Is it not terrible how some people never seem to get enough? Compare the average income of the inhabitants of Sitges to that of Vilanova and it becomes sadly clear who has the most money. But the Sitgetans do not seem to feel any shame. Now they want back an old cannon although, some generations ago, they handed it over as a gift.
True, it was not their meaning to give the cannon to their neighbour town, but to Victor Balaguer, a prominent Catalan 19th century politician and writer who represented Sitges, as well as other towns, in the parliament in Madrid. However, Victor Balaguer was a true philanthropist and during the later part of his life he decided to create a museum where his big collection of art as well as more odd things would be shown to the public. That museum was built here in Vilanova i la Geltrú.
The cannon is ours and to show the new-won affection we have for it since Sitges started to claim it back, this year it was paraded during the carnival. It even saw a song with an innumerable amount of verses written for it. Personally, since I am still a Carnaval de Vilanova “outsider”, I appreciated this occasion a great deal, because it was enough for you to sing along to become one of the participants. And since other people seemed to feel the same, I am confident that Vilanova has created itself a new tradition.
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For those of you who study Catalan, here are a few of my favourite verses:
Que n’aprenguin els de Sitges
Dels sabers de Santa Rita
Ni que es tracti d’un canó
‘lo que se da no se quita’
A Sitges i a Vilafranca
El Xató no és pas de mena
Que ens han dit que l’encomanen
Als congelats 'La Sirena'
Caramels i Malcasats
I també el Moixó Foguer
I a partir d’ara i per sempre
El Canó d’en Balaguer
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Technorati tags: Carnival, Catalan, Catalonia, Garraf, Penedès, Sitges, Vilanova
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