Castrillo de los Polvazares; The Fascinating Maragatos and La Covada

Note:  I apologize to my readers. I mistakenly posted an unedited version of this blog yesterday. We caught the mistake today, and hopefully, all the errors.

Castrillo de los Polvazares  is a quaint town 
that is quite striking in the early morning or late evening sunlight.  
The village is preserved almost in its original state. 
All houses are built of stone. 

 

The cobblestone streets and red tiled roofs reflect the light and shadows, giving it an eerie and unique rosy golden appearance.

According to some sources, the name "Castrillo" comes from the closeness of the Castles of San Martino and Teso to the town.

The inhabitants of Castrillo were traditionally known as Maragatos.  There are several hypotheses concerning the origin of the name maragato. Some believe the word is derived from the Latin expression Capti mauri (captured Moors). Others say the Maragatos descended from the Berbers of North Africa who crossed into the Iberian peninsula with the first Moorish incursions in the early eighth century. This could be true, based on recent genetic studies.

Still other traditions suggest a relationship between the name maragato with King Mauregato, the famous Asturian king.

Rubio Laureano. Professor at University of Leon, argues the name originates from the days when they were famous as fish traders. They transported salted fish products from Galicia (the Sea – “mar”) to Madrid (Cats) on long mule trains, returning to their homeland with sausages and dry products. Thus, the name “of the sea to cats” which is reduced as maragato. 

These merchants traded with wine, fish, and many other goods. The transport of fresh fish to the royal families was carried out by the Maragato muleteers who made it possible for the fish to be in Madrid from Galicia in 4 days.

On the 20th of February 1367, because of their excellent work, Henry II declared them exempt from the payment of the Portazgo, a tax that all muleteers had to pay on arrival to a city of the kingdom. This attracted muleteers from other regions to establish themselves in Astorga and surroundings.

The Crown continued to give Maragato muleteers special treatment.  They were charged with the tax collection and the job of transporting goods arriving from the Indies from the port of entry to the Court. They charged double the price charged by other muleteers.  However, apparently, clients preferred the pay the extra cost for the security and trust that they inspired, as they were known for their honesty and fidelity. The Maragatos also ferried the monarch’s gold from place to place.  They were famous for defending the goods they were transporting with their life.

When the railroad grew at the end of the 19th century, the need for muleteers decreased and Maragatos became bar owners, sellers of overseas products, businessmen in Galicia or fishmongers in Madrid.

The Maragato houses, called "ant houses", were built on what were originally Roman ruins. They were structured to fit their trading activity.  The typical Maragato house has a large door-like gate that opens unto a central patio where the carriages and carts could be parked. The living room is on the top floor next to the bedrooms.

The town originally was in a different location. It was destroyed by a flood, and rebuilt in the 16^th century in its current location.

Culture

Unlike other converted Moors who blended into Spanish culture after the first expulsion of the Moors in 1492, the Maragatos have preserved their identity.

They were first recorded in the area in the 10th century. Like the Jews and gypsies, their reputation as traders and businessmen and their success has occasionally prompted jealousy.

"Yes, in the past people around here envied us," said Isabel Rodriguez, who runs an inn catering for Santiago pilgrims. "But all that has gone now - we have integrated."

Although they share their folklore, weddings and food with tourists, Maragatos have a protective and distrusting demeanour that few penetrate. They play down any differences with their neighbors. Endogamy was practiced among them, but it was practiced among many communities all over the world.  (Endogamy is the practice of marrying within a specific ethic group, class, or social group, rejecting others on such basis as being unsuitable for marriage or other close personal relationships.)

The national epic El Poema del Mio Cid, gives evidence that the Maragatos were entrusted by El Cid and the Court of King Alfonso VI of León, to transport the dowry for his daughters, and the riches gained from El Cid’s conquest of the Moors in Valencia and Alicante. One of the transfers involved more than 200 horses!

Three hundred years later, Maragatos were indispensable during the reign of King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella. They were commissioned by the Catholic Kings to transport munitions down through the rugged mountains to aid in the reconquest of Granada in 1492. In recognition of their contribution to the liberation of Christian Spain, one family was given the title of nobility and was known locally as the ‘Salvadores de Castrillo (Saviors from Castrillo)’. Salvadores is still their surname today.

