LingoMaps: La cultura salamantina y castellana y las características de España

¡Hola! ¿Qué pasa? The topic of this month’s blog is ‘Local and Regional Culture and the Characteristics of your Country’.

Salamanca has had a large impact on the creation of modern Spanish culture and identity. It is located in Spain’s largest autonomous community, Castilla y León, where modern day español, which is known as castellano in Spain, comes from.  As a result the city is extremely popular with students wanting to learn Spanish. Therefore private Spanish language academies form an integral part of the local economy and you can often see children from northern Europe school trips in the city.

Salamanca es una ciudad de gran influencia católica cual podemos ver en el folklore salamantino. Según la leyenda el Diablo en persona impartía clases de magia negra en la Cueva de Salamanca a grupos de siete estudiantes durante siete años. Al concluir los estudios uno de los estudiantes había de quedar al servicio del demonio como pago a sus enseñanzas. El Marqués de Villena (un miembro de la nobleza local) fue uno de los elegidos. Consiguió huir con vida, aunque en su huida perdió la sombra, lo que mostraba todos les encontraban que él fue un seguidor de Satanás.

Salamanca also heavily influences Spanish literature and is often regarded as one of Spain’s most romantic cities due to its picturesque Romance style architecture. The famous novel La Tragicomedia de Calisto y Melibea, popularly known as La Celestina, has influenced this stereotype. The story is similar to that of Romeo and Juliet, where a boy from a local noble family falls in love with a peasant girl, but is forbidden from marrying her by his parents which leads to her suicide. The city’s botanical garden is named after the lovers and young couples in the city put candados de amor (‘love locks’) on the well in the hope of maintaining ever-lasting love.

El Lunes de Aguas is perhaps the strangest local holiday. Celebrated only in Salamanca Province on the first Monday after Easter, the celebration of el Lunes de Aguas dates back to the 16^th century, when King Felipe II believed that the city had succumbed to too much vice. In response he banished local prostitutes during la Cuarema (Lent), to the other side of the Río Tormes, which divides the barrio histórico (historic neighbourhood) of Salamanca from the villages of Salamanca Province. The city’s priest would bring the prostitutes back by boat on the first Monday after Easter (the end of Lent) which was greeted with raucous celebration by the city’s men. The tradition stuck and now every year young Salamancans, known locally as salamantinos or charros, go to the riverbank and celebrate by holding a botellón (a huge gathering of young people drinking and celebrating which is popular throughout Spain) and eating local food, in particular hornazo.

Hay una gran variedad de hornazo en España pero en general, tienen en común que se hacen en el horno (de ahí su nombre) con masa de pan engrasada. Sin embargo el hornazo salamantino habitualmente tiene una rellena de chorizo, jamón, lomo gracias al gran tamaño de la industria cárnica en la región. Los salamantinos lo compran de su panadería local y lo comen con su familia o con amigos a la orilla ribera.  ¡Es una comida riquísima y yo recomendaría que la pruebes si visitas Castilla y León en el futuro!

Watch and answer the following questions on El Lunes de Aguas:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WsO__eWvALo
1. What does the boy in the blue t-shirt prefer to eat instead of hornazo? (0:22-0:28)
2.  Why does the man in the grey t-shirt and sun glasses have a cake? (0:47-0:58)
3. What foods are the women sat by the river eating? (1:01-1:25)

What autonomous community is Salamanca located in?

Why did the Marqués de Villena lose his shadow?

What do young couples put on the well in the botanical garden? Why?

When is El Lunes de Aguas?

What are people from Salamanca called? (There are two names)

How do Salamancans celebrate El Lunes de Aguas?

What ingredients are in hornazo?

¡Hasta la próxima vez y buena suerte con los exámenes!