som i serem

The most important one: fotre (or cardar, in the Girona area), which means "to fuck". But it's used differently than in English. In English you add "fucking" between words (for example: "the fucking best"), but in Catalan it substitutes the word. For example:

Fot-li més sal: literally "fuck more salt", meaning "pour more salt"

Quin fred que fot: literally "it fucks so cold", meaning "it is so cold"

It can also be used as the adjective "fotut" (m) / "fotuda" (f) meaning bad. For example, if you just found out you have an exam tomorrow and you haven't studied, you might say "estic fotut" or "ho tinc fotut" ("I'm fucked"). But "estar fotut" is also often used to mean that you're ill.

"Fotut" or "refotut" ("re-fucked", for emphasis) can also sometimes be used like the English "fucking": "no em parlis d'aquell fotut examen!" ("don't even mention that fucking exam!"). Nowadays, many people use the word "puto"/"puta" ("whore") in this way, as the result of influence from Spanish.

But the most common in this situation is "cony" ("cunt"): "què cony fas?" ("what the fuck are you doing?"), "he deixat aquell cony de feina!" ("I've quit that fucking job!").

A lighter version of this is "dimonis" ("devils"), though this is so light it's not really considered a swear word and it's quite outdated: "què dimonis fas?" ("what the hell are you doing?")

Another one we say all the time is "collons!". It's a vulgar word for testicles, but it's used as an interjection that can have all sorts of meanings depending on your intonation: suprise, admiration, anger, exasperation, incredulity...

Besides that, adding this word to other sentences is also very common to express a full range of meanings and emotions. I've done my best to add subtitles to a video that talks about it, but it was difícil de collons (difficult as fuck). I've translated it as "balls", thought it's a stronger word in Catalan, more of a curse word.

(As you can see, some of those have a sexist implication)

Though probably what we say the most is "me cago en..." ("I shit on...") as the equivalent of the English "fuck!" as a quick reaction when you drop something or get hurt, something bad happens, or you want to complain or insult. Some common ones are:

Me cago'n Déu: I shit on God

Cago'n dena or cago'n deuna: I shit on G... (euphemism to not say "god", like when English speakers say "heck" to avoid saying "hell")

Me cago'n tot: I shit on everything

Me cago'n tu: I shit on you

Me cago'n la mare que et va parir: I shit on the mother that gave birth to you

Me cago'n la mare que et va matricular: I shit on the mother that registered you (to avoid the word "give birth", which can be a swear word by itself)

Me cago'n la mar salada: I shit on the salty sea

Me cago'n Judas: I shit on Judas

Me cago'n Satanàs (quan era jove): I shit on Satan (when he was young)

Me cago'n l'hòstia: I shit on the communion bread

Me cago'n l'hòstia consagrada: I shit on the blessed communion bread

Me cago'n la puta or me cago'n la grandíssima puta: I shit on the whore or I shit on the greatest whore

Cago'n cony: I shit on the cunt

These are only a few examples of the most common ones. There are many more, and these ones can get longer. For example, "me cague en un barril d'hòsties amb el cap de Déu per tapadora" ("I shit on a barrel of communion bread with God's head as the lid") or "me cago'n els claus-ganxo que aguanten les postetes del cagadero de Cristo" ("I shit on the nail-hooks that hold up Christ's shitting hole"), among many others. There are many fixed expressions like those, but people are also welcome to let their imagination come up with new ones related to the context and the people it's directed at.

And the soft, family friendly equivalent of those is "caso'm l'olla" or "caso'm l'os pedrer".

We also very often say "merda!" ("shit!") and "hòstia!" (this word is both a vulgar way of saying getting slapped or crashing into something and the communion waffle, it's used like English's "damn it!", "shit!" or "fuck!").

And to say something is great, we say "de puta mare!" ("of a whore mother!").

Of course, besides those ones there's the insults and ways to tell people to go to hell. But we'll leave those for another day (believe me, that will be a long post).

People from Sant Cugat del Vallès (Barcelona Metropolitan Ambit, Catalonia) dancing their city's traditional dance Paga-li Joan (Catalan for "Pay it, John"), also known as "dance of the fan and the bouquet" (ball del vano i el ram).

This traditional dance is performed every year for the festa major (Catalan holiday that each city or town celebrates on the day of their patron saint), which in Sant Cugat is for Saint Peter (June 29th). The oldest known reference to Paga-li Joan being danced in Sant Cugat dates from the year 1780.

The dance is performed in pairs to the music played by a cobla (typical Catalan ensamble for street music). There's a turn for adults and a turn for children. The dancers dress elegantly and wear new clothes for the first time.

