Representations of Tradition in the Narratives of the Sección Femenina of the Spanish Falange

Medieval-Catholic and Folk Vectors

Abstract

This article examines conceptions of tradition in the narratives of the Female Section of the Spanish Falange (1934–1977), the women's organization of Francoist Spain led by Pilar Primo de Rivera (1907–1991). Despite the extensive scholarship on Francoism and Falangism, the ways in which the Female Section engaged with tradition and the mechanisms through which it symbolically constructed it remain largely unexplored. The aim of this study is to reconstruct these conceptions and to demonstrate how tradition functioned as an instrument for legitimizing political power and shaping national identity. Methodologically, the article adopts a constructivist approach, treating tradition not as an immutable cultural heritage but as a dynamic ideological construct whose symbolic content is shaped by political context and continuously redefined in accordance with ideological objectives. The source base consists of Pilar Primo de Rivera's memoirs and speeches, as well as the programmatic documents of the Female Section and the Spanish Falange. The article identifies two principal vectors through which tradition was constructed in the ideology of the Female Section: the medieval-catholic vector and the folk vector. The former is centered on medieval and catholic representations of Spain, while the latter is explored through the activities of Coros y Danzas, revealing the appropriation of regional folklore, its reinterpretation, and its incorporation into a unified national cultural canon.