Today, The Grandma has received wonderful news from Mayte, who has been visiting Auvinyà, an amazing Andorran village.
Auvinyà, also named Aubinyà and Albinyà in the past, is a village in Andorra, in the parish of Sant Julià de Lòria.
There is the Sant Romà d'AubinyàChurch in the township.
Sant Julià de Lòria is one of the parishes of Andorra, in the far south of the country. It is also the name of the main town of the parish, which at 908 m is the lowest settlement in Andorra. Other settlements in the parish include Bixessarri, Aixàs, Aixovall, Certers, Llumeneres, Nagol, Aixirivall, Auvinyà, Juberri, Fontaneda, and Canòlic. It is bordered by Andorra la Vella in the north, Escaldes-Engordany in the northeast and Catalonia in the south, east, west, northwest, southwest and southeast.
Andorra consists of seven communities known as parishes, in Catalan parròquies. Until relatively recently, it had only six parishes; the seventh, Escaldes-Engordany, was created in 1978.
Andorra la Vella is the capital of Andorra. Some parishes have a further territorial subdivision; Ordino, La Massana and Sant Julià de Lòria are subdivided into quarts (quarters), while Canillo is subdivided into 10 veïnats(neighbourhoods). Those mostly coincide with villages, which are found in all parishes.
Each parish has its own elected mayor who is the nominal head of the local government known as a comú in Catalan.
June 23. The Grandma is going to participate in one of her favourite traditions, LaFlama del Canigó.
Every
year, she participates in this traditional event, carrying the flame
some kilometres. It is her way to collaborate in this tradition that
evokes the commonroots of the Catalan Countries.
Due to the current situation, TheGrandma
has taken all the possible precautions, but she has reached her goal.
Today, she wants to talk about this tradition linked to the summer
solstice and Sant Joan, the patron of the Catalan Countries.
La Flama del Canigó is a Catalan tradition linked to the summer solstice that takes place in various places in the Catalan Countries every year, between 22 and 23 June.
It begins with the renovation of the fire at the top of the Canigó and culminates with the lighting of the bonfires on the night of Sant Joan after the flame, carried by volunteers, spread throughout the country.
It is related to other
summer solstice fire festivals in the Pyrenees, such as the Isil, Alins,
Durro, Vilaller, Barruera, Pont de Suert and Andorra faults or the Haro
burn of the Val d'Aran, where the fire coming down from the mountain is
also the protagonist of the night. But beyond this festival, the Canigó
Flame has a symbolism linked to the persistence and vitality of Catalan
culture.
In 1955, Francesc Pujada, a villager from Arles de Tec (Vallespir, Northern Catalonia), driven by his enthusiasm for the Canigó massif and inspired by the epic poem by Jacint Verdaguer (Canigó, 1886) took the initiative, together with Esteve Albert and Josep Deloncle, to light the fires of the Night of Sant Joan at the top of this mountain and, from there, to spread the flame throughout all the regions of the Catalan Countries.
Thus began the tradition of the Canigó Flame, which connected with the millennial celebration of the summer solstice linked to fire and its collective significance.
The new tradition gained strength in a short time, so that, according to ÒmniumCultural, today it is practically impossible to find a single bonfire in NorthernCatalonia that is not lit with the Canigó Flame.
La Flama del Canigó
In
1966 the fire crossed the border between the French and Spanish states
for the first time and reached Vic. Despite the Franco dictatorship, the
tradition spread throughout the Principality of Catalonia,oftenunderground, as a symbol of the survival of Catalan culture.
Gradually the network spread, and the fire that descends from the Canigó also reached the Valencian Country and Balearic Islands.
There
are currently dozens of organizations that celebrate the festival by
spreading the flame that is lit on the beautiful top of the Canigó and is preserved in the Castellet de Perpinyà. Barcelona receives the flame in Plaça de Sant Jaume with the cobla, the eagle and the giants of the city, and from there it goes to the neighbourhoods.
In Terres de l'Ebre and the Priorat,
every year a different village welcomes it, and people from the
neighbouring counties gather there, who go in a caravan of cars, with
the heir and heiress of the major festival of each locality. Alacant has kept alive the tradition of the fires of Sant Joan in the Valencian Country. Other cities also have their tradition, such as Tarragona in the Serrallo.
