You may well see all over Andalucía new streets and urbanisations called 28 Febrero. This is the “Dia of Andalucía” and is a holiday all over Andalucia. The history of Andaluz autonomy dates back to the beginning of the last century. In 1918 Blas Infante, the founder of modern Andalucían nationalism, drew up a charter for Andalucía and the current flag and coat of arms were adopted.
In 1936 Blas Infante wrote a separate statute of autonomy for Andalucía and it was approved by parliament in June of that year. However the civil war intervened and Infante was assassinated in August. Incidentally, Blas Infante was a local lad from Casares near Manilva and his home there is now a museum.
Andalucía was not recognised as an autonomous region in the new post Franco constitution of 1978 but there was a referendum vote on the 28th of February 1980 which achieved the overwhelming majority needed for an autonomous government- but the Andaluces still had to wait two more years for their autonomy to be ratified. The statute was again reformed in May of this year.
Spain actually has seventeen autonomous regions. They each have their own parliament, president, government, administration and Supreme Court. Obviously, they all have their own flag and capital city, Andalucia’s flag is known as the “Bandera Blanca y Verde” and is the basic subject of the Andaluz anthem (Himno de Andalucía).
Seville is the Capital City and a very beautiful one too! Regional parliament elections are held in Andalucía every four years and the current president, Manuel Chaves is from the socialist PSOE party. He enjoys a very high level of support from the Andaluz public.
Andalucía has 8 provinces (Cadiz, Almeria, Málaga, Huelva, Seville, Jaén, Granada and Córdoba). These provinces have responsibilities in all areas including health and education. However there is a centralised curriculum for all schools and the SAS (Servicio Andaluz de Salud) is also centrally organised as well to make best use of resources. Incidentally, the SAS is a fantastic health service and has a higher ranking in the league tables than the UK!
As an autonomous region of Spain Andalucía is of great importance. Over 22 million tourists arrive each year and contribute greatly to the national coffers. An ever growing population due to immigration from the more Northern EU states means that the traditional problem of population loss is being reversed and the working population is expanding too. Finally, the Andaluz lifestyle is one of the healthiest in Spain with women expected to live to 82 and men to 75.
So what happens on the Dia de Andalucia? The children at primary school spend several days preparing flags and learning the anthem, perhaps even preparing a play. The last day of school before the holiday they may well have a national breakfast of hot chocolate and a tostado (well as close to Andaluz as there is) and spend the morning playing friendly matches of all sorts of games and singing the anthem. A fun day!
Inevitably, Town Halls all over Andalucia also celebrate with official acts and presentations. This is the day when many towns name their “hijos predilecto”, people who have performed services for the area. Celebrations also occur in Seville and Manuel Chaves, the President makes an address.