The Maragatos traveled throughout northern Spain from Galicia to Navarra and Huesca trading wines, oil, dried goods, bacalau (salted cod) and other salted meats and fish.

Over time dried goods and particularly beans become the backbone of their enterprise, since they were easier to haul and store than salazones, and weighed far less than wines. The present company, El Maragato, is owned by decendents of these tough traders.

The Salvadore family patriarch says that they chose the name El Maragato for their business because it suggests honesty and evokes a sense of continuity. But most of all, the name was chosen because the Salvadores family is proud of their cultural and historical roots as full-blooded Maragatos. To demonstrate their commitment to their community, they include a beechwood spoon with many of the bags made by handicapped people in their village.

In The Bible in Spain, an account by 19^th century English linguist and traveler George Borrow about his travels in Spain —the author wrote the following:

“In a word, almost the entire commerce of nearly one half of Spain passes through the hands of the Maragatos, whose fidelity to their trust is such, that no one accustomed to employ them would hesitate to confide to them the transport of a ton of treasure from the sea of Biscay to Madrid; knowing well that it would not be their fault were it not delivered safe and undiminished, even of a grain, and that bold must be the thieves who would seek to wrest it from the far feared Maragatos, who would cling to it whilst they could stand, and would cover it with their bodies when they fell in the act of loading or discharging their long carbines.”

The main economic activity of people today is based on tourism and handicrafts. Its main tourist attractions are its typical architecture and cuisine.

FAVA BEANS

Fava beans are important to this culture, and I found the high value placed on fava beans to be interesting, as these giant beans are also important in the Portuguese culture. I remember slipping off the skins of the salted favas at every festa as a child.

The fabada beans grown for centuries in the neighboring kingdom of Asturias are legendary.  La Granja beans from Asturias are the crucial ingredient for authentic fabada – the bean and sausage stew which has been emblematic of the Asturias for over one thousand years.

What makes La Granja faba beans unique is that they have an uncanny ability to absorb the complex tastes that the chorizo and black sausage lend to the broth, in much the same way as Bomba rice absorbs the rich broth of a paella. When cooked, the beans double in size and have a unique buttery flavor and smooth texture.

Production of favas is extremely limited because they need to be planted and weeded by hand along the fertile valleys and riverbanks of Asturias. They take 150 days to mature, in contrast to ordinary beans, which take 90 days. They have to be hand-tied to the vines, hand husked, and then dried in raised stone barns, called hierras. As with many of the finest products of Spain, there is no substitute for individual attention – you need to follow centuries-old procedures.

Maragato Gastronomy.

The regional gastronomy attracts thousands of people every year with the special dish being the "Cocido maragato". Originally, this dish would feed the field workers in a single meal preparing them for a hard day of work. The ingredients of a Cocido Maragato are soup stock, cabbage, chickpeas, and seven types of meat. As mentioned before, the meal is eaten in a manner we would consider backwards. First you eat the meat, and then the soup. This tradition is thought to come from the Napoleonic troops who not knowing when they would have to go into battle, would begin with the meat, just in case.

Cocido Maragato is made with to 10 different kinds of meat: chorizo, pigs´ ear from the previous year's killing, chicken, bacon, smoked beef, shoulder of ham, knuckle, cow rib, bones and pig's tongue. Ther is a filling made of beaten eggs, a bit of chopped ham and chorizo, bread crumbs and garbanzos of the "pico de pardal" variety, small with a sharp end. The soup has thick noodles or country bread and it must be so thick that the spoons leaves a mark. 

It is usually followed by natural desserts like flan or maragaton roscon, a sweet bread filled with dried fruit.

Moragatan Folk Rituals

Several celebrations take place in the small village. At the end of July, the small village celebrates its Roman and Asturias heritage. La Fiesta de Santa Marta is similarly celebrated the last week of August. The spring rites have been compared to the Lupercalia of the Romans, where a man dressed as a goat chases women, hitting their behinds with a stick or whip, invoking fertility. 

Other Moragatan rituals that stand out the most are La Covada and La Boda. 

La Covada is a custom whereby the mother, during childbirth or immediately after, gives up the bed to the father. In many societies this custom reaffirms the role or the legitimacy of the father and it is associated with matriarchal societies.

The term "couvade" comes from the Latin expression cubare postpartum (post-partum bed rest) and alludes to the fact that the fathers stay in bed to get the attention generally given to women after childbirth. In French, it means “brooding” or “hatching.”

