Bla bla bla

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Re: Bla bla bla

Postby nooj » Mon Dec 06, 2021 6:27 pm

Well first of all, it's not as bad as I expected. Everyone local I've talked to in Valverdi replied to me in the Fala as soon as I talked in Galician (they never talk to me in the Fala from the first).

For example, people working in the hosteleria, ordinary people out for a walk, or a bunch of hunters who gave me directions as I was hiking to the border to Portugal, and also on the way back when they gave me a ride back to town. This was the same route used by many men in the three towns to do goods smuggling in and out of Portugal. They used the Fala in their dealings with Portuguese people.

Obviously I have more occasion to talk to adults rather than children, but I even had a conversation with some teenagers (14-15?) who replied back to me in Valverdeiru without skipping a beat. That said, I don't want to dismiss what others have told me, as they obviously have a better grasp on the sociolinguistics of their language. If they say the Fala is in danger in Valverdi, I believe them. In fact, given that in all three towns there are more deaths than new births, the population is aging, and given the high rate of emigration (the young person I carpooled with to Sa Martín lives in Madrid and half of his family was born in France after they left the town following the Spanish Civil War), I'm curious about the future of the language.

I like to visit cemeteries. I took many pictures of cemeteries in the North Basque Country. Often you have very interesting messages, and of course you feel the weight of history pressing down on you. It's also a good linguistic exercise, because you can 'read' the language history of a place. In Urepel for example, while looking for the grave of Xalbador, I saw quite a few gravestones written in Basque, and quite a lot (the majority I'd say) written in French, even though all of the names to which the graves belonged were Basque names, and so presumably the majority were Basque speakers.

I did the same exercise in Valverdi. The vast majority of inscriptions were in Spanish, despite the certainty that like 95% of the people lying there would have been native speakers of the Fala. Of course you have to admit that many inscriptions were mass produced and ordered from elsewhere, so for that reason in Spanish. But you still have some purposely made inscriptions. Names cropped for obvious reasons:

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Notice that the Fala doesn't have esquecer like in Galician and Portuguese, in Valverdeiru it's olvidal or ulvidal (this tombstone is from Valverdi), in the other two towns it's ulvial.

I feel it's safe to say that the majority of people in all three towns over the age of 30 are native speakers of the Fala, which means that they have a strong speaker base to work off with. Which makes it all the more incomprehensible that the language (still) has almost no institutional recognition or support. This is the perfect time to start fixing an orthography, making it a language of instruction in the school, soliciting funding from the Extremaduran government. Language revitalisation movements often start very late in the process when the intergenerational transmission has already cut off, and by then it becomes infinitely harder to revitalise the language. I mean it's a qualitative leap to try to restore a broken intergenerational transmission. For example if the Basques had started from the same intergenerational transmission rate in the Basque Country as the Fala in the Xálima Valley, when the revitalisation process started in earnest in the 1950s, my God, think how strong Basque would be today!

Now twenty years ago, the Fala was declared by the Extremaduran government 'Bién de Interés cultural', which amounted to diddly squat in terms of actual actions or institutional support. Twenty years wasted. Coincidentally (I had no idea it was on) I came to the Valley on the day that they started something new, a Day of the Fala, which is meant to celebrate the Fala. The hosting town will rotate each year, this year's turn was Ellas. Great...for one day of the year. But what about the town halls of the three towns accepting administrative paperwork in the Fala? Making all their public announcements in the Fala and in Spanish? What about introducing classes of Fala in the school?

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Until then, the initiative and desire of the locals will keep the language going, like it has for untold generations. By the way, as I absolutely hate token or purely symbolic (as opposed to functional) uses of the language, I checked whether they served me in the Fala in this restaurant. The message on the wall says 'find a place and sit down at your table', which in and of itself is a very functional phrase, so you would expect the restaurant to also serve in the Fala. I'm happy to say that they did. I love that. The language is not 'just for show', in fact as I said before, they tend not to show it for foreigners. It's a language for them, but which they're all too happy to share with outsiders if they show interest.

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Re: Bla bla bla

Postby nooj » Tue Dec 07, 2021 3:26 pm

Partiendo, entonces, de esa respuesta negativa a la última pregunta formulada, podemos deducir fácilmente que, por ejemplo, el gallego puede ser perfectamente una lengua de comunicación entre todos los ciudadanos españoles en el siguiente sentido. Un gallego o valenciano podría hablar en gallego o en valenciano en todo el territorio del Estado español y ser entendido sin dificultad por todos los castellanohablantes. Esto es perfectamente posible y factible y hasta socialmente razonable y, desde luego, aconsejable.


