Majo
{{Short description|Class of Spanish society}}
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{{redirect|Majas|the locality in Mumbai|Jogeshwari}}
File:El paseo de Andalucía.jpg, depicts both majas and majos.]]
Majo (masc., {{IPA|es|ˈma.xo|}}) or maja (fem., {{IPA|es|ˈma.xa|}}), also manolo and manola, after the most popular names, were people from the lower classes of Spanish society, especially in Madrid, who distinguished themselves by their elaborate outfits and sense of style in dress and manners, as well as by their cheeky behavior.{{Cite web|url=https://www.madripedia.es|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20111106043446/http://madripedia.es/wiki/Tipos_castizos|url-status=dead|title=Toda la información sobre Madrid y España - Madripedia|archivedate=November 6, 2011|website=Toda la información sobre Madrid y España - Madripedia}}
They flourished from the late 18th to early 19th century, and to some extent later. Majos and majas were one of the favorite subjects of some 19th-century Spanish painters.
The majos and majas outfits were exaggerations of traditional Spanish dress. The style stood in strong contrast to the French styles affected by many of the Spanish elite under the influence of the Enlightenment. Majos were known to pick fights with those they saw as afrancesados ("Frenchified" – fops).Charles J. Esdaile, Spain in the Liberal Age, Blackwell, 2000. {{ISBN|0-631-14988-0}}. p. 10.
Etymology
The word is suggested to derive from Spanish majar, with the meaning of "bother,"Roberts, E. A. (2014:156). A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the Spanish Language with Families of Words Based on Indo-European Roots. United States: Xlibris. but a Romani etymology from masha, "fascinator, enticer," is also suggested; this word is the root of English masher.{{Cite web|url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/295351640_Swagger_and_Sashay_An_etymology_for_Spanish_MajoMaja|title=Swagger and Sashay: An etymology for Spanish Majo/Maja | Request PDF}} Other sources try to connect it to Maia and May queens.The Christian Teacher. (1839:218). United Kingdom: Simpkin, Marshall & Company.The Cornhill Magazine. (1900:296). United Kingdom: Smith, Elder..
Popularity
Although majos of both sexes were frequent subjects of painter Francisco Goya, two of his majas, La maja vestida and La maja desnuda (the same model, clothed and nude respectively), would gain international renown.
The outfit of the maja would influence the costume of the eponymous protagonist of Georges Bizet's French opera Carmen in the mid-19th century.{{Cite journal|url=https://journals.openedition.org/mcv/2245|title=París y la españolada|first1=Luis|last1=Sazatornil Ruiz|first2=Ana Belén|last2=Lasheras Peña|date=November 15, 2005|journal=Mélanges de la Casa de Velázquez |series=Nouvelle série|issue=35-2|pages=265–290|via=journals.openedition.org|doi=10.4000/mcv.2245|doi-access=free}}
In the 20th century, with the popularization of Spain as a tourist destination, the manola or maja, often holding a folding fan, increasingly gained recognition as the image of a stereotypical traditional Spanish woman. Thus the maja became one of the popular and informal symbols of Spain, along with the bullfighter, who took the place of the majo.{{Cite web|url=https://elpais.com/diario/1983/03/02/cultura/415407605_850215.html|title=La 'Carmen' de Mérimée en la visión de Brook|first=Joan de|last=Sagarra|date=March 2, 1983|via=elpais.com}}Luis Navarrete, Carmen y la españolada Some of the 20th-century depictions of the maja became somewhat assimilated into the flamenco dancer (la bailaora).Antonio Elorza, Luis Bagaría: el humor y la política. Anthropos Nowadays, the increasing popularity of the maja has ended up eclipsing that of the majo.
The image of a maja was the trademark of the Jabón Maja Myrurgia soap, one of the classical souvenirs from Spain. The brand's portrait of the maja in the soap boxes and wrappings was based on the person of Carmen Tórtola Valencia (1882–1955), a famous Spanish dancer of the early 20th century.'[http://www.elmundo.es/magazine/2005/316/1129312581.html El Mundo - La musa del 'jabón' que enamoró a los poetas]'{{Clarify|date=August 2012|reason=This is not a proper reference citation. Use Template:Cite web or similar to provide source details.}}
Gallery
File:Acuarela Buenos Aires crop.jpg|A couple of majos of colonial-era Buenos Aires, c. 1784–1806.
File:Goya Maja ubrana2.jpg|Goya's La maja vestida, c. 1798–1805
File:Manola-Ulpiano Checa.JPG|A typical manola with a folding fan by Ulpiano Checa
File:1922 spain jarez mantilla.jpg|A manola with mantilla, 1925
File:El majo de la guitarra.jpg|El majo de la guitarra, painting by Ramón Bayeu, 1786
File:Maja Jabon soap.JPG|Maja Jabón, Myrurgia
See also
References
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External links
{{Wiktionary|majo}}
{{commons category|Manolos and Manolas}}
- [http://albherto.wordpress.com/2010/04/28/los-castizos-madrilenos/ Los castizos madrileños]
- [http://www.manoloescobar.net/cancionero/C/chulapona.htm Chulapona de Madrid (Chotis) - Manolo Escobar]
- [https://web.archive.org/web/20120331014117/http://public.centrodeestudiosandaluces.es/pdfs/H200401.pdf Tópicos andaluces en el cine contemporáneo: de la españolada al poscostumbrismo]
- [http://www.arteinformado.com/documentos/espacios/6960/Carmen_Tortola_Valencia,_pasion_por_el_coleccionismo._Museo_de_Arenys_de_Mar.pdf Carmen Tórtola Valencia, pasión por el coleccionismo]