Today in Spanish History.

 

On this day in 1895, Carlos VII, the Carlist claimant to the Spanish throne, instituted the memorial for the "Martyrs of Tradition."

It commemorates all who have died in service to the Comunion Tradicionalista over the years. 

The closest American analogue is Memorial Day. But the Carlist version is much, much more militant. 

As the late Jose Maria Gironella pointed out in his Note for the American edition of The Cypresses Believe In God, Americans have a hard time making analogies and their understandings of common terms fit Spain. In Spain, a Catholic is a Spanish Catholic, a Communist is a Spanish Communist, and so forth. Ideas are embraced because the men who hold such ideas are embraced first. 

In other words, if all analogies limp a little, then American analogies for Spain may do little more than twitch slightly. Keep that in mind for 10 marzo.