An old quote from the linguist Juan Carlos Morena Cabrera, from a previous post of mine. I had occasion to test this out this long weekend in Extremadura because whilst I was in the three towns, I only spoke in Galician, and never in Spanish, including with people who it turned out were Andalucian tourists, Extremadurans from outside the three towns, Valencians who had come to Ellas for love (and offered me their mandarins that they were growing in their mandarin grove, of the Valencian subspecies!). All in Galician. Even when they told me eventually they were foreigners, my thought process was, well if they understood me up until now, they'll keep on understanding me and I didn't use Spanish.

In fact I'm on the bus back with monolingual Spanish speaking Extremadurans, and because I can't be arsed speaking in Spanish, I speak with them in Galician as well and they don't raise so much as a fuss. In 'deep rural Spain'.

Why the hell do we speak in Spanish? Why is Spanish our 'common language', in Spain, if Spanish and Valencian speakers understand Galician? Wouldn't it be better if everyone spoke in the language we wanted, and let each other speak in the language we wanted?

If you speak another Spanish language (or even a Portuguese language) other than Spanish, try this exercise and see how far it takes you (surprisingly far, I guarantee you).

A step in the right direction. In the facade of the Valverdi public library I saw this massive poster with a poem from the Portuguese poet Eugénio de Andrade (I don't know what the occasion was, it looks like some sort of international cooperative thing). The poem is in Portuguese with no translation in the Fala or in Spanish. Because there's obviously no need for a translation when we all speak closely related Romance languages. A 'lingua franca' only gets in the way of real interlinguistic comprehension.

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Don't speak Spanish in Spain (if you don't want to).
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Re: Bla bla bla

Postby nooj » Sat Dec 11, 2021 12:46 am

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The news that yesterday Allande Sokarros, a Zuberoan writer and journalist, militant Basque nationalist, passed away at the age of 64, has shocked me to my core. Too young. Too young! I had wonderful discussions with him. And also heated debates. That's how you know he was a real one.

What everyone agrees on is that he had in his little pinky finger more erudition about the Basque language and culture than people acquire in their entire lifetime. His knowledge of his native Zuberoan dialect and Zuberoan culture was truly vast, and he was generous in sharing it with people who asked for it. He sparked my interest in learning the Zuberoan dialect and learning about Zuberoa.

And he had the humanity to go along with it. The good die young, we wicked are left. That's what I keep thinking to myself ever since I heard the news.

Apart from his work in the service of Basque media and Basque journalism, he was also a political activist for the Basque Country. I read assiduously his articles, some of which you can read here (in French). Sokarros was a member of Iparretarrak, the North Basque terrorist organisation, although he was never in the armed branch. He was in the political branch. He was arrested and sent to prison anyway for his activities. Nevertheless he was a fierce critic of the South Basque terrorist organisation ETA and had no love lost for the Basque nationalist left movement (to which my sympathies belong). By no means was he a conformist or a person you could put into a neat category. A person sui generis.

What I said about Mirandese writer Amadeu Ferreira could also be said of Allande Socarros. People of irreplaceable talent, absolutely, but it would be a disservice to not try to 'replace' them, in the sense of trying to at least equal their knowledge and contributions.

And the greatest hommage to their memory would be to try to go beyond, if that's possible, be even better than them. So that Mirandese and Zuberoan Basque live to see another generation.

Is it even possible to be born in 2021 today and have a knowledge as thorough of Zuberoan culture, history and language as a native speaker of Zuberoan Basque like Allande, born in 1957? I don't know, but we have to believe it, or else we'll be trapped in a narrative of progressive deterioration.

This interview from 2020 is a good one. I'll translate some quotes.

“Lau mila bizilagun biltzen dira pastoral batean. Eta egun hartan euskara asko entzunen da, baina biharamunean gauzak berriro frantses sisteman sartuak izanen dira. Ez gara frantses sistematik atereak. Euskaldun izatearen harro direnak ere, beren iritzian euskara biziarazi eta indartu nahi dutenak ere, une batean, ez dira urrunago joaten, frantses sistemaren barruan geratzen dira. Eta frantses sistemaren barruan, goiz edo berant, euskara desagerraraziko da”.
In the Pastoral theatre pieces, 4000 people get together. And on that day you can hear a lot of Basque, but the day after, things are right back into the French system. We haven't escaped the French system. Even those who are proud of being Basque, those who want to strengthen and revive Basque, suddenly don't go farther, they stay within the French system. And inside the French system, sooner or later, Basque will be made to disappear.



