The Spanish Civil War: Religion--Cultural Values

Spanish Civil War camp
Figure 1.--The photo was taken during the Spanish Civil War in a camp for displaced children from Republican areas. The camp was in the country near the city of Valencia. This is just south of Catalonia and as in Caralonia there was widespread support for th Republic. We can see the anti-clerical attitude of the Republican governement in the photo. The children were encouraged to be unclothed. Yu would not have seen that in Nationalist camps. That was against the idea of modesty promoted by the Catholic Church. This may not have been a great problem for the children and their family, because in Spain, as in other Countries with Catholic tradition, there was a great gap between the official teaching and the real practice of modesty, at least among low-income families.

Spain was a very conservative country, not only politically, but culturally as well. The Church had a stronly puratanical thread. And this was nt altered much nby liberal thinking tht had begun to affect other areas f Western Europe. A factor here was the role that the Church had tradiionally played in education. And the hold the Church had on Spanish women. The Church insisted that women should dress modestly. Not as severe as Muslims today, but still more modestly than other aeas of Europe. Spanish women, for example, did not wear pants until fter Franco died. Catholic schools tended to have severe dress codes. We are not entirely sure just why, but left-wing groups tended to have much more relaxed attitudes on cultural issues, including marriage and modest dress. We note that after the Revolution in Russia, the Communists briefly dabbled in free love. This soon chnged even before Stalin gained power. This puritanicl out look seems to be the rule onc Communists have gained power. Communist regimes are notable for their puritanical social values. We note that in Spain, perhas in reaction to clerical puritanism, a definite relaxation in conservative cultural values, including issues like marriage, dress, and modesty.







HBC







Navigate the Boys' Historical Clothing Web Site:
[Return to Main Spanish Civil War religion page]
[Return to Main Spanish Civil War page]
[Return to Main Spanish World War II page]
[Return to Main Spanish history page]
[Biographies] [Campaigns] [Children] [Countries] [Deciding factors] [Diplomacy] [Geo-political crisis] [Economics] [Home front] [Intelligence]
[POWs] [Resistance] [Race] [Refugees] [Technology]
[Bibliographies] [Contributions] [FAQs] [Images] [Links] [Registration] [Tools]
[Return to Main World War II page]
[Return to Main war essay page]





Created: 7:20 PM 5/18/2013
Last updated: 7:20 PM 5/18/2013