Asturian-American Migration Forum

I am sort of "fishing" for any info anyone might have.

My Abuela, Isabel Fernandez was from a small "aldea" just outside of Grado.....Villanueva de Pereda. Many of her friends in Tampa were also from this area. They often reminisced about a place they would refer to as "La Casa de Maria Cristina". Apparently this was some sort of inn or well-known gathering spot for many of the villagers in that general area. Some of the other towns her friends were from would be Alcubiella, LLantrales, Aguera, San Roman. Her aldea is immediately next to a large old villa with a large tower, known locally as "la Torre".

I know it's a long shot, but I wonder if anyone has heard of this place. It was a popular gathering spot for holidays such as Noche Buena and romerias.....at the time it attracted people from a fairly large geographical area and was not simply a private home owned by Maria Cristina.

This is one of those things that I now wish I had paid more attention to and asked more questions about....it seemed to be somewhat legendary at the time...this would have been the early part of the 20th century but maybe some of you Asturianos remember hearing your parents or grandparents talk about this.

Again, know the chances are slim....but any info at all would be great....or if any of you are from that area or are familiar with it, it would be nice to hear from you.

Thanks!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Hi Tony, I thought you might like to take a look at the tower of Villanueva de Pereda your folks lived next to:

http://www.vivirasturias.com/asturias/t ... illanueva/

As to Casa Maria Cristina there is nothing listed, so it was probably an old "chigre" (tavern) that no longer exists.

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Hola Tony,
Pensé que te gustaria ver la torre de Villanueva de Pereda, al lado de donde vivía tu familia.
http://www.vivirasturias.com/asturias/t ... illanueva/

En cuanto a Casa Maria Cristina, no hay nada en las guías, de modo que seguramente era un chigre que ya no existirá.

Saludos
Terechu

Hi Terechu,

Thanks very much for the great photos and site re the Torre de Villanueva. I have visited there many times but never new the history of the tower. I had no idea the main tower dates from the 12th century!!

The capilla is the very one my abuela would attend on Wednesday's....the priest would arrive by donkey and teach the kids to read and write. My family was not particularly religious, but they were grateful for the gift of
literacy. I confess on one of my earlier visits I climbed over the barrier into the capilla...there were several relics about..I specifically recall a very old iron cross on an old wooden table. I admit I considered taking it as a souvenir, but decided that would have been inappropriate.

I'm not surprised that you couldn't find anything on "Casa de Maria Cristina" but I really do appreciate your efforts...that was very nice of you. Your timing was wonderful...I'm afraid between the storms we have been having here in Florida and the way the Presidential election seems to be going, I certainly needed some cheering up!!

Saludos,

Tony

PS the only anecdote about the tower that I recall is that my great aunt said that is where "they would hang the moors". Could she have been referring to events that occurred during the Spanish Civil War? (this is the same relative that told me other stories about those years)

No thanks due, Tony, it was a pleasure. I never visited the place myself, though I love those mediaeval buildings. Unfortunately the manor house and chapel seem to be privately owned and the chapel is in a sad state of disrepair. I wish it was mandatory for the State to contribute to the upkeep of historic buildings, whether privately owned or not. Much of our history has already gone to the dogs with the steady decline of those old buildings. (By the way, looting a church is a deadly sin, that's why that old cross was still there probably ).

As to hanging moors, unless it was an isolated case, I don't believe it could have been during the Civil War, because the Moroccan troops arrived with the Franco troops and theirs was almost a march of triumph (we had little more than disorganized coal miners with dynamite to defend our "tierrina" and democracy). It was the fight of an organized, well-financed army against civilians. They were the winners and did as they pleased.

But if the tower is from the 12th Century there were no Moors left in Asturias, so that doesn't make sense either. It would make sense if it were older than the 10th Century or maybe it was built to replace an previously existing one. I'm sure there must be documentation on that matter.

