IN! INDE! INDEPENDECIA!

Heard about this place called Earth? It's a strange planet. Lots of unique thing called life. So far, found nowhere else in the known Universe.
Imagine orbiting the planet. You are getting closer. You start to see enourmous amounts of water and some brown, white, grey and green areas, made of dirt, ice, rocks and woods.
Zoom closer. To the place called Europe. Move to the far, left (or if you may - west) end of it. You will be in Spain. And in that little part of the globe, continent and country, you will find Catalonia.
Zoom further. Look for Barcelona.
And look for the V

Source: Twitter @ArnauPadro

Source: Twitter @quimsb

This is what was happening yesterday in Barcelona.

It is called Diada Nacional de Catalunya, or Catalonia National Day. And I was in the middle of it.

Let me take you back, to the beginning. It is a day to commemorate Catalonia losing it's independece in 1714 to Spain. As you can easily calculate, yesterday it was the 300th anniversary of that event. Ever since, the Catalans did not forget that they were independent. Nowadays, every year they celebrate the loss of their country. And they do it in the most amazing peaceful civil disobiedence way. I think only Gandhi did a better job in India.

Now back again to the closer history, that took place on the day before today.

Starting off in Vic train station. Pretty crowded.

And Barcelona doesn't look so scary.

Until you get closer to Diagonal Avenue. The more you go, the more time passes by, the more people start to gather.

The V shape stands for two things. One is Vote, as in the referendum for independence. Something like the one, that will take place soon in Scotland. Only difference is, this one is more like a opinion rather than actual independece. And even that form is met with strong opposition from Spanish government. I am not sure, if it won't be by any chance conducted illegaly.

Finally. Our place. If you want to be a part of human flag, you need to wear a yellow or a red shirt and stand in the designated area. Four people for each one of 9 stripes - 5 yellow and 4 red. The red and yellow stripes are the official flag of Catalonia. The white star in blue you see... well, everywhere, is the flag for supporting the independence. 

Of course, there are people against it. But they live high enough, and thousands of independence supporters can't reach them, so they can bring out the Spanish flag.

Madness is getting closer.

More intense.

Here you see a vote box, made of wood and being held and taken forward by the Catalans. And some Koreans, Italian and Polish :).

The chopper that took the picture.

And the joy. It is the first time, I was a part of a crowd I was happy to be a part of. The colours, the sound, the chills running through the body along with the feeling of being inside of something so much greater than one person.

The kiddo gets it.

Along with some old-timers.

Just need to get back to Vic... It might take awhile!

I will be honest. I got a heatstroke. And I experienced the best thing in my life in Barcelona on 11 of September. I wish that one day, you will have the chance to see, hear and feel the same unique things I did.