MARIANAO, THE JONES & THE BEANS REACH THEIR GOALS

The Grandma is waiting her families

Today, The Jones have met The Beans. They had a common objective: a Cambridge University Exam. 

The families have been working very hard for some months and today they have done a fantastic work. The Grandma is very proud of all of them. 

It's not an easy goal but they have trusted in their work and effort and they have demosntrated themselves how much English they have learnt in these intensive months.

More information: Cambridge University

Thanks Jones. Thanks Beans. Thanks for trusting in this project and work with all your effort and illusion and thanks for sharing these wonderful and unforgettable days with The Grandma, a person who loves words and names and music and old stories and who takes profit of them to try to create connections between things, people and places. 

The Grandma in Marianao, Cuba

Places and names like Marianao, the beautiful place where two  families have met each other, and a special place for The Grandma, who has an unforgettable and special story which connects her with Sant Boi, a city very important in her life, a city that she loves eternally.

Marianao, which means the ship of Maria, it’s a place in Cuba where a Catalan family, The Samà, created a big fortune. They were Indians.

An Indian, often cited with the popular names of Indian or American, is how the adventurers and traders in Catalonia knew each other who, having emigrated to the Spanish colonies in America, returned to the metropolis after having done fortune. This is the origin of the expression made the Americas.

More information: The Catalan Indians-Evokating the American Past

Their dress was of great elegance and they gave them a gentle breath that distinguished them from the rest of the population. Typically American clothing: clear trousers, vest with gold-plated rings, a large silk scarf in the neck and the jipi, a hat from Panama.

Old pictures of Palau Marianao, Sant Boi

Some, when returning, built large mansions, houses of Indians, who, despite being daughters of ostentation of what had prospered, nowadays are an excellent example of the best architecture of the second half of the nineteenth century and first third of the twentieth century.

In fairness, it must be said that they were often generous with their people, and they became promoters of actions and works that could benefit the impoverished contemporary society of the overseas empire. Thus, lighting, railroad or schools were built in many places thanks to their patronage and will. The municipalities expressed their gratitude towards their benefactors by naming their favorite children and christening the building with the name of the Indian, or by dedicating a street to them in order to perpetuate their memory.

More information: Cuban people of Catalan descendent

The phenomenon was very important in Catalonia, which after the lifting of the monopoly of trade in the exclusive Indians of Castile could obtain some compensation for the military defeat of 1714 and the brutal subsequent cultural repression.

Palau Marianao, an Indian building in Sant Boi

Catalan community in Cuba grew very fast thanks to their habilities in commerce. They were great sellers and made great fortunes with the exportation of sugar, cacao, rom, tobacco and anise. 

They inverted in their hometowns and Catalan cities like Badalona, Arenys de Mar, Torredembarra, Vilanova i la Geltrú, Sitges, Begur, or Cambrils became Indian cities thanks to new factories dedicated to manufacture and export rom and anise. Indians expanded from Cambrils to Begur across all the coast and their presence is easy to discover nowadays because they are an important piece of our recent history.

More information: Office of the Historian

During the War of Independence of Cuba, the Catalan community helped the Cuban one against the Castilian power. Repression and prosecutions against Catalan people increased in Spain and Catalan were forced to fight against Cuban but they denied and were accuses of disloyalty and dishonour and prosecuted, even with death penalty. Castilian government wanted to take possession of these factories and enterprises and Catalan enterpreneurs decided to not return and stay in Cuba forever, mainly by two reasons: help Cuban people, who were their workers, in their reclaims and protect their businesses in the Caribbean island.

Marianao Gardens and its palm trees, Sant Boi

Marianao is the result of an Indian, Salvador de Samà i Torrents, Marquis of Samà, Marianao and Vilanova i la Geltrú. The name of the land evocate a Cuban one. The characteristics of Palau Marianao are Cuban ones. Marianao gardens are full of plants which have a Caribbean origin in the same way that Palau Novella, in Sitges, or Parc Samà in Cambrils.

The origin of Catalan Havaneres is also in Cuba. Havaneres comes from Havana, the name of the Cuban city, and the lyrics of these songs always talks about homesickness. This homesickness was the main cause of the architecture of Indian houses. Indian wanted to evocate the life in the island and they built houses similar to Cuban ones with gardens full of Caribbean plants, the most important of them, the tree palm.

More information: Palau Marianao-From Cuba to Sant Boi

There are some famous havaneres in Catalan like El meu avi, which talks about the Cuban Independence Wars, La barca xica or La Gavina and in Castilian, Yo te diré, which talks about the Philipines Independence Wars, La bella Lola or La paloma, a popular song created by Basque Sebastián Iradier Salaverri which was versionated in English by Elvis Presley. 

These havaneres are love metaphors because although it seems they are dedicated to a woman's love, this woman is really Cuba, and the singers are crying its absence, its memories and its lifestyle.

More information: Visit Palafrugell

Darling, I love you so, and my heart forever,
will belong to the memory of the love that we knew before.
Please, come back to my arms; we belong together.
Come to me; let's be sweethearts again and then let us part no more.

Elvis Presley