Intolerantea da erratea: “Mezu hauek euskaraz ziren, eta euskaldun munduari zuzenduak ziren, eta nahi bazenute mundu horretan sartu, euskaraz ikasi behar duzue!”. Eta kito!

Baina behin ere ez baita “Eta kito!”.

Badakit ontsa nik hori. “Ez, ez, elebitasuna!”, diote, baina faltsua da hori. Diglosia nahi dute, betikoz! Gaur egun, euskararen mende ziren eremuak ere diglosiaren mende jartzen ari dira, eta onartezina da. Eta pastoraletan ere ageri da hori. Bide horretan aitzina, egunen batean, pastoral batean ariko diren hamarretarik zortzi erdaldunak izanen dira. Pastorala euskaraz emanen dute, ikasiko baitituzte bertsetak eta kantuak, baina ez da besterik izanen. Makurtzen ari gara euskaraz ez dakitenen egokitzera. Eta ez da hori bidea. Euskal Herri bat izan behar bada, euskalduna behar du izan. Ez baldin bada Euskal Herri euskalduna, beste izen bat eman diezaiogun.


It's supposedly intolerant to say: "These messages were written in Basque, they're directed to the Basque speaking world, and if you want to enter into that world, you need to learn Basque!" And that's final!

But "That's final", we haven't heard it once.


I know it all too well. "No, no, bilingualism!", they say, but that's a lie. They mean diglossia, always. Today even the areas that were once Basque dominant are subject to diglossia, and it's unacceptable. And it's even visible in the Pastoral theatre plays. If we go further along that road, one day, in a Pastoral play, 8 out of the 10 people who will be playing parts in the play won't know Basque. They'll do the play in Basque, they'll learn the verses and the songs (by memorisation), but they won't be anything more. We are bending over to accommodate those who don't know Basque. And that's not the way. If there is to be a Basque Country, it needs to be a Basque speaking one. And if the Basque Country is not Basque speaking, let's find another name for it.

Nola ikusten dituzu Zuberoatik Euskal Herriaren beste bi administrazio entitateak, EAE eta Nafarroa?

Eusko Alderdi Jeltzaleak EAEn daraman kudeantza ez dut batere txarra antzematen, salbu gauza batean: ez dut ulertzen zergatik, eta alderdi abertzaleek dutelarik gehiengoa, nolaz ez duten printzipioz ezartzen autodeterminazio eskubidea. Hori ezin da saihestu. Hori erraten ez duteno, besteek autonomista deituko dituzte. Hori seguru! Autodeterminazio eskubidea ofizialki ez aldarrikatzea akats handia da.


From your position in Zuberoa, how do you see the two administrative entities of the South Basque Country, the EAE and Nafarroa?

I don't think the EAJ (the Basque Nationalist Party, the Christian Democratic party, centre-right) is doing a bad job in the EAE, except for one thing. I don't understand why, and all the while having a parliamentary majority of Basque nationalists, they don't establish from the start the right to autodetermination. You can't avoid that. So long as you don't say it, other people will call you mere autonomists, that's for sure! Not officially calling for the right to autodetermination is a great error.

EAEn hitzean eta hortzean harturik dabiltza beti “autogobernua”.

Ez da batere gauza bera. Autogobernuak erran nahi du estatu-nazioa ez duzula auzitan jartzen. Autogobernuak ez du gaur egungo Europa eredua auzitan ezartzen. Autodeterminazioak bai. Autodeterminazioak erraten du beste Europa bat behar dela, Europa federala, autodeterminazio eskubidea onartuko duena; eskatzen duten herriei, erran nahi dut, eta badakit batzuek ez dutela eskatuko.


In the Basque Autonomous Community (EAE), the EAJ are always talking about their 'self government'.

It's not the same thing at all. Self governance or autonomy means that you don't challenge the nation-state. Self governance doesn't challenge today's model of Europe. Autodetermination does. Self determination means that another Europe is necessary, a federal Europe that will accept the right for self determination. For the nations/peoples that ask for it of course, I know some nations/peoples won't demand it.
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Re: Bla bla bla

Postby nooj » Fri Dec 17, 2021 10:27 pm

I'm in Lisbon for work related reasons. There's nothing I can say about the city itself that hasn't already been said a million times by much better travellers.

