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Nine things you should never say to a Valencian person

Whether it be insulting their regional dishes, turning your nose up at their favourite celebrations, or insinuating they're all corrupt, there are a few things you should never say to a Valencian, writes Valencia resident Conor Faulkner.

Published: 20 March 2024 09:12 CET
Updated: 24 March 2024 07:44 CET

A group of women dressed up in traditional "fallera" costumes. Whatever you do, don't criticise Valencia's iconic Fallas festival. (Photo by JOSE JORDAN / AFP)

Paella with chorizo (or anything non-traditional)

Valencians will proudly tell you that paella originated in the Valencia region, and they’d be right. The first written recipes date back to the 18th century, though historians believe this classic of Spanish gastronomy dates back much further than that, and existed for possibly centuries before as a rural dish that threw together ingredients to hand in the region, namely rabbit, chicken, rice, and green beans.

However, Valencians are pretty particular when it comes to paella recipes, as British celebrity chef Jamie Oliver found out a few years ago when he put chorizo in his recipe and caused an internet meltdown.

Adding anything non-traditional to a paella, especially chorizo, will undoubtedly lead locals to dismissively describe it as mere arroz con cosas (rice with stuff).

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Calling the pan a ‘paellera’

That in mind, don’t call the huge pan used to make paella a paellera, as some people mistakenly do. This is another sure way to rub a Valencian up the wrong way, because a paella is actually both the dish and the pan. This is a bit of a linguistic sore point for Valencians, as places like Amazon and even El Corte Inglés advertise paelleras.

A real paellera, for those interested, actually refers to the woman or man who makes paellas (who would never, ever dream of adding chorizo!).

Saying Las Fallas are loud/annoying/overrated (or anything negative)

Closely following paella when it comes to Valencian pride is las fallas, the city’s famous fire celebrations. Las Fallas, for those who haven’t ever been, is essentially a three week street party with fireworks and the burning of huge papier-mâché figures known as ninots.

Las Fallas comes from a centuries-old tradition of fire, humour, satire (ninots of celebrities and famous figures are burned) and community spirit (often each neighbourhood will have its own falla or club). However, the main thing about fallas is the noise, specifically the fireworks.

Every day at 2pm there’s the mascletá, a huge, incredibly loud firework display outside the town hall, and the rest of the city is filled with the booms, bangs, whizzes and roars of fireworks for most of the month (and most of the night).

For some Valencians, fallas is a bigger deal than Christmas, so don’t criticise it, even if you really don’t enjoy it. To do so would be like questioning their sense of self and identity, their sense of ‘Valencianess’. It would be like telling a Sevillano that Semana Santa is a bit of a drag… good luck with that.

However, say it quietly, but some Valencians agree and actually leave town themselves during fallas.

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Say Valenciano is a Catalan dialect

Accusing Valencians of being southern Catalans (Catalanes del sur) or speaking a dialect of Catalan is another surefire way to annoy them.

Though Valencian isn’t widely spoken in the city, in the towns and villages around the wider Valencian Community, it’s still very common and locals take great pride in speaking it (regardless of how linguistically similar it is to Catalan!).

Criticise the oranges

Valencian oranges are famous, right? Not only are they delicious, but orange trees line the streets around the city (not that you should actually eat those) and make it very picturesque.

Like with paella, criticising Valencian oranges would be a serious affront to Valencian identity and gastronomy — don’t do it!

Turn your nose up at horchata

Staying on that theme, saying that you don’t like horchata is another faux pas in Valencia.

Horchata, for those who haven’t tried, is a cold, refreshing drink made with sweetened tiger nuts, and usually dipped with long bits of pastry called fartons.

Ask if they are all corrupt

Valencia has, like many parts of Spain and the world, had its fair share of corrupt politicians and public figures over the years. In fact, in the 90s and early 2000s it became a bit of a stereotype and stain on the Valencian brand.

It’s true that there have been quite a few corrupt politicians, from former regional president Francisco Camps to ex-mayor Rita Barberá, but that does not reflect at all the average Valencian, who as a rule is very, very honest.

Ask if they’ve been to La Ciudad de las Artes y las Ciencias

Of course they have, it’s arguably the most famous attraction in Valencia!

However, the City or Arts and Sciences is not something that many Valencians would visit or even think about in their day-to-day lives. Asking them about it is probably something they’ve heard 1,000 times before from foreigners.

Asking if they know Calatrava personally or say that he is the only famous Valencian

That in mind, one thing that annoys some Valencians is the claim that world-famous architect Santiago Calatrava (the architect behind the Artes y Ciencias complex) is the only famous Valencian, or asking if they personally known him.

For those less up to speed on Valencian celebrities, locals will be quick to remind you of painter Sorolla, composer Joaquín Rodrigo, fashion designer Mariscal, singer Camilo Sexto, TV presenters Pablo Motos, Arturo Valls and Nuria Roca, footballers Andrés Palop and David Albelda as well as tennis stars Juan Carlos Ferrero and David Ferrer, just to name a few.

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Are Spaniards the world's most misunderstood sleepers?

Along with their supposed obsession with bullfighting and constant sipping on sangría, one of the timeless (yet misunderstood) stereotypes that foreigners have of Spaniards is that they have a siesta every day.

In reality, this is far from the truth. Often foreigners can mistake the laid back pace of life in Spain, combined with the easy going nature of many Spaniards and tradition of siestas (more on the history below) as evidence that Spaniards must sleep a lot.

In more reductionist terms, this leads to Spaniards sometimes being incorrectly characterised as lazy or work shy — any culture that has a tradition of taking a nap during the day must sleep more, right?

This is one of those cultural stereotypes that just feels right, even though the reality is quite different.

