This is a summer night ritual in most parts of Spain: as the daytime heat subsides, chairs are dragged onto the street Fresh to chat with. Now, an enterprising village in southern Spain is seeking to make this tradition recognized by the local government. United Nations As a cultural treasure.
The mayor of Algar, José Carlos Sánchez, said the purpose of this is to protect centuries-old customs from the threats of social media and television. There are approximately 1,400 people in Algar Town. “It’s the opposite of social media,” he told the Guardian. “This is about face-to-face conversation.”
Sanchez recently applied to add this custom to UNESCO’s list of intangible cultural heritage, hoping that it will have a place in the list including art. Neapolitan Pizza Making Finnish sauna culture and Mowing competition In Bosnia and Herzegovina.
He admits that this is a novel way of thinking about impromptu and usually mediocre gatherings that have long provided people with a chance to escape the heat.But every time the big family and neighbors White town -Or White Town-walk in front of them, he thinks this is an effort to maintain tradition.
“But this is not the case,” Sanchez said. “So we want everyone to be outdoors instead of browsing Facebook or watching TV at home.”
Sánchez often spends warm summer evenings at the door of his 82-year-old mother’s house, and he quickly enumerates the many so-called benefits. New talk, From the energy saved by turning off the air conditioner for a few hours, to the sense of community formed by neighbors sharing gossip of the day or commenting on the latest news stories.
Night chat also provides a psychological relief to stay alone when you are worried Mental health becomes acute, He argued. The 38-year-old said: “Residents go to the street, and they get treatment instead of loneliness.” “They share their stories or the problems they are experiencing, and the neighbors will try to help.”
He said that the residents of this small village responded enthusiastically to his application for World Heritage status. “So far, I haven’t received any criticism. This is very positive.” He is waiting for a response on the next steps, but he expects this will be a slow process that may take several years.
However, at the same time, his exploration of the cultural significance of this custom produced unexpected benefits: media reports from all over the country flooded in, giving him the opportunity to block his small village between two natural parks in the south. . Spain.
“In Madrid, they started to learn about Algar. In Barcelona, too. In many other areas,” he said. “So we are providing free publicity to the city government.”
