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The "Two Marias" statue

peregrina2000

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I'm sure that anyone who has arrived in Santiago has seen the brightly colored statue of the two women in the park at the end of the old quarter. I had never known that this statue represents two real people, sisters who lived in Santiago for years and who took a stroll in the park at 2 pm sharp every day. The picture here actually looks like the statue: http://elpais.com/diario/2008/04/17/gal ... 50215.html

Even more fascinating, and tragic, is the fact that these two sisters had three brothers who were members of the anarchist labor union the CNT. One of the brothers was killed by the Fascist forces, and two managed to escape. And that's when the sisters' nightmare began, because the Fascists kept coming back to the home to get the family to confess to the brothers' whereabouts and the sisters were treated very poorly -- sent naked through the streets, and according to this article, perhaps even tortured and/or raped. This treatment went on through the 40s after Franco won the war, but then the brothers were captured and the sisters left alone. But the treatment had left its mark, making them perhaps mentally unbalanced. And from then on, they took to dressing up in a slightly outrageous way, parading through the park, and perhaps symbolized a bit of rebellion against the status quo. They died in the 1980s.

How interesting. The article has more detail, but this is the gist of it (Maybe falcon can work his auto-translate magic on it). Buen camino, Laurie
 
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Courtesy of Chrome:The truth of 'The Marias'
A documentary reveals the story of two sisters known Santiago
MARÍA FÁBREGAS Santiago 17 ABR 2008
Filed in: Documentary Santiago de Compostela A Coruna Province Latin America Women Galicia Cinema Spain Society

They came every day to walk the same streets of Santiago, always two o'clock, arranged with clothes and makeup as colorful as extravagant. There are still many people in town that reminds Coralia and Maruxa inseparable sisters, better known as Las Marias , two iconic characters from Compostela to the new generations know only by the statue that pays homage to the park entrance Alameda.

But underneath that crazy reputation precedes them until today, hiding a personal drama that not everyone knows, with the Civil War as a backdrop. This was shown in the documentary and Maruxa Coralia, as Irmas Fandino , Xosé Rivadulla of gray mullet, for whose development has had testimonies of people like Encarna Otero, Luis Bernal Xosé or Dionisio Pereira.

The Phalangists the mistreated to find out the whereabouts of his brothers
"Those who did not rebel for fear they saw in 'The Marias' a cry for freedom"
Born in a working class family of 11 children, three of them prominent members of the CNT. The documentary recounts how after the outbreak of the Civil War, kill one of them while the other two get away. The nightmare began when the sisters tried to use Falangists family about his whereabouts. At odd hours of the night, came to the house of Fandino, recorded, and disrupt the home, undressed in public to humiliate the sisters climbed the mountain and Pedroso de Santiago. "There is no evidence, but there are people who claim that they came to torturing and even raping" explains Rivadulla.

With just over 20 years and not have messed with anyone's life Las Marias becomes a bad dream that will run from the beginning of the war until the mid-40s. Rivadulla notes that such abuses were continuing the cause of the madness that both suffered, because "You never were so." Finally the brothers fled were arrested and ceased pressure on Fandino.

Still, their economic situation was very precarious. The sisters stopped working as seamstresses, a trade that came to play with her mother, because customers bring clothes stopped "for being an anarchist family, signified by fear." They lived in part thanks to the charity of neighbors. Not directly helped them, because those who knew them knew they would not accept charity, but left them anonymously small amounts of money in various businesses, in which after buying them.

The solidarity of the neighbors was tested in the early '60s, when a storm tore down the roof of the house of Fandino. Then they organized a large collection among neighbors of Santiago and came to collect 250,000 pesetas. "It's spectacular," says Rivadulla, "because in the time that's what it cost a flat".

"They expressed their madness showing rebel against society," says the author. Las Marias never went unnoticed, not only for his flashy clothes and their faces made up with rice powder, but by his attitude. "They compliments to men which, of course, could not think of any other woman. Always demonstrating that all men fell in love with them and flirted with the students." Contrary to what may seem, were very different: Coralia, the lowest and highest, was shy and not very talkative, while Maruxa, smaller even older, which was ruled the roost.

The opinion of the author of the documentary is that the sisters played, possibly unknowingly, a key role in this period of repression. "Many people who felt stifled by the regime and not rebel for fear of reprisals, saw in Las Marias that cry for freedom. " When he died in 1980 Maruxa, Coralia went to live with another sister to A Coruña, a city that never adapted. He died three years later after asking many times what the way back to Santiago.
 
Since I first saw them 12 years ago their clothing has changed colour a few times.

Those are the sisters on the top right.
 

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St James' Way - Self-guided 4-7 day Walking Packages, Reading to Southampton, 110 kms
I first met "the Maria's" in the very early morning while walking to catch the train after completing my Camino last October.
With map in hand, I realized the park I was crossing was not the one I thought it was. Ahead I saw two women. As I approached them I saw this. I later learned their story. It was my last magic moment of my Camino.ImageUploadedByCamino de Santiago Forum1402352614.756308.jpg
 
I'm sure that anyone who has arrived in Santiago has seen the brightly colored statue of the two women in the park at the end of the old quarter. I had never known that this statue represents two real people, sisters who lived in Santiago for years and who took a stroll in the park at 2 pm sharp every day. The picture here actually looks like the statue: http://elpais.com/diario/2008/04/17/gal ... 50215.html

Even more fascinating, and tragic, is the fact that these two sisters had three brothers who were members of the anarchist labor union the CNT. One of the brothers was killed by the Fascist forces, and two managed to escape. And that's when the sisters' nightmare began, because the Fascists kept coming back to the home to get the family to confess to the brothers' whereabouts and the sisters were treated very poorly -- sent naked through the streets, and according to this article, perhaps even tortured and/or raped. This treatment went on through the 40s after Franco won the war, but then the brothers were captured and the sisters left alone. But the treatment had left its mark, making them perhaps mentally unbalanced. And from then on, they took to dressing up in a slightly outrageous way, parading through the park, and perhaps symbolized a bit of rebellion against the status quo. They died in the 1980s.

How interesting. The article has more detail, but this is the gist of it (Maybe falcon can work his auto-translate magic on it). Buen camino, Laurie


Exactly. Very good post.
So many come to Santiago. See the two statures. And leave not knowing the story about them.

I grew up in Seville in the very early 1950s. Saw many "incidents." That to this day is hard to talk about.

Best to not engage in any political talk in any fashion on this board.
 
History is what was. It should be learned, appreciated and retained in context. this is a wonderful story of perseverance and filial love through adversity. I greatly appreciate the telling and retelling of the story.

While I have known the basic story for years, I only just read the full account in La Voz. I greatly appreciate the added historical context.

For the past several years, I have been reading a number of books about Spanish history, including the Civil War in the late 1930's. As an outsider without a relative or stake in this regrettable chapter in Spanish history, I sincerely appreciate accounts from both sides.

The site "The Local" for Spain, has several good reading list for folks interested in a balanced look and exploration of this turbulent period of Spanish history. I benefited from it.
 
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