MUNDO CELTA
The Spanish Cultural Institute of Dublin was forging cultural links en 1976
SPAIN: A critical era
By Christina Murphy
THE SPANISH CULTURAL INSTITUTE OF DUBLIN is a relative newcomer to the international cultural scene in Dublin. It is small compared to its French and German counterparts, both of which have been established for much longer. The Spanish Institute was opened en 1972, and slowly has been making an increasingly great impact on Irish cultural life. It is part of the Spanish Embassy, funded by the Spanish Government, but operates separately in separate premises at 58 Northumberland Road, Dublin.
The director is José Antonio Sierra, who came to Dublin to study in the late sixties. He was brough up in Avila, near Salamanca, the location of one of the Irish colleges in Spain, and as a young heard a lot about Ireland. He talks of the historical links between Ireland and Spain and sees the role of the Institute as one of building cultural links between the two countries. He is anxious to foster exchange between cultural, professional and educational bodies in both countries.
The Institute has over 500 members. Membership costs 2 pounds per year and entitles one to use of its library, be informed regularly of all the activities of the institute, atend courses (at an extra fee) and to reduced rates for cultural and educational activities. The institute also operates a very useful audiovisual loans scheme for schools and colleges. For an annual fee of 3 pounds schools can avail of any of the insitute´s films, tapes, slides and other such material.
After French, Spanish is now the second most widely taught foreign language in the Republic of Ireland; at present 12,000 Irish people are studying Spanish. There are 187 schools around the country teaching the subject. (Co.Leitrim is the only county where Spanish is not taught). The Institute gives a lot of support to teachers of Spanish and ran refresher courses in the summer.
Interest is spreading at adult education level because of the large number of people going to Spain on holidays. There are also people interested in Latin America who learn Spanish and a number who need it for trade and business. The Institute runs a number of Spanish classes, and a small class in Catalan. So far there is no demands to study Basque. Rates for the courses start from 5 pounds a term and are cheaper than in commercial language schools.
The institute is trying to get an interesting experiment in schools twinning on the ground. The idea es to enable students to stay in each other´s homes in Spain and Ireland and, perhaps, spend some time in a school in Spain or Ireland as the case mey be. The scheme would also encourage teacher-exchange between schools and correspondence and pen-friend schemes.
In Ireland we probably tend to think of Spanish as being spoken solely in Spain, but it is spoken by over 300 million people between Spain and Latin America and in global terms is the most widely used language after English.
On the cultural level the institute arranges a number of cultural events and visits of flamenco dancers and musicians: later this year the well-known flamenco guitarist, Serranito, will visit Ireland. Other activities have been the Spanish film week, and the performance two years ago by the Teatro Nacional Maria Guerrero of "Misericordia" in Spanish at the Abbey theatre. It was most successful.
In co-operation with the National Gallery the institute is organising a series of lectures on the history of Spanish painting. It has thousands of slides of Spanish art for lending, and is exploring the possibility of an exchange scheme between the art school in Waterford and one in Spain.
Descendants of Wild Geese
SPANISH people of Irish descent are very much aware of their origin. Indeed in 1972 an association of Spaniards of Irish origin was established with branches in Barcelona and Madrid. Wild Geese Spanish Clan, or in Spanish El Clan Español de los Patos Salvajes. According to the clan there are 300 Spanish surnames of Irish origin and 1,500 families bearing these names today. Some of the founding members of the association were O´Donnells, O´Callaghans, O´Neills, Eyres and others.
The Barcelona newspaper Hoja del Lunes, when writing about the clan, told the story of the Spanish horse competing at Olympia in London called 'Federico Kirpatrick O´Donnell O´Farrell' -and everyone thought that it had been mistaken for an Irish horse.
The most common Irish names in Spain, the clan says are O'Donnell, O'Callaghan and O'Connor. They are very proud of a Spainsh Father O'Callaghan who made important discoveries in the Caves of Qumran and a General Leopoldo O'Donnell, all of whose family followed a military career.
Some members of the clan visited Ireland last year. 'Españoles irlandeses' Hoja del Lunes tells us, "have a true Irish spirit"; they are sentimental, proud of their origin and "with the famous temperament which has made Irish literature legendary".
Fuente
THE IRISH TIMES
February 18, 1976
Dublin, Irlanda
