Last Saturday, October, 17th, the second edition of the “Transhumantic Soirées” took place in Salamón (Crémenes, León) – this time, in order to say good bye to the shepherds and the herd from Francisco Morgado Galet who has been herding his sheep in the mountains of León and now goes back to Extremadura.
The soirée was titled after a folk song „Ya se van los pastores....“ [The shepherds are leaving….] and was opened by the Lord Mayor of Crémenes, Ángel Miguel Alonso - who gave the floor to Roberto Rubio, CESEFOR – partner of Grupo Operativo OVINNOVA. He welcomed everybody and explained briefly the OVINNOVA project.
With moving words, he thanked Francisco Morgado Galet, for his support to OVINNOVA and presented him a collection of regional products.
Julia Vicente Encinas continued the Transhumantic Soirée reciting poetry by the Leonesic author Eleuterio Prado who, as a child, used to accompany his father, who was a transhuming shepherd, herding sheep in the Picos de Europa. Eleuterio Prado transferred and integrated this experience in his works [[“La canción del rebaño e Infancia de las lunas”, “Nanas del abuelo y otros poemas”] which were performed brilliantly by Julia Vicente Encinas.
The second transhumantic soirée was fortunate to be able to again count on the presence of Manuel Rodríguez Pascual – agricultural engineer and PhD Vet, member of CSIC – who red a text dedicated to Miro, an experienced retired transhuming shepherd who is always ready to provide us with support and advice.
During the whole soirée, organic chestnuts from “Biocastanea: [Feria Internacional de la Castañicultura” organizada por la Mesa del Castaño] from El Bierzo were roasted and reminded us of the importance of the chestnut for Castilla y León: its culture, landscape, environment and economy.
Without doubt, it was a very special soirée since it joined different and new aspects of transhumance with representatives from different areas and has freshened an old tradition – the Magosto – based on the offering of the first harvested chestnuts to the gods of the forest.
Additional Information:
EL GRUPO OPERATIVO OVINNOVA ORGANIZA SU SEGUNDA “VELADA TRASHUMÁNTICA”