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No hay de qué, Tony, fue un placer. Yo nunca estuve allí aunque me encantan estos edificios medievales.
Parece que el palacio y la capilla son propiedad privada y la capilla está en un estado lamentable. Quisiera que el Estado estuviera obligado a aportar fondos para mantener los edificios históricos, tanto si son propiedad privada como si no. Mucha de nuestra historia ya se ha ido al garete con el progresivo deterioro de esos edificios. (Por cierto el expolio de iglesias es pecado mortal, por eso seguiría allí aquella cruz seguramente )

En cuanto a colgar moros, a no ser que fuera un caso aislado, no creo que se refiriese a la Guerra Civil, porque las tropas marroquíes entraron con las de Franco y lo suyo fue casi una marcha triunfal (nosotros teníamos poco más que mineros con dinamita para defender la tierrina y la democracia). Fue la lucha de un ejército organizado y bien financiado contra civiles. Ellos ganaron e hicieron lo que se les antojó.

Sin embargo, si la torre es del Siglo XII, en aquella época no quedaban moros en Asturias, por lo que tampoco tiene sentido. Tendría sentido si fuera anterior al Siglo X, o quizás se construyó para sustituir a una que existía anteriormente. Estoy segura que hay documentación sobre este asunto.

Saludos
Terechu

Hola a todos.

Terechu, no olvides que existen muchas leyendas a cerca de los moros. De los supuestos tesoros que escondieron y cosas así. Por ejemplo, si no me confundo, en el libro de las Bellezas de Asturias de Oriente a Occidente, el autor, Aurelio de Llano, comenta como un supuesto cementerio de moros en una zona de Cabrales, allí enterrados al fallecer en la retirada después de la derrota de Covadonga, es en realidad un enterramiento prehistórico. Si esas leyendas sobrevivieron al cruce del charco es posible, y natural que estén un poco trastocadas. Es muy probable que en leyendas antiguas, determinados pueblos invasores fueran sustituidos por los moros, visto el impacto histórico que tuvieron dichas invasiones. Me parece que la leyenda Arturica trata un poco de la resistencia "celta" frente a las invasiones sajonas.
Robert Graves dice en sus libros, que la mitología griega no es más que la historia de la invasión por los pueblos helenos de Grecia. Y como unos dioses masculinos suplantaron a las más antiguas diosas.
Por otra parte, si hubo resistencia al avance de las tropas de Franco, por lo menos en el Oriente. Te recuerdo la famosa batalla del Mazucu.

Un saludo.

Berodia (qué ricu ye el quesu del tu pueblu, por cierto) estoy de acuerdo que los de los moros puede ser puro folklore y no referirse a casos reales.
Esto ya es salirse del hilo original, pero en cuanto a la resistencia claro que la hubo, mi güelu y otros mineros del valle del Nalón subieron a Tarna a hacer fortificaciones, y el padre de un buen amigo estuvo en la batalla de El Mazucu, y por cierto siempre dijo que el capitán de los Nacionales era un hombre cabal, militar profesional, y que gracias a él estaban vivos él y sus camaradas. Cuando ya estaban prisioneros estuvieron a punto de ser masacrados por los falangistas, que aparecieron cuando ya había acabado todo y pretendían matarles a todos a tiros. El capitán les dijo que los presos eran su responsabilidad y que se los llevaba a la cárcel de Oviedo, así lo hizo y así es como los supervivientes pudieron contar su experiencia.

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Berodia (by the way, the cheese from your village tastes great!) I agree that the stories about the moors could be mere folklore.

And now this has nothing to do with the original thread, but as far as resistance, of course there was. My grandpa and other miners from the Nalón Valley went up to the Tarna Pass to build fortifications and the father of a close friend took part in the Battle of El Mazucu. He always said, by the way, that the captain of the Nationals was a decent man, a career officer, and that he and his comrades were alive thanks to that captain.
When they had already been made prisoners they were nearly massacred by the Falangistas (Spanish Nazi Party) who showed up when the battle was over with the intention of shooting them all to death. The captain told them the prisoners were his responsibility and that he was taking them to prison in Oviedo, which he did and that's how the survivors were able to tell us their experience.

Terechu