Every June 22, a group of hikers from the Cercle de Joves de Perpinyà catch the fire that has been lit in the kitchen of the Casa Pairal Museum, in Castellet de Perpinyà, since 1965, and climb to the top of the Canigó, 2,784 metres, where they light a new bonfire, after reading a manifesto.
At dawn on June 23, they begin the descent with the renewed Flame. Together with the group of hikers of the Cercle Jove many other people gather at the top to catch the flame and thus begin the journey to different parts of the CatalanCountries doing relays on foot, by bike, by car and even in lute in the Ebre to make it possible for the Flame to spread through towns and cities and arrive in time to light the bonfires on the night of Sant Joan.
Every year, the Canigó Flame is received by the Parliament of Catalonia in an institutional event, as well as by town councils, county councils and cultural, social and sports organizations in more than 350 municipalities in the Catalan Countries.
In this way, and thanks to hundreds of volunteers,
the fire coming from the mountain illuminates the popular festivals
that take place around the fire. It is estimated that about 3,000 bonfires were lit that night with the fire coming from the top of the Canigó.
To make this ritual possible, on the weekend before Sant Joan, hundreds of people from all over the Catalan Countries and, especially, from NorthernCatalonia, are in the Cortalets refuge, in the Cadí valley, at the foot of the Canigó. They arrive on Saturday night and stay at the shelter or camp with tents nearby.
The next morning they perform the first ritual of the Focs de Sant Joan: go up to the top of the Canigó
and leave the small bundles of firewood that each one has brought from
their city, town, village or orchard. The branches and twigs are tied
with a ribbon that bears the name of the place where they come from, and
some have drawings and writings with wishes to burn at the bonfire of Sant Joan.
All these bundles of firewood are left stacked around the iron cross at
the top of the mountain until the night the bonfire is lit.
Ja les podeu fer ben altes les fogueres aquest any cal que brillin lluny i es vegin els focs d'aquest Sant Joan. Cal que es vegin de València, de Ponent i de Llevant...
I en fareu també en la Serra perquè els vegin més enllà... i el crit d'una sola llengua s'alci dels llocs més distants omplint els aires encesos d'un clamor de Llibertat!
Today, The Grandma has been reading about Andorra, her country. This little part of Europe has an incredible an amazing history, and TheGrandma wants to talk about the Parliamentaryelections that were held in Andorra on a day like today in 1933, a very important and confused moment in the history of this little but extraordinary country.
Parliamentary elections were held in Andorra on 31August 1933, thefirst held under universal male suffrage.
The extension of the franchise to all men over 21 followed social unrest referred to as the Andorran Revolution. As political parties were not legalized until 1993, all candidates ran as independents.
The elections, called by the co-princes, took place amid the occupation of thecountry by French gendarmes. The police had arrived after the GeneralCouncil approved universal male suffrage -until then only the heads of household could vote- forced by the occupation of the Casa de la Vall on 5 April by the Young Andorrans.
The Tribunal de Corts subsequently dismissed the General Council elected in 1932. Faced with the Council's resistance to dissolution, however, the co-princes sent a contingent of gendarmes to Andorra on 19 August and ordered the elections to be held on 31 August.
The interpretation of the results is complicated because there were no formal political parties, instead councillors were linked to groups that could vary in opinion.
The day after the elections, the press reported 14 seats had been won by the Integral Nationalist Group (GNI), conservative supporters of the co-princes; five seats had been won by the Andorran Union (UA), supporters of the deposed General Council, and four had been won by socialists. However, an undated document from the Permanent Delegation French also registered a majority of anti-episcopal councillors unfavourable to the co-princes.
June 23. The Grandma is going to participate in one of her favourite traditions, LaFlama del Canigó. It is always a special day for TheGrandma, but this 2021 is even more special and TheGrandma wants to think of all people who have suffered the COVID pandemic directly and all people who are suffering injustices, prosecutions and are deprived of liberty unfairly. We will run thinking of you.
Every year,
she participates in this traditional event, carrying the flame some
kilometres. It is her way to collaborate in this tradition that evokes
the common roots of the Catalan Countries.
Due to the current situation, TheGrandma
has taken all the possible precautions, but she has reached her goal.
