Critical Wording

In exploring regions marked by adversity, it’s evident, that within every challenge, lies an opportunity for growth and resilience. It’s the never-ending spirit of humanity that inspires hope. By highlighting stories of people and communities who rise above their circumstances, we can celebrate the strength that comes from unity and determination. These encounters have led me to believe that ultimately, there is more good than bad in the world. I’m inspired to seek out the moments of kindness that illuminate even the darkest of times.

This is how I felt in Valencia, Spain as I watched the local people fully immersed in Fallas Festival (The Festival of Fire). Fallas Festival is the burning of winter (the old) and welcoming Spring.

It was a wild time.

People were dancing and singing around wood fires they built in the middle of the road (that had been blocked off) in the center of the Old Town. On top the wood fires were every kind of paella you can imagine. Paella is a traditional Spanish dish that originated in the Valencia region.  It’s a rice dish typically cooked in a wide, shallow pan called a “paellera.”

There were hundreds of Paella fires in the eight blocks of town.  No tickets were sold. It was just a community gathering where everyone shared their Paella and their libations. The drink of choice is usually Cava or Vermouth but there was wine and beer flowing freely as well.

When I first stumbled into the festival, by accident, It seemed like a huge party of 18-29 year olds. Then I realized that each block had a different feel. There were families on one block, older people on another. This is where I met Aitana.  Aitana was 84 and she was hosting her 65th fire.  She was one of the few people I met that spoke fluent English.  I know just enough Spanish to find the bathroom – but I am learning.

Aitana introduced herself and welcomed me to her fire by handing me a long stick and telling me to “move the fire”.  She introduced me to her neighbor, Sofia, who was wearing a bright yellow hat with ribbons reaching her knees, covered in real flowers, and her other neighbor Julia, who was busy waving her red and gold scarf in time to the the “falleras” music, which is characterized by “ones ability to move erratically to the beat” blasting from a nearby speaker – with her eyes closed, Julia was obviously savoring the moment.

Aitana asked where I was from and I told her Michigan, the US. Immediately her welcome smile left her face. She reached for the stick she had given me and placed it on the fence. Not gonna lie, I thought she was angry that I was from America. Then she sat down and took my hand and tucked it into her lap and very seriously looked me in the eyes and told me to be careful. She believed our new President and his friends were very dangerous, especially for women. Aitana would know.

Aitana fought all her life for her rights. She was born in 1941 under Francisco Franco’s dictatorship and lived most of her life (until 1975) marked by repression, censorship, and few civil liberties. Francoist ideology held that biologically, women did not have the same intellectual capacity as men. This belief was used to justify discrimination against women.

Aitana told me she wanted to be a lawyer in her 20’s but she was not allowed to go to University, legal and diplomatic careers were not an option. Women made up only 8.8% of all university students, most were studying to be elementary teachers. Gregorio Marañón, an influential doctor, believed that education for women was not important, that the only thing a woman should learn was how to support her husband and live in happy co-existence with him while performing her biological role of becoming a mother and thus serving the state’s interests.

Under Francisco Franco’s dictatorship, Women required permission from their husbands to work, open bank accounts, or travel.  The regime promoted traditional gender roles, emphasizing women’s duties as wives and mothers while excluding them from public life and professional opportunities.  

Aitana mother wasn’t having it. Aitana found out when she was a teenager that her mother was a leader of the “Mujeres Libres” (Free Women) resistance movement when her mother was detained for eight days and released on house arrest. Aitana would later take a leadership role in the feminist fight for equality. She too was imprisoned four separate times for “protesta pacifica”. The longest she was detained was just under a year in 1965.  “This made me angry, and anger made me stronger.”

Aitana met and married Emiliano when she was 25, a history professor twelve years older than her and had five daughters. Emiliano passed in 1990.  Aitana says she will never marry again because noone else could compare.

In 1979, at the age of 38, Aitana graduated University with a degree in law.  She has fought for women’s rights her whole life.  She still works pro bono for a program for trafficked women.

Aitana knew that the US removed International Women’s Day from all calendars and she thought we should be more angry about that than we are. See, “these are all tests to see what we allow. You should allow nothing. Everyday, in the streets and in the paper, you fight for yourself and your daughters.”

Aitana emphasized that we, as women, need to be aware.  We need to act immediately and shut down misogyny.  We need to be brave and to fight for our constitution and rule of law now. We need to bring awareness of the actions of our leaders to all women – as they pertain to us. “Not everyone will know, you must tell them, you must use your voice and your pen and tell them”.

Before I left, Aitana gave me a yellow ribbon from her friends hat and said, “be vigilant, be strong, speak your truth, that is from my mother and me.

"Es más difícil deshacerse de algo establecido que impedir que se establezca"

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