The name of the dance, "Pay it, John", comes from the song's lyrics. It talks about a young man from a farmer family and a young woman from a richer family, called Joan and Marieta respectively. In the song, Joan ponders if he should buy a fan for Marieta, if she will want it, and how he will pay since he doesn't have much money.

A long time ago, the dance had to be performed in couples of man and woman, and -as was usual for dances and other activities at the time- the dancers had to ask permission to their families. Like other dances of the time, it was seen as a socially acceptable way of getting close to the person they loved. Nowadays, there's no such control and men and women can hang out without pressure, the dance is open to same-sex dancing partners, and many people choose to dance with a friend.

Nowadays, the bouquets are made by the residents of a local elderly people's home, and the fans are designed for the occasion every year by the students of the Arts and Design School of Sant Cugat.

The shield of the Barça football team in the stained glass of a Medieval church.

This is the Santa Maria del Mar basilica in Barcelona, built in the 14th century. It’s one of the most beloved churches in Barcelona because it was built by the nieghnourhood. While most churches were built with the donation of a rich family, Santa Maria del Mar was built by everyone: those who had some money donated it, and those who didn’t have money donated their work.

This basilica has been through a lot: earthquakes, wars, fires… For this reason, the stained glasses have had to be changed multiple times until 1428, when an earthquake struck all Catalonia and destroyed Santa Maria del Mar’s rose window killing 30 people. But the last time that the stained glass were destroyed was in 1936, when an anti-clerical anarchist group set fire to the church, which burnt for a whole week. Luckily, there were descriptions and engravings of the original stained glass, so they could be rebuilt during the 20th century. One of the organizations that helped fund the reparations was Barça, so their shield was added to the details at the window of the second floor at the left of the altar.

Bona diada dels Països Catalans!

Sant Joan és una de les poques festes (de fet, l'única que no és una celebració religiosa) que se celebra de forma conjunta arreu dels Països Catalans: des de la Flama del Canigó a la Catalunya Nord, a les fogueres d'Alacant, les festes amb cavalls de Ciutadella i la crema de bujots a Sant Lluís a Menorca, el ball de Sant Joan Pelós a diverses localitats de Mallorca, les baixades de falles al Pirineu i Andorra i totes les revetlles populars celebrades arreu de Catalunya, el País Valencià, la Franja i l'Alguer.

És una festa lligada al foc i a l'aigua, que simbolitza el final de la sega dels camps ("Pel juny, la falç al puny") i la celebració del solstici d'estiu. Des de la dècada del 1980, se celebra també com a Festa Nacional dels Països Catalans, amb el foc i la llengua com a elements centrals que ens agermanen, i com a símbol de resistència del poble català, que no s'ha deixat vèncer pels segles de repressió i persecució dels estats espanyol i francès.

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Happy Day of the Catalan Countries!

Sant Joan (Midsummer, June 24th) is one of the few holidays (in fact, the only one that isn't a religious feast) that is celebrated together all around the Catalan Countries: from the Canigó Flame in Northern Catalonia, to the Alacant bonfires, the horse festivities of Ciutadella and the burning of Bujots in Sant Lluís in Menorca, the Sant Joan Pelós dance in various towns of Mallorca, the falles in the Pyrenees and Andorra, and all the eve parties and festivals celebrated all around Catalonia, the Valencian Country, la Franja and L'Alguer.

The bubota (=ghost) Joanaina, drawn by Marc Bou for the book on Valencian legends Guia inacabada de la fantasia valenciana.

Bubotes are ghosts in Mallorcan and Valencian legends. One of them is called Joanaina (in some versions she's a bubota-ghost and in some versions she's an encantada-fairy).

The legends say that she appears at midnight on the night of Sant Joan's eve (the summer solstice, considered in the culture of the Catalan Countries to be the most magical night of the year and the moment where the magical world and the human world meet) in the fountain called Font de la Jana in the town of Teulada. She offers passer-bys to grant them wishes, but they must follow their side of the agreement. She says: "I will grant you any wish you want if you carry a weight on your back all the way to the door of Teulada's church. There is only one condition: you must not turn around to know what it is that you are carrying."

Coca de tonyina or coca farcida, known as coca de Sant Joan (Saint John’s flat bread) in Alacantí. This is a salted closed coca, a bit similar to an empanada, filled with tuna, onion, olive oil, white wine, and usually also peppers, pine nuts, and anise, and in Marina Baixa samfaina.

It’s traditional from the Alacantí and Marina Baixa areas in the south of the Valencian Country, where it is eaten on Saint John’s Night (June 23rd-24th). It used to be made as a prize for those who prepared the bonfires for the celebration of Saint John.

Coca de Sant Joan 😋 the traditional dessert for the holiday of Sant Joan (Saint John's Day or Midsummer in Catalan culture).

Any 1989, Catalunya (2) (3) by visol

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