scruffy1
Veteran Member
- Time of past OR future Camino
- Holy Year from Pamplona 2010, SJPP 2011, Lisbon 2012, Le Puy 2013, Vezelay (partial watch this space!) 2014; 2015 Toulouse-Puenta la Reina (Arles)
MARÍA ROSALÍA RITA was born on the 24th of February 1837, in Camiño Novo, outside Santiago de Compostela in Galicia. Her parents were José Martínez Viojo, a priest in the Santiago cathedral, and María Teresa de la Cruz de Castro y Abadía. Her mother came from an established bourgeois family. Until she was seven, Rosalía lived with her two paternal aunts in a village close to Santiago. The illegitimacy of her birth played a considerable role in the development of Rosalía's character. In the Spain of her time, not only was it a great disgrace to be illegitimate but, worse still, was to be known as a sacrilegious child, that is to say, the offspring of a cleric. By law, this offspring could not live with either parent, nor could it take their surname. Some of Rosalía's fictions betray sharply her craving for a father figure.
It was only sometime in the late 1840's, when her mother's father died, that Rosalía went to live with her mother in Padrón, and in 1850 mother and daughter went to live in Santiago. There Rosalía learned something of music and drawing.
In September 1853, she took part at Muxía in the "romeria de Nosa Senora de Barca", a pilgrimage with some peculiar traits: thus the belief that a stone ship brought to this shore the effigy of María, invoked since by seamen as Our Lady. For those who were lucky and have visited Muxía, we know that the sanctuary rises on the very waterfront, seaside, so that even waves of middling height hit the entrance. The ritual includes, for men, treading to a balance on a giant rocking slab, so they will ascertained of good health; for women, to walk across the cavity of a tall rock so that they will become fertile. Here however, Rosalía fell sick with typhus. The winter of this year, known as the Ano del Hambre, was marked by one of the many great famines to affect Galicia, Rosalía witnessed the horrible spectacle of thousands of Galician peasants begging alms in the streets of Santiago. It would not be one of the first of such scenes she would witness within the course of her life to her great distress and with great compassion.
In 1863, Rosalía's Cantares Gallegos appeared and was a major contribution towards the revival of Galician literature after centuries of non-existence, indeed since the Middle Ages. May 17, 1863, is commemorated every year as the Día das Letras Galegas ("Galician Literature Day"), an official holiday of the Autonomous Community of Galicia, and has been dedicated to an important writer in the Galician language since 1963. Relative poverty and sadness marked her life-losing two of her children, although she had a strong sense of commitment to the poor and to the defenseless. She was a strong opponent of abuse of authority and defender of women's rights.
Rosalía spent her final years in Padrón where her house there is now a museum located by the park just off the main road.
In 1885 the cancer from which she was suffering worsened and she moved to Carril so that she could have her last views of the sea before her death there in July 1885.
Her poems may be found in anthologies, a book " Rosalía de Castro Selected Poems" has been published by Shearsman Books and may be found here http://www.abebooks.com
It was only sometime in the late 1840's, when her mother's father died, that Rosalía went to live with her mother in Padrón, and in 1850 mother and daughter went to live in Santiago. There Rosalía learned something of music and drawing.
In September 1853, she took part at Muxía in the "romeria de Nosa Senora de Barca", a pilgrimage with some peculiar traits: thus the belief that a stone ship brought to this shore the effigy of María, invoked since by seamen as Our Lady. For those who were lucky and have visited Muxía, we know that the sanctuary rises on the very waterfront, seaside, so that even waves of middling height hit the entrance. The ritual includes, for men, treading to a balance on a giant rocking slab, so they will ascertained of good health; for women, to walk across the cavity of a tall rock so that they will become fertile. Here however, Rosalía fell sick with typhus. The winter of this year, known as the Ano del Hambre, was marked by one of the many great famines to affect Galicia, Rosalía witnessed the horrible spectacle of thousands of Galician peasants begging alms in the streets of Santiago. It would not be one of the first of such scenes she would witness within the course of her life to her great distress and with great compassion.
In 1863, Rosalía's Cantares Gallegos appeared and was a major contribution towards the revival of Galician literature after centuries of non-existence, indeed since the Middle Ages. May 17, 1863, is commemorated every year as the Día das Letras Galegas ("Galician Literature Day"), an official holiday of the Autonomous Community of Galicia, and has been dedicated to an important writer in the Galician language since 1963. Relative poverty and sadness marked her life-losing two of her children, although she had a strong sense of commitment to the poor and to the defenseless. She was a strong opponent of abuse of authority and defender of women's rights.
Rosalía spent her final years in Padrón where her house there is now a museum located by the park just off the main road.
In 1885 the cancer from which she was suffering worsened and she moved to Carril so that she could have her last views of the sea before her death there in July 1885.
Her poems may be found in anthologies, a book " Rosalía de Castro Selected Poems" has been published by Shearsman Books and may be found here http://www.abebooks.com
