October 12th military parade

[xan]

I just watched bits of the October 12th Plaza Colón parade on RTVE. I was struck by a few things--this is a big ceremonial deal--in attendance were the royal family, the president Zapatero and most of his ministers, the leader of the opposition Rajoy and most of his shadow cabinet, and the presidents of most of the autonomous communities. The mere fact that RTVE chose to cover it live for over an hour underscores that it is a big deal.

I was struck also by the mere fact that it is a national military parade. The US is the most militarized rich country. But we do not have such high-profile military parades. The fourth of july, our "national day", is all about picnics and fireworks. The idea of, say, the president, congressional leaders, and the governers of the fifty states gathering to watch a parade of tanks down Pennsylvania avenue, well, it's completely beyond the pale. It would bring to mind the old soviet red square May Day parades. It would never happen.

So I am curious about how this tradition was established. Is it a residue of the francoist period? It seems incongruous in the context of secular, anti-militarist spain. And if october 12 is the "día de la hispanidad" one would think that a focus on the pan-hispanic cultural community would be more appropriate than some flag-waving military parade.

Other tidbits--Rajoy was caught on open microphone a couple of days ago calling this parade a "coñazo". Which it may very well be, but apparently Rajoy has promoted this celebration vigorously in the past, so his hypocrisy is worth a laugh. Another interesting tidbit, the crowd audibly booed Zapatero when he showed up. This perhaps says something about the political affiliations of those who show up for these parades.

I felt a little sorry for the old king. So much standing and saluting and stately walking--it must be tough on him.

[mhachan82]

Reading your post made me curious... and went to the wiki (like always lol!)

For us spaniards is so usual that don't really think about it... October 12 = Military parade ... and don't question ourselves about it.

Anyway... in the wiki don't tell what is the specific origin but points to 3 possibles clues

1. Like you said a residue of the francoist period

2. October 12 is a commemoration of the America discovery so it could be some sort of birth celebration of the 'Spanish empire' (like showing the empire force or something like that... and is starting to sound like Star Wars lol!)

3. October 12 is also 'la Fiesta del Pilar' and 'la Virgen del Pilar' is the Guardia Civil patron saint so... (the Guardia Civil is in essence a military corps)

All this is only theory on my part... if someone really knows something about this.... lol

[Urgellenk]

The Día de la Hispanidad celebrations predate the Franco time and are not specific to Spain. In Latin-America 12 Oct is still generally referred to as Día de la Raza. Military Parades under Franco were actually held on Victory Day (in April - celebrating the Fascist victory in the Civil War).

As said above, 12 Oct in Spain is also el Día del Pilar, Saint Patron of Zaragoza and the whole of Spain. In my perception, most Spaniards celebrate the Pilar rather than the Hispanidad.

The 12 Oct military parade was established with the new democratic regime and is definitely not a left-over from Franco days, but rather the opposite: it was meant to replace the former Victory and National Upheaval Day parades. It may feel odd in the US, but this kind of events are not rare in Western Europe. Paris holds the mother of all military parades on 14 July. I guess that is the model followed by Spain and other equally secular and anti-militarist European countries, rather than the Soviet marches on the Red Square.

[xan]

Hm. Well. That's interesting info regarding the Bastille Day military parade in France, urgellenk. I see there is also some perhaps less well rooted tradition (http://www.romeandartlover.it/Parata.html) in Italy. And youtube has ample clips of Greek and Romanian parades. But I rather doubt there is such a tradition of regular military parades in the UK, and it seems even less likely in modern Germany, given historical sensitivities. So maybe we should call it a "latin Europe" or a "mediterranean Europe" tradition rather than a european one. Perhaps the American take on this was influenced by British attitudes and traditions, or the fact that we essentially had no standing army until after the second world war.

In any case, chalk it up to cultural peculiarities. I wouldn't be surprised if the modern spanish tradition owes something to the French model, since that seems true in so many other spheres.