For some time before the birth, the husband is required to submit to a strict diet and to avoid hard work or the handling of weapons and tools, to abstain from hunting, smoking, and other amusements. After the birth, the mother is expected to get out of bed, and the father INTO the bed, where he is considered ill. He lies in bed for anywhere from four to forty days, and is fed as an invalid.

The first documented mention of this ritual comes from Apollonius of Rhodes, grammarian and director of the Library of Alexandria, who describes in his book The Argonauts, how men get into the bed after their wives give birth, and demand the same care as the new mother.  This is mentioned again by Diodorus of Sicily in the first century BC, again in 1275 by Marco Polo, and again by the preceptor of Louis XIV.

In 1818,  the notary JA Zamácola Vizcaya ensures that "she just gave birth, rose from the bed, while her husband got into it with the boy. "

In fact, Until the mid-twentieth century there have been found some form of couvade in Lapland, Borneo, England, France, Brazil, and Germany. Even in the United States in Alabama and South Carolina, the father’s hat was placed on the pillow of the mother’s bed. This surprised me, since in Portugal, a hat on the bed portends an argument or even death!

I wonder what THIS would mean???

In a database of the Anthropological and Ethnological Museum of Madrid collected during the 19^th century, there is evidence of this custom. In Ibiza "As soon as birth occurs, the husband gets into bed with his wife, drinking cups of broth like her, and placing the baby between the two." In Tamarite, Huesca, the neighbors invited to celebrate the birth approached the bed where the couple lay. The father placed his penis on a canvas and the neighbors all touched it, at the same time proclaiming their congratulations. Oooooh-kay?

There are many theories about the couvade; the expression of the magical physical link between father and son, an invention by the women to encourage the father to stay home to help her, or a search for balance between the masculine and feminine energies to fight evil, to share the pain of labor equally. Freud's theory of penis envy may explain why the man shows his penis to the neighbors. But really, the reason is lost to time.

If you are interested in learning more about couvade, there is an ebook you can find online called The Custom of Couvade by Warren Royal Dawson. Another interesting book on this topic is Birthing Fathers by Richard K. Reed.

The Boda or wedding rites of the Maragatos are beautiful.   From the day the engagement is announced, a trail of straw joins the couple's home, so that all the people can see.  This is most likely a blessing of fertility. 

The community organizes a choir to go and sing at the bride’s house, much like the Chivaree of the Appalacians in the United States.

In fact, the combination of the Couvade and the Chivaree customs make me believe there is a French connection.

The morning of the wedding a drummer goes round with the boys in town to warn everyone. They go from the house of the groom to the bride, beating the drum. 

While the groom's procession goes to church, the bride is helped to dress by the women of the village. The bride’s Godfather accompanies her to the church where her father solemnly blesses her.  The ceremony begins on the porch of the church, and then the priest ushers the wedding party inside. After vows are exchanged there is singing and fireworks. 

There is a parade displaying the marzipan or wedding cake. The cake is cut and the people carry the pieces home in cloth. It is traditional not to touch them until the following day. 

During the festivities, there is a “Bun Race.” The Godfather provides the prize. The race consists of passing a huge loaf of bread (shaped like a Maragato male) on a stick. Traditionally, the prize inside the bun was an ounce of gold. The race is followed by all-night dancing and a wedding breakfast.

Mitochondrial DNA analysis confirms that Maragatos from Spain are a genetically isolated group. Genetic distances between Maragatos and the comparison samples are significantly different even with the León sample which shares the same geographic area as the Maragatos. Although the North-African haplogroup U6 is present in them, their attributed Berber origin is weakened, as this haplogroup is also detected in surrounding populations with which, in addition, Maragatos have the smaller genetic distances. These U6 haplotypes are ascribed to a pre-historic African colonisation that influenced all the Iberian Peninsula. The presence of Neolithic haplogroups in this sample suggests that their isolation culture was not absolute until recent times.

If you have the time, the road to Castrillo is worth walking, especially at sunrise or sunset. The village has several nice albergues, all welcoming pilgrims on their way to Santiago.

If you'd like to walk the Camino
but aren't quite ready to do it alone,
see my website:

Anniewalkers Camino

for more information about

Guided Walks on the Camino Santiago 

and on other Pilgrimage Trails of Europe