Today, she wants to talk about this tradition linked to the summer
solstice and Sant Joan, the patron of the Catalan Countries.
La Flama del Canigó is a Catalan tradition linked to the summer solstice that takes place in various places in the Catalan Countries every year, between 22 and 23 June.
It begins with the renovation of the fire at the top of the Canigó and culminates with the lighting of the bonfires on the night of Sant Joan after the flame, carried by volunteers, spread throughout the country.
It is related to other
summer solstice fire festivals in the Pyrenees, such as the Isil, Alins,
Durro, Vilaller, Barruera, Pont de Suert and Andorra faults or the Haro
burn of the Val d'Aran, where the fire coming down from the mountain is
also the protagonist of the night. But beyond this festival, the Canigó
Flame has a symbolism linked to the persistence and vitality of Catalan
culture.
In 1955, Francesc Pujada, a villager from Arles de Tec (Vallespir, Northern Catalonia), driven by his enthusiasm for the Canigó massif and inspired by the epic poem by Jacint Verdaguer (Canigó, 1886) took the initiative, together with Esteve Albert and Josep Deloncle, to light the fires of the Night of Sant Joan at the top of this mountain and, from there, to spread the flame throughout all the regions of the Catalan Countries.
Thus began the tradition of the Canigó Flame, which connected with the millennial celebration of the summer solstice linked to fire and its collective significance.
The new tradition gained strength in a short time, so that, according to ÒmniumCultural, today it is practically impossible to find a single bonfire in NorthernCatalonia that is not lit with the Canigó Flame.
La Flama del Canigó
In 1966 the
fire crossed the border between the French and Spanish states for the
first time and reached Vic. Despite the Franco dictatorship, the
tradition spread throughout the Principality of Catalonia,oftenunderground, as a symbol of the survival of Catalan culture.
Gradually the network spread, and the fire that descends from the Canigó also reached the Valencian Country and Balearic Islands.
There are
currently dozens of organizations that celebrate the festival by
spreading the flame that is lit on the beautiful top of the Canigó and is preserved in the Castellet de Perpinyà. Barcelona receives the flame in Plaça de Sant Jaume with the cobla, the eagle and the giants of the city, and from there it goes to the neighborhoods.
In Terres de l'Ebre and the Priorat,
every year a different village welcomes it, and people from the neighbouring counties gather there, who go in a caravan of cars, with the
heir and heiress of the major festival of each locality. Alacant has kept alive the tradition of the fires of Sant Joan in the Valencian Country. Other cities also have their tradition, such as Tarragona in the Serrallo.
Every June 22, a group of hikers from the Cercle de Joves de Perpinyà catch the fire that has been lit in the kitchen of the Casa Pairal Museum, in Castellet de Perpinyà, since 1965, and climb to the top of the Canigó, 2,784 metres, where they light a new bonfire, after reading a manifesto.
At dawn on June 23, they begin the descent with the renewed Flame. Together with the group of hikers of the Cercle Jove many other people gather at the top to catch the flame and thus begin the journey to different parts of the CatalanCountries doing relays on foot, by bike, by car and even in lute in the Ebre to make it possible for the Flame to spread through towns and cities and arrive in time to light the bonfires on the night of Sant Joan.
Every year, the Canigó Flame is received by the Parliament of Catalonia in an institutional event, as well as by town councils, county councils and cultural, social and sports organizations in more than 350 municipalities in the Catalan Countries.
In this way, and thanks to hundreds of volunteers,
the fire coming from the mountain illuminates the popular festivals
that take place around the fire. It is estimated that about 3,000 bonfires were lit that night, with the fire coming from the top of the Canigó.
To make this ritual possible, on the weekend before Sant Joan, hundreds of people from all over the Catalan Countries and, especially, from NorthernCatalonia, are in the Cortalets refuge, in the Cadí valley, at the foot of the Canigó. They arrive on Saturday night and stay at the shelter or camp with tents nearby.
The next morning they perform the first ritual of the Focs de Sant Joan: go up to the top of the Canigó
and leave the small bundles of firewood that each one has brought from
their city, town, village or orchard. The branches and twigs are tied
with a ribbon that bears the name of the place where they come from, and
some have drawings and writings with wishes to burn at the bonfire of Sant Joan.
