Spain is a very diverse, colorful country, representatives of several peoples live in it and speak four national languages. Despite this, the Spanish people have a pronounced, uniform mentality, which is manifested in the behavior, habits, and traditions of the Spaniards.
What is mentality?
Each person has a unique character and individual characteristics, which depend on many factors, including genetics, upbringing, environmental conditions. But, living in the same territory, in the same conditions, interacting with each other, people develop common ideas about life, about the concepts of good and evil, about how to behave correctly in certain situations. This is how the mentality develops - a set of human properties and qualities that determine the behavior, mentality, life position of a certain group of people. Each nation has a unique mentality, and it cannot be said that the mentality of one nation is better than another.
Spanish mentality
In a few words, the Spanish mentality can be explained by one popular Spanish proverb: "Life is made for pleasure, not suffering." Almost all Spaniards are true hedonists, they prefer to enjoy every moment of life, rather than worry about possible suffering in the future or remember past failures. This can explain the passion of this nation for food and love - two of the most significant physical pleasures. The Spaniards are no less anxious about food than the French, but they differ from them in a simpler, less intricate taste: they adore meat flavored with aromatic herbs, eat all kinds of seafood and fish soups, and are very fond of wine.
The desire for pleasure here and now has led to another habit of the Spaniards - to put off many things for later, to lead a leisurely, measured way of life. On the one hand, they are a very hot, quick-tempered people with impulsive movements, quick and emotional speech and deep feelings, and on the other hand, they like to live slowly, quietly and peacefully. In Spain, you can often hear the word "manyana", which means tomorrow - putting off anything until tomorrow, they do not mean exactly tomorrow.
The Spaniards are very sociable and friendly, they quickly make contact, from the first meeting they kiss and hug and immediately switch to "you". But they often seem rude to foreigners: close relationships do not imply the use of the words "thank you" and "please" (even in stores it is not customary to say them), people are straightforward and open, and when they meet, they behave too aggressively, shout, slap each other on the shoulders or back.
But the Spaniards behave differently with women: they cannot but pay compliments. Some insecure foreign women perceive this as disrespectful or sarcasm, but these people really treat all girls as beauties: they know how to find beauty in everything.
Family relations play a very important role in the Spanish mentality, even in modern conditions, often several generations live in the same house, and the tradition of gathering for the holidays is unchanged.
