I have my own theory....having redish coloring myself, although I'm not a redhead, rather a "chestnut-haired", but having several cousins that are true redheads (Shawn you know my cousin Marta from Zaragoza), I blame it on my grandma, on my father's side, ever since as an early teenager I visited the town where she came from, Tudela, for 'Las Fiestas' in the summer, and met all of her redheaded cousins AND saw an incredible amount of redheads around (to match their red bandanas, maybe)....

I just rode through the Maragatería and corroborate the fact that there are a few redheads in that area. The purely Celtic Gallegos (is that possible?) are more prone to be redheads too. And there are some in both Galicia and Asturias.

The old-lady redheads are hilarious, since their color de botella is horrific at best. Then there are deadheads...which is I'm sure what GranadaGirl was referring to as to those who "DIE" their hair, right? :p

OOPS, CaliBasco, you caught me!!!

I'm you-shoe-allee sew goode with phinding meye typ-os!!

asta luh viestuh,
non-read-hed'd GranadaGirl

I still don´t realize why most Americans still think that Spaniards look like some kind of Mexicans and many still believe that Spaniards are Hispanics. It´s something that I can´t understand.

ERT: Spaniards are the original "Hispanics" if history means anything. The name España is from the Latin/Roman "Hispania", which is where the word hispanic comes from.

I think I understand your intent though, as I don't like it when people say "oh, so-and-so is Spanish" when what they mean is that so-and-so speaks Spanish, but perhaps they're from Nicaragua or something...that IS annoying! (Of course if you're from a country other than Spain, speak Spanish, and someone says "oh you're Spanish" that's annoying too...like if someone called me English since I speak English.

Am I rambling? Of course I am!

Yeah, Cali and ERT, so many people assume that Spanish="speaks Spanish." I've heard people distinguish between "Spanish" (meaning, probably, Latin American) and "Spanish-from-Spain," as if that distinction meant anything!!

And we already know that many people assume that Spanish food is burritos and chimichangas...ugh!!!

Oh no! The whole, Hispanic debate! This could get ugly! Actually, Hispanic really refers to people from Hispanola, which was named such by the Spanish settlers... so although it goes back to europe, if you really want to get into the correctness of it all, Hispanic is not correct for Spaniard.

This is a hot topic.. and a lot can be said about it... but I'm not going to get into it. As far as people, mainly from the US thinking that all Spanish people look like Mexicans... well, since with all this Politically correct nonsense started for a long time everyone used the term Spanish to mean anyone from a Spanish speaking country. Since the USA is neighbor to Mexico and it is a culture very mixed into the fabric of the US, well, its no surprise that there is a confusion!

When someone asks me what I am, and I say Spanish, its usually followed by, so, where are you from?! I love that!(sarcasm here) So I usually have to give a bit of a geography lesson and explain why I'm not 'Latina', or really hispanic for that matter, but I usually don't THAT technical.. especially since in modern times, it seams that "Hispanic" is most widely used for Spanish-speaking.

I've found though, that most people are just lacking information, or are confused... but are pretty interested in finding out the answers

Oh, and redheads in spain.. there aren't many, but yes, mostly in the north.. but it doesn't have to do with having gypsy heritage, but the fact that they come from a region not as affected by the roman, morrish and other invasions. Truth be told, waaaaaaaaaaaaay back when, the norm in Spain was blonde or red hair! Those of us with dark hair are a result from a whole lot of mixing and intermingling that went on!

Redheads.... I am studying at Universidad de Deusto right now in Bilbao, northern spain. I am yet to see a "natural" redhead. However, "fake" redheads seems to be VERY in right now, especially with older women!! I was very surprised by this

hey everybody

kelar

that is because although the basques are in the north and everything they are not celtic or visigothic(a germanic tribe)but iberian who ar dark lot.so th blond redhead area is only in the north of spain excluding navarra and pais vasco

Well, I'm a 5'10" redhead living in Madrid. But I'm a New Yorker . So there are some here, but I would say that many of us are from other countries.