All these bundles of firewood are left stacked around the iron cross at
the top of the mountain until the night the bonfire is lit.
Ja les podeu fer ben altes les fogueres aquest any cal que brillin lluny i es vegin els focs d'aquest Sant Joan. Cal que es vegin de València, de Ponent i de Llevant...
I en fareu també en la Serra perquè els vegin més enllà... i el crit d'una sola llengua s'alci dels llocs més distants omplint els aires encesos d'un clamor de Llibertat!
Today, The Grandma has been reading about her birthplace, Andorra. On a day like today in 1933, the Andorran Revolution took place when TheYoungAndorrans occupied the Casade la Vall and forced the government to hold democratic elections with universal male suffrage.
Andorra is a sovereign landlocked microstate believed to have been created by Charlemagne.
Andorra was ruled by the count of Urgell until 988, when it was transferred to the Roman Catholic Diocese of Urgell.
The present principality was formed by a charter in 1278. It is headed by two co-princes: the Bishop of Urgell and the President of France.
The Andorran Revolution, also known as the Revolution of 1933, was ademocratic uprising led by the Young Andorrans, a trade union related to the CNT-FAI, that called for political reforms, universal suffrage for all Andorrans and acted in defense of the rights of local and foreign workers during the construction of FHASA's hydroelectric power station in Encamp.
On April 5, 1933, the Young Andorrans seized the Andorran Parliament. These actions were preceded by the arrival of Colonel René-Jules Baulard with 50 gendarmes and the mobilization of 200 local militias or sometent led by the Síndic Francesc Cairat.
The interwar period in Andorra was characterized by a continuation of the economic crisis that arose in the second half of the 19th century. The country lived very precariously on the economy of the Ancien Regime. Although an attempt was made to outsource the economy, it did not take off and waves of emigration continued to decimate the population and its activity. Over time, the interwar period in Andorra meant an extension of the popular revolts and noble uprisings of the previous decade.
It was at this time that the country
saw a wave of protests with which, for the first time, it was possible
to implement universal male suffrage -authorized only to men of legal
age and Andorran nationality. This was an unprecedented fact because
before that the country was still living under the New Reformation
regime. Although it was a step forward to approve it, the New
Reformation was completely obsolete and inadequate with the turn of the
twentieth century. It continued to give the votes to a privileged few
and did not contemplate the participation of women. This meant that the
bulk of the population was excluded from being able to participate in
the country's politics.
The waves of Andorrans fleeing the Andorran economic situation to settle in France or Catalonia lead Andorran politics to see the so-called Revolution of 1933.
From outside the associations of Andorran emigrants virulently criticized the Andorran government's policy, through newspapers they brought new liberal and capitalist currents to Andorra. The General Council wanted to censor the opinion that was published abroad because it questioned the New Reformation.
Andorran politicians wanted to show that Andorra was a bucolic place, with the aim of avoiding any kind of foreign interference in Andorran affairs. The government tried to ban the collection of signatures that the emigrants carried out in Andorra, to give the right to vote to all adults and change the Constitution to transform Andorra into a constitutional monarchy.
From Catalunya there was widespread support for this change of regime and thanks to each other, the Pariatges and their feudal character began to be criticized for the first time. The establishment of the Spanish Republic did not change Castilian ambitions towards Andorra. The country continued to be treated as part of Spanish territory. Spain sought to eradicate the co-principality, while France tried to preserve it.
The construction of the FHASA hydroelectric plant changed the country's economic
course. The project was conceived as a mechanism for modernizing the
country and economic activation. Its presence did not broadly change the
country's politics, although it allowed the entry of new ideological
currents that until then had never set foot in Andorran soil: socialism,
communism and anarcho-syndicalism.
The universal suffrage granted to men managed to be approved, but the Spanish Civil War and subsequent WWII stopped the modernization and economic activation of Andorra. France and Spain have always considered Andorra their territory. It has been disputed practically since Andorra obtained the Pariatge. The beginning of the era of nationalism did not change this situation much. Castile within its concept of pan-Hispanic nationalism dubbed Andorra a Hispanic territory. France, within its concept of natural borders, treated Andorra as a French protectorate.
