Endrinal
de la Sierra
Comarca de Entresierras - Province of Salamanca - Spain
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History: The origin of the first people in nowadays land of Endrinal can be found in the Neolithic, about 4000 years b.C. In the region can be found diverse sacrifice stones, -anciently used for religious rites-, prehistoric scripts and also a dolmen that is testimony of the sacred character of the place, where Anne, the Goddess of the water birds, could have had a sanctuary. Different vestiges of the Roman and Visigoth occupation ha also been found also.
The first historical mention of Endrinal appears in a document from 1185, what means that there have been people from the beginning of the XII century. It has hosted different monastic possessions: Benedictines, Cistercians and Templar. It can also be seen the rests of different fortresses, such as "La Calamorra" (From Arab Qal'a: Castle), where there is an old bullsrings, or that from Villar de Leche, that nowadays keep its tower. The most important from the region is the Monleon Castle, in the homonym city, near to Endrinal.
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In the middle XVII century
there was in Endrinal
an ecclesiastic, two surgeons, a blacksmith, three innkeepers, three shoemakers, two wagon, a tailor, a weaver of linen, a barber, a
horseshoer, a notary public and three guards of cattle. The misfortunes of the war, during the Napoleonic invasions, also affected
Endrinal, that underwent the transit of some French detachments between 1809 and 1811.
Old constructions abound in the zone. The parochial Church of Endrinal is a building of the XVI Century, that was constructed above the rest of a previous one, perhaps at the XI Century. Some authors suppose that previously in the same space old practices of initiation of ancestral rites were celebrated, prohibited soon by the Church.
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Theater, traditions and old beliefs : The Mesegal, in Endrinal, constitutes the more outstanding magician-religious center of all the region. With a hermitage, to the side of which a bullring rises, always bound bullfighting to the Goddess the Mother. There is the Patio de Comedias, the only place where they have represented theater until recent time. Sacramental pieces -so spread in the Middle Age- were presented there, but mainly, entremeses, sainetes and comedies, that were the common pieces presented in scene in charge of neighbors of the town. The deep forests that time ago surrounded time the present sanctuary of Santa Isabel, used to influence in a special way in the travelling believers and, since the perception systems act in this type of natural spaces in a different form. The Mesegal appears still today with a strong mystery force.
Forests, Anthropophagous wolves, probatory myths, the Christmas gift, deceaseds, carnivals, the waters, old spells, health arts ... Endrinal counts with an amount of myths and rites throughout its history, many from which have arrived with diverse modifications at the present time, as it is the "Enramada".
Endrinal Today:
The Village of Endrinal de la Sierra is located at 929 meters of altitude, in the Region of
Entresierras, to the south of the Province of Salamanca. Its municipal term
presents pleasant landscapes, in a zone where the springs abound. Their ecological areas
understand forests, meadows, thorny shrubs, as well as cereal areas. This diversity favors the unfolding of
many animals species, like the fox, the wild boar, the crane, etc....
With an economy based on agriculture and cattle ranch, the community is strongly
committed with the development of the region, not only at economic, but social and cultural level, working altogether with other localities of the Region of
Entresierras.
Bibliography "Endrinal de la Sierra - Historia, Tradiciones y Ecología", Ramón Grande del Brío, 1999.
Photo: El Rayo Misterioso.
Links de Endrinal:
Grupo Laboratorio de Teatro "EL RAYO MISTERIOSO"
[ www.elrayomisterioso.org.ar
]