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Not only do Spaniards work more on average than many of their European neighbours, according to OECD figures, but new data has revealed that they actually sleep less than many others around the continent. Less, even, than many of their supposedly harder working Northern European neighbours.

According to statistics from the Sleep Cycle app, Spaniards sleep on average 7 hours and 13 minutes per day (or night).

For context, that makes Spain one of the countries with the lowest average sleep hours on the continent. Europe’s deepest sleepers are found in Holland and Finland (7 hours 37 minutes) followed by countries like the UK (7.33), Ireland (7.30) and France (7.29).

At the other end of the sleep spectrum, among the continent’s lightest sleepers (or those that sleep the least) are Italy (7.09), Russia (7.07), Poland (7.04) and Turkey, where Turks sleep an average of just 6.5 hours per night.

The reality

So, we know that Spaniards sleep less on average than many other nationalities. But what about siestas specifically?

Although many children and the elderly may choose to take a nap, most working people in Spain don’t have time to take a snooze during the working day.

According to survey data from 2016, 58 percent of Spaniards never take a siesta, while just 18 percent say they do so at least four days a week. Another 16 percent said they have one between one and three days a week, and 8 percent even less frequently than that.

In fact, data aside, anecdotally speaking many Spaniards claim they don’t sleep enough (siesta or no siesta) and they’d probably admit they should get more shut eye. The long-held siesta stereotype about Spain comes, in part, from history, climate and cliché, but also the structure of the Spanish working and social day.

"There is no night life in Spain. They stay up late but they get up late. That is not night life. That is delaying the day."

– Ernest Hemingway pic.twitter.com/9qQ33i4lQj

— Nick O'Brien (@NickLovesSpain) April 20, 2023

“Most workers have a split shift, and that ends up delaying our whole day. We Spaniards tend to have dinner after nine o’clock at night, and this means that we go to bed without having fully digested our food,” says Adela Fraile, sleep specialist at the HM Puerta del Sur University Hospital in Madrid.

This late eating custom, which usually means eating lunch between 2-4pm and then dinner anywhere from 9-11pm, is often the first thing many foreigners notice about Spain. But it’s not just that. As food is such an integral part of Spanish culture, other parts of life fit around lunch and dinner, rather than the other way around.

One example of this is the lateness of Spain’s prime time TV slot.

“We are also used to watching TV after dinner, and as prime time programmes start late, we often end up staying up until they finish,” Fraile adds. “Using devices such as computers, tablets or consoles in bed doesn’t help either… the German and the Spaniard get up at the same time, but the Spaniard has gone to bed later,” she concludes.

Nazi time zones

There’s also another slightly darker, historical explanation for the unconventional timekeeping and body clocks of Spaniards: the Nazis.

Although officially neutral during the Second World War, Spanish dictator Francisco Franco, who was keen to show his thanks for Nazi support during the Spanish Civil War, demonstrated this to Hitler by agreeing to put Spain’s clocks forward by an hour in an act of solidarity with Nazi Germany.

Spain has remained in the Central European Time zone ever since, in line with countries as far east as Poland. That means that Madrid currently has the same time as Warsaw in Poland 2,290km away but is one hour ahead of Lisbon which is only 502 km away.

This bizarre historical quirk has had a lasting impact on Spanish culture and society that underpins everything from Spaniard’s sleep cycles and meal times to the country’s birth rates and economic growth.

In recent years there have been calls to make the switch back to GMT because many believe the time zone quirk is affecting Spaniard’s productivity and quality of life. In 2013 a Spanish national commission concluded that Spaniards sleep significantly less than the European average, and that this led to increased stress, concentration problems, both at school and work, and workplace accidents.

The history of siestas

So, where does the siesta fit into all this?

After the Spanish Civil War, it was common for people to work two jobs to support their families: one in the morning and one in the afternoon. Taking a longer two-hour break allowed them to rest before starting their next job, and often this (understandably) included a nap.

Siestas were also used as a way to avoid midday heat, especially among agricultural workers. Spain is not alone in this tradition: workers in other countries close to the equator, such as Greece, Mexico, Ecuador, the Philippines, Costa Rica and Nigeria, observe similar sleep schedules.

These working hours, roughly 8/9am-2pm and 4pm-8pm, have endured in Spanish work culture until today, despite the fact that most Spaniards don’t work outside, have two jobs or take siestas for that matter.

When American in Spain Melissa Perri posed the question to Spaniards only “When do you sleep? Are you vampires?” one Spaniard replied “We have a culture built around the siesta and no time to take siestas any more, so people are getting less sleep than they need”.

Serious question for people from Spain…

When do you SLEEP?

Been here for a week. Dinner at 10pm (sometimes ELEVEN) and at work by 9am. Weekends people in their 40s and 50s out until 3am.

Are you vampires? How do you do it? What’s the secret?

— Melissa Perri (@lissijean) May 31, 2023

The future of siestas

So, what of siestas in the future? As the data shows, Spaniards sleep less than most other countries, and very few Spaniards actually take a siesta during the working week. In that sense, siestas could continue their downward trajectory and slowly die out over time.

Recent proposals by the Spanish government to cut the working week, which would likely mean that many Spaniards have a shorter lunch break and finish work earlier, say around 5pm or 6pm, would probably accentuate this trend and remove the need for afternoon naps for many people.

However, there’s also some evidence that the Covid-19 pandemic caused a slight resurgence in siesta sleeping among Spaniards. The rise of remote working (known as teletrabajo in Spanish) led many to reassess their sleeping habits, and as time goes on and the working world becomes increasingly digitised and online, perhaps Spaniards will begin splitting up the day again when working from home.

One thing seems certain, however. Siestas, like bullfighting and sangría and screaming olé for no good reason, will probably live on as a Spanish stereotype for a long while yet.

Now, time for a lie down.

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