The Andorran protectorate regime made the governor the vicar and representative of the co-prince which should normally correspond. 20th century Andorrans had to register in France and the passport granted to them was protected by France.
Influenced by Catalanism, which found it incongruous that Andorra continues to be a fief, many Andorrans were taking steps to recognize Andorra as a separate nation-state. This is how the General Council addressed the League of Nations during the 1930s so that it could intervene in the Andorran affair in view of the paternalistic attitudes of Spain and France. At this time, Andorra achieved the Andorran national regime, which did not differ much from the national regime in the French colonies.
Spain claimed its right to conquest over Andorra and for this reason tried to influence education. Spain wanted to ban the Catalan Andorran schools. The desire to be and be independent ends up in the mood of Andorrans. Wanting to edit their own labels, looking to introduce a national system, would command on the Spanish school teachers looking to enter the Catalan school, addressing the United Nations, among others, are examples clear that Andorra did not want to belong to either side.
The Andorran position towards Catalanism was open, because many Andorrans defended the right of Catalans to self-determination, but contained, because the pan-Hispanic and pan-French projects clearly endangered the ill-defined status of Andorra.
Although from Catalunya, Andorra was seen as a separate and admirable country as it was the only independent Catalan state, this independence was more de jure than de facto. The refusal of the League of Nations to accept Andorra as a full member exemplified this.
Andorrans felt and saw themselves as a separate country.
None of this meant that Andorran politicians had to play the game of
ambiguity to preserve the status of a territory that is being challenged
everywhere. The Catalan press reported on various occasions that it was
necessary to get rid of the Pariatges and transform the
Andorran state into a republican regime. The currents of the time
influenced many Andorrans and for this reason there were many who were
committed to the Republic and the self-determination of Catalunya.
France and Spain never accepted the Andorrans in favor of the Andorran republic. Any republican claim was interpreted by these two states as a direct influence of Catalanism. Both averse to any right to self-determination,France and Spain often left their differences aside to impose their will on the Andorran parliament, to avoid progress in the Andorran territory.
The construction of the
hydroelectric power plant needed a significant mass of workers. The
company hired more than two thousand workers. To reactivate domestic
economic activity, the General Council wanted the company to hire
Andorran staff. But in the end, much labor would be Spanish, French,
Catalan or Galician.
Most of the technical positions, by
contrast, were Swiss. Working conditions were terrible. The company
increased working hours without consensus or agreement, workers had no
days off or breaks, worked for an insufficient salary to survive and
there were no hygienic conditions. Some ended up staying in the country,
others left. There was a clear difference between the workers and
technicians. The technicians earned twice as much as those who risked
their lives building the plant.
It is these living conditions typical of the initial introduction of capitalism that Andorra seeks new ideological currents that until then had never set foot in national territory.
The workers of the power station belonged mostly to the CatalanRegional Labor Confederation, asubsidiary of the CNT, the anarchist union.
Catalan unions supported the demands of the power plant workers, who demanded decent living, hygiene and working conditions.
The Andorran parliament, which was made up of a bourgeois upper class, never saw the need to regulate the labor market and saw the workers' demands as a threat to the disappearance of the co-principality regime, with clear wills to transform Andorra into a Republic. The Andorran Youth Association joined the demands of the FHASA workers and because of this, the parliament found another rival.
For the Young Andorrans, the consultations with the co-princes were seen as another way to wrap up the exchange, so as not to respond positively to the request. From their point of view, it was incongruous to have to ask the co-princes for approval when the Andorran people represented in parliament should make the decision.
The Andorran delegations saw a form of vassalship and a waste of time. Sending personal letters among the co-princes was seen as one more way to waste even more time. The multitude of travel and bureaucratic letters was not necessary for a simple extension of the right to vote that had already been previously approved through a signature collection campaign.
