juan in Alicante, Spain. This festival, that takes place from June 20th to June 29th, is a huge spectacle that, in many ways, mirrors the ever-popular festival in Valencia, Las Fallas. Alicante is a city known for its party atmosphere, and that same feeling multiplies in the streets of Alicante during Hogueras. The festival includes concerts on the Playa Postiguet (Postiguet Beach), a nightly firework display, and bullfights. And of course the most popular aspect of the event is the burning of structures (hogueras) that are displayed throughout the city center of the city. This blog entry is helpful because it does a great job describing the event, and is also accompanied by a large picture of a burning hoguera. Finally, this blog is helpful because it provides links to area hotels. This may be helpful to a journalist who is lucky enough to study the Spanish fiesta culture in Spain while actually attending the fiestas. This way, the journalist can find a place to stay without have to struggle through the language barrier since the entire blog is in English.