Before talking about speaking Galician in the capital of Portugal (out of conviction. Sometimes I don't want to speak Portuguese in Portugal, I want to speak Galician), I want to post some pictures of a book I read recently, Os choçus manhegus by José L. Martín Galindo. Despite the suggestive name, almost all of it is written in Spanish, although it keeps the specific technical names in Mañegu.

It's a meticulous study of the structure, locations and uses of choçus, specifically those located around the town of Sa Martín de Trevellu.

Choçus are round houses, usually made out of stone, although sometimes entirely made out of vegetable matter. Reminiscent in structure to the ancient castros in the north part of the Iberian Peninsula.

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The seasonal abode in summer of farmers and pastors. There are dozens still standing throughout the Valley of Xálima, although many have been torn down by farmers themselves in the wake of animal husbandry being replaced by mechanisation. In fact many choçus were destroyed because they simply posed an obstacle to tractors.

The prologue is taken up by an interview with a farmer who belongs to a time when the choçus were regularly occupied and used. Today they are barely used in their original function, some have been refurbished to serve as more comfortable places to live in, like 'summer huts'. Of course they should be protected, preserved, rebuilt if necessary, as part of the architectural heritage of the people of the region. The author actually includes plans for hiking routes and attaches maps to the book, in order to go see these choçus. I had already seen some in my time in the Valley but had paid little attention to them. Next time I go back, I'll know better. Hiking is great like that. It unites my desires to be in the mountains and nature, see cultural elements in their geographical and social context (like architecture), and speak the language, of course.

This text is written in Mañegu, as you can see, with a Spanish translation.

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Re: Bla bla bla

Postby guyome » Sat Dec 18, 2021 8:58 am

You sometimes run into similar constructions while hiking in France too, mostly in a large southern half but not exclusively. It reminded me of the Skellig monastery (of Star Wars fame now...).

https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cabane_en ... s%C3%A8che
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skellig_Michael#Monastery

(Interesting to see the book using the 'Basque cross' at the bottom of each page. I didn't know the symbol was used outside of the Basque country.)
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Re: Bla bla bla

Postby nooj » Thu Dec 23, 2021 3:35 pm

(Interesting to see the book using the 'Basque cross' at the bottom of each page. I didn't know the symbol was used outside of the Basque country.)

I had no idea either.

Here's an interesting Visigothic baptismal fountain in the Extremaduran town of Jarandilla de la Vera. Located in the parish church, formerly a Templar fortress.

I'm guessing swastikas are just one of those symbols that are universal.

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Re: Bla bla bla

Postby nooj » Fri Dec 24, 2021 1:16 pm

Spanish national television is sadly monolingual. Sure, the other official languages are very present in their respective communities, but in Madrid, it is vanishingly rare to actually hear Galician, Basque or Catalan in any music on the radio, or in any TV show. Spanish monolinguals live in a Spanish bubble, except for foreign languages like English.

Indeed, many of the contestants in OT sing in English, French...a bunch of foreign languages. If you look at all of the Eurovision entries for Spain in its entire history, all of the entries are in Spanish, English and even one time in French. Not one single official language of Spain other than Spanish. If and whenever a Basque, Catalan or Galician song gets to represent Spain in Eurovision, prepare yourself for the 'butthurt' of the century from the part of Spanish nationalists.


In this year's Benidorm Festival, a song competition to determine Spain's musical choice for Eurovision, Tanxugueiras is included. If you've been reading this log, I've talked about them before. They're a trio who rework traditional Galician music, and in the last few years they've been decisively and confidently modernising their music - which I like. Not only are Tanxugueiras one of the fourteen groups up for running, they're the favourite. Here is their entry:



The song is in Galician with one line each in Asturian, Basque, Catalan and Spanish, saying 'there are no borders'.

As a long time follower I can only be overjoyed by their recent success and I sincerely hope they win and become Spain's choice for Eurovision, pushing Galician before the eyes and ears of hundreds of millions of Europeans and the world. They deserve the success.

However. I also have mixed feelings about it. There is the personal distaste of the idea of them having to be associated with 'Spain'. The little Spanish flag, and not the Galician flag showing up next to their name does pain me.

But more importantly, this has already proven to be an important opportunity for Spaniards to 