For all this, the Young Andorrans, taking advantage of the fact that the Andorran police were busy repressing the FHASA strikes, burst into the Casa de la Vall on April 5, 1933, confiscating its keys, closing its doors and forcing parliament to approve the extension of the right to vote. The coup began with the reading of a manifesto in parliament:
-A democratic constitution that delimited the duties and obligations of the co-princes
-A constitution that guarantees the rights of the Andorran people
-Freedom of conscience, thought and word
-Guarantee of individual and collective rights
-Parliamentary sessions open to the public
-Voting age set at 23
-Approval of universal male suffrage
-Labor rights, female education, teaching in Catalan, without vetoing any other language
It started from then a tug-of-war with the General Council. Were it not for the usual interference, it was probable that the General Council would not yield. But it did and ended up approving the electoral reform from which universal male suffrage was established in Andorra. Young Andorrans began to spread the word.
The coup was very badly received by the delegations of the two co-princes. It was considered from France and the Vatican that its sovereignty was being disputed. That is, delegations did not tolerate an association being created with the power to make decisions over it. Moreover, they also did not accept the power of the Andorran parliament to approve the Law extending the right to vote. But the tug-of-war between parliamentarians and Young Andorrans bore fruit, the parliament agreed and ended up opposing the two co-princes of its own volition.
For everything, the French co-prince warned the parliament: either abolish the electoral reform or send a detachment of gendarmes to Andorra. The discrepancies are not saved and France finally sends its detachment of gendarmes. The Andorran parliament rebuked the French state for considering it as a subject and not as its own personality, which is why it decided to support electoral reform.
In the elections, two rival camps ran. Those in favor of changing the co-principality regime and making Andorra a sovereign state with a constitutional monarchy and those opposed to all this. The former would like universal suffrage for men, the latter do not want it. Unió Andorrana constituted the reconversion of the Young Andorrans into a political party. Opponents took the form of the Integral Nationalist Group.
The French gendarmerie remained patrolling Andorra by order of the co-prince. According to the official version, they had to guarantee calm, but the strikes in FHASA and the behavior of the Andorran and French police led them to conclude at that time that the gendarmerie were kept in place because they wanted torepress Andorran trade unionism. So much so that the beatings provided against FHASA protesters were popularly described as a punitive expedition.
The elections ended up giving an overwhelming victory to Integral Nationalist Group. Andorrans living in Andorra had never experienced the radical changes that were taking place abroad and, therefore, it was more than likely that the change in mentality of Andorran emigrants was not the same as non-emigrants.
June 23. The Grandma is going to participate in one of her favourite traditions, LaFlama del Canigó.
Every year, she participates in this traditional event, carrying the flame some kilometres. It is her way to collaborate in this tradition that evokes the commonroots of the Catalan Countries.
Due to the current situation, TheGrandma has taken all the possible precautions, but she has reached her goal. Today, she wants to talk about this tradition linked to the summer solstice and Sant Joan, the patron of the Catalan Countries.
La Flama del Canigó is a Catalan tradition linked to the summer solstice that takes place in various places in the Catalan Countries every year, between 22 and 23 June.
It begins with the renovation of the fire at the top of the Canigó and culminates with the lighting of the bonfires on the night of Sant Joan after the flame, carried by volunteers, spread throughout the country.
It is related to other
summer solstice fire festivals in the Pyrenees, such as the Isil, Alins,
Durro, Vilaller, Barruera, Pont de Suert and Andorra faults or the Haro
burn of the Val d'Aran, where the fire coming down from the mountain is
also the protagonist of the night. But beyond this festival, the Canigó
Flame has a symbolism linked to the persistence and vitality of Catalan
culture.
In 1955, Francesc Pujada, a villager from Arles de Tec (Vallespir, Northern Catalonia), driven by his enthusiasm for the Canigó massif and inspired by the epic poem by Jacint Verdaguer (Canigó, 1886) took the initiative, together with Esteve Albert and Josep Deloncle, to light the fires of the Night of Sant Joan at the top of this mountain and, from there, to spread the flame throughout all the regions of the Catalan Countries.
Thus began the tradition of the Canigó Flame, which connected with the millennial celebration of the summer solstice linked to fire and its collective significance.
The new tradition gained strength in a short time, so that, according to ÒmniumCultural, today it is practically impossible to find a single bonfire in NorthernCatalonia that is not lit with the Canigó Flame.
La Flama del Canigó
In 1966 the fire crossed the border between the French and Spanish states for the first time and reached Vic. Despite the Franco dictatorship, the tradition spread throughout the Principality of Catalonia,oftenunderground, as a symbol of the survival of Catalan culture.
