SHARE
COPY LINK

PROPERTY

Why do many Spanish homes have bidets?

Whether you hate them or love them, one thing’s for certain – you can still find lots of bidets in Spain. There's even a Spanish city where it's mandatory by law for these ceramic washbowls for your privates to be installed in new homes.

Why do many Spanish homes have bidets?
Why do so many homes in Spain have bidets?

Bidets were invented by the French during the 1600s, but while they are now virtually non-existent in France, in Spain they’re still in many homes.

If you’re not very familiar with bidets, you might make the mistake of thinking they’re for washing feet (or a great place for hand washing clothes), but in fact they are specifically for washing your nether regions after going to the toilet, instead of using toilet paper. You sit on them, turn on the tap, wash your bum, you get the picture. 

They were mainly introduced for hygiene purposes and throughout the ages, many doctors have championed their use. 

It’s not only in Spain where bidets are popular, they’re also widely used in Italy, Portugal, Greece, some South American countries, Japan and India. That means that for a great number of foreigners who move to Spain, it’s the first time they’ve ever seen a bidet. 

Bidets were first introduced in Spain in the 1960s, during the Franco era, and soon became a must-have luxury.

READ ALSO: Why are Spanish homes so dark?

In the 1970s and 1980s, the bidet became standard in most households in Spain and was just as common as a sink or a toilet. They even became mandatory in apartments with four or more bedrooms according to the official public protection system. It was also obligatory for social housing between 1976 and 1978.

During the 1980s, it was very common for most hotels in Spain to have bidets too.  

But after the 1980s, the popularity of bidets began to wane. Bathrooms started to get smaller and even baths were replaced by simple showers. Even so, they remained in many Spanish households until the early 2000s. 

Between 2010 and 2020, the number of bidets in Spain fell by 60 percent.

READ ALSO: Why do so many Spanish homes have ‘popcorn’ textured walls?

This means that bidets are much more common in older properties in Spain, but you may still find them in homes where the bathrooms have not been refurbished recently. 

bidet spain
Many Spanish homeowners nowadays are prepared to sacrifice their bidets for the sake of having extra space in their bathrooms. Photo: Mariakray/Pixabay
 

Bidets are still law in one place in Spain

There is one place in Spain where the bidet remains mandatory and where you’ll see them everywhere. This is the city of Zamora in Castilla y León (western Spain). Here bidets are still a requirement for bathrooms in all new builds.

This is the only city in Spain where the installation of bidets is still mandatory by law, a rule which has been in place since 1986.

These requirements were maintained when the plan was renewed in 2001 and again in 2011 with the General Urban Planning Plan (PGOU) law, which is currently in force.

Increase in popularity again during the pandemic

While in most other places of Spain, the presence of bidets is disappearing, they did become important once more during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Due to the lack of toilet paper available in supermarkets, Google searches for bidets increased by 1,000 percent, particularly in Spain.

Could there be a resurgence of bidets or was this just a trend during the pandemic?

We may still see bidets in Spain for a few more years yet. ¡Viva el bidé! (Long live the bidet!)

Member comments

Log in here to leave a comment.
Become a Member to leave a comment.

SPAIN AND UK

Why do Scotland and Tenerife have the same flag?

The flag of Scotland and the Spanish island of Tenerife are practically the same. Sheer coincidence, historical explanation or conspiracy theory?

Why do Scotland and Tenerife have the same flag?

The flags of Scotland and the Canary island of Tenerife are both navy blue with a white diagonal cross, known as St Andrew’s Cross. 

They’re pretty much identical, aside from the fact that the Scottish one is a slightly darker shade of blue. 

When visiting Tenerife in 2020, outgoing British ambassador to Spain Hugh Elliott also asked why the Scottish flag was on top of Tenerife’s Cabildo government building.

So why the resemblance? Well, nobody is 100 percent sure why. 

The most outlandish theory is that most influential Canary politicians in the 19th century belonged to the Masonic Grand Lodge of Scotland and proposed a design similar to the Tenerife flag to honour the Scottish freemasons. 

In fact, there is an abandoned masonic temple in the heart of Santa Cruz de Tenerife that is currently being renovated, one of the few that survived Spanish dictator Franco’s regime.

Another theory states that the Scottish design was adopted as a sign of respect for the bravery of Scottish sailors who fought alongside the chicharreros (as the locals are called) in the Battle of Santa Cruz in 1797, when Great Britain’s Admiral Nelson tried to invade the city and the archipelago, but ultimately has his arm blown off by a cannonball and lost the battle. 

Scottish and Irish merchants did trade and live in the Atlantic islands for centuries; unfortunately though, it seems that there is less interesting explanation as to why Tenerife and Scotland probably share the same flag. 

READ ALSO: Why are there so many Irish street names in the Canary Islands?

The first records of St. Andrew’s flag being used in the Canary Islands are from 1845, when the archipelago became a maritime province of Spain and all Canary boats had to hoist this bandera (flag in Spanish). In 1867, the maritime province was split in two and Tenerife kept the flag.

Some say the blue represents the deep blue sea surrounding the isles and the white the snow on top of Teide, a dormant volcano in the centre of Tenerife and Spain’s highest peak. 

In Scotland’s case, the St Andrew’s Cross or Saltire is said to be the oldest flag in Europe, originating in a battle fought in 832AD when King Angus saw the cloud formation of a white saltire.

Legend has it Andrew the Apostle was crucified on a diagonal cross known as a saltire.

St. Andrew also happens to be a patron saint of Tenerife along with their own Virgin La Virgen de Candelaria, and there’s a seaside town close to the capital called San Andrés.

So perhaps the resemblance between the two flags is a combination of historical links and coincide. After all, it wouldn’t be the first time that two flags from different places are practically the same or very similar: Chad’s and Romania’s, Indonesia’s and Monaco’s or Ireland’s and Ivory Coast’s, to name a few.

SHOW COMMENTS