Gradually the network spread, and the fire that descends from the Canigó also reached the Valencian Country and Balearic Islands.
There are currently dozens of organizations that celebrate the festival by spreading the flame that is lit on the beautiful top of the Canigó and is preserved in the Castellet de Perpinyà. Barcelona receives the flame in Plaça de Sant Jaume with the cobla, the eagle and the giants of the city, and from there it goes to the neighbourhoods.
In Terres de l'Ebre and the Priorat, every year a different village welcomes it, and people from the neighbouring counties gather there, who go in a caravan of cars, with the heir and heiress of the major festival of each locality. Alacant has kept alive the tradition of the fires of Sant Joan in the Valencian Country. Other cities also have their tradition, such as Tarragona in the Serrallo.
Every June 22, a group of hikers from the Cercle de Joves de Perpinyà catch the fire that has been lit in the kitchen of the Casa Pairal Museum, in Castellet de Perpinyà, since 1965, and climb to the top of the Canigó, 2,784 metres, where they light a new bonfire, after reading a manifesto.
At dawn on June 23, they begin the descent with the renewed Flame. Together with the group of hikers of the Cercle Jove many other people gather at the top to catch the flame and thus begin the journey to different parts of the CatalanCountries doing relays on foot, by bike, by car and even in lute in the Ebre to make it possible for the Flame to spread through towns and cities and arrive in time to light the bonfires on the night of Sant Joan.
Every year, the Canigó Flame is received by the Parliament of Catalonia in an institutional event, as well as by town councils, county councils and cultural, social and sports organizations in more than 350 municipalities in the Catalan Countries.
In this way, and thanks to hundreds of volunteers, the fire coming from the mountain illuminates the popular festivals that take place around the fire. It is estimated that about 3,000 bonfires were lit that night with the fire coming from the top of the Canigó.
To make this ritual possible, on the weekend before Sant Joan, hundreds of people from all over the Catalan Countries and, especially, from NorthernCatalonia, are in the Cortalets refuge, in the Cadí valley, at the foot of the Canigó. They arrive on Saturday night and stay at the shelter or camp with tents nearby.
The next morning they perform the first ritual of the Focs de Sant Joan: go up to the top of the Canigó and leave the small bundles of firewood that each one has brought from their city, town, village or orchard. The branches and twigs are tied with a ribbon that bears the name of the place where they come from, and some have drawings and writings with wishes to burn at the bonfire of Sant Joan. All these bundles of firewood are left stacked around the iron cross at the top of the mountain until the night the bonfire is lit.
Ja les podeu fer ben altes les fogueres aquest any cal que brillin lluny i es vegin els focs d'aquest Sant Joan. Cal que es vegin de València, de Ponent i de Llevant...
I en fareu també en la Serra perquè els vegin més enllà... i el crit d'una sola llengua s'alci dels llocs més distants omplint els aires encesos d'un clamor de Llibertat!
Today, The Grandma has gone to repair her TR-55transistor radio,a valuable item that belongs to the first series that Sony, launched to the market in 1955. The Grandma has a closer relationship with transistor radios because she is from Andorra and during decades, this beautiful and small country in the middle of the Pyrenees was a meeting point, an increadible oasis for people who wanted to buy cheap technology, sugar, tobacco, alcohol and perfume in south Europe.
Before going to Sony Gallery, The Grandma has studied a new lesson of her Ms. Excel course.
A transistor radio is a small portable radio receiver that uses transistor-based circuitry.
Following their development in 1954, made possible by the invention of the transistor in 1947, they became the most popular electronic communication device in history, with billions manufactured during the 1960s and 1970s. Their pocket size sparked a change in popular music listening habits, allowing people to listen to music anywhere they went. Beginning in the 1980s, however, cheap AM transistor radios were superseded by devices with higher audio quality such as portable CD players, personal audio players, boomboxes, and eventually smartphones, some of which contain radios themselves.
Before the transistor was invented, radios used vacuum tubes. Although portable vacuum tube radios were produced, they were typically bulky and heavy. The need for a low voltage high current source to power the filaments of the tubes and high voltage for the anode potential typically required two batteries. Vacuum tubes were also inefficient and fragile compared to transistors, and had a limited lifetime.
Bell Laboratories demonstrated the first transistor on December 23, 1947. The scientific team at Bell Laboratories responsible for the solid-state amplifier included William Shockley, Walter Houser Brattain, and John Bardeen. After obtaining patent protection, the company held a news conference on June 30, 1948, at which a prototype transistor radio was demonstrated.
Sony Transistor Radios
There are many claimants to the title of the first company to produce practical transistor radios, often incorrectlyattributed to Sony, originally Tokyo Telecommunications Engineering Corporation.
Texas Instruments had demonstrated all-transistor AM, amplitude modulation, radios as early as May 25, 1954, but their performance was well below that of equivalent vacuum tube models.
A workable all-transistor radio was demonstrated in August 1953 at the Düsseldorf Radio Fair by the German firm Intermetall. It was built with four of Intermetall's hand-made transistors, based upon the 1948 invention of the Transistron-germanium point-contact transistor by Herbert Mataré and Heinrich Welker. However, as with the early Texas Instruments units and others only prototypes were ever built; it was never put into commercial production.
RCA had demonstrated a prototype transistor radio as early as 1952, and it is likely that they and the other radio makers were planning transistor radios of their own, but Texas Instruments and Regency Division of I.D.E.A., were the first to offer a production model starting in October 1954.
The use of transistors instead of vacuum tubes as the amplifier elements meant that the device was much smaller, required far less power to operate than a tube radio, and was more shock-resistant. Since the transistor base draws current, its input impedance is low in contrast to the high input impedance of the vacuum tubes. It also allowed instant-on operation, since there were no filaments to heat up.
The typical portable tube radio of the fifties was about the size and weight of a lunchbox, and contained several heavy, non-rechargeable batteries one or more so-called A batteries to heat the tube filaments and a large 45- to 90-volt B battery to power the signal circuits.
By comparison, the transistor radio could fit in a pocket and weighed half a pound or less, and was powered by standard flashlight batteries or a single compact 9-volt battery. The now-familiar 9-volt battery was introduced for powering transistor radios.
Listeners sometimes held an entire transistor radio directly against the side of the head, with the speaker against the ear, to minimize the tinny sound caused by the high resonant frequency of its small speaker. Most radios included earphone jacks and came with single earphones that provided only mediocre-quality sound reproduction. To consumers familiar with the earphone-listening experience of the transistor radio, the first Sony Walkman cassette player, with a pair of high-fidelity stereo earphones, would provide a greatly contrasting display of audio fidelity.
While on a trip to the United States in 1952, Masaru Ibuka, founder of Tokyo
Telecommunications Engineering Corporation, now Sony, discovered that
AT&T was about to make licensing available for the transistor.
Masaru Ibuka & his TR Models
Ibuka and his partner, physicist Akio Morita, convinced the Japanese Ministry of International Trade and Industry (MITI) to finance the $25,000 licensing fee, equivalent to $235,871 today.
For several months Ibuka traveled around the United States borrowing ideas from the American transistor manufacturers.
Improving upon the ideas, TokyoTelecommunications Engineering Corporation made its first functional transistor radio in 1954. Within five years, Tokyo Telecommunications Engineering Corporation grew from seven employees to approximately five hundred. Other Japanese companies soon followed their entry into the American market and the grand total of electronic products exported from Japan in 1958 increased 2.5 times in comparison to 1957.
In August 1955, while still a small company, Tokyo Telecommunications Engineering Corporation introduced their TR-55 five-transistor radio under the new brand name Sony.
With this radio, Sony became the first company to manufacture the transistors and other components they used to construct the radio. The TR-55 was also the first transistor radio to utilize all miniature components. It is estimated that only 5,000 to 10,000 units were produced.
Since 1980, the popularity of portable radios has declined with the rise of portable audio players and smartphones, which allow users to carry and listen to the music of their choosing and may also include a radio tuner. This began in the late 1970s with boom boxes and portable cassette players such as the SonyWalkman, followed by portable CD players.
A common type now is the portable digital audio player. This type of device is a popular choice with listeners who are dissatisfied with terrestrial music radio because of a limited selection of music and reception problems. However, transistor radios are still popular for news, talk radio, weather, live sporting events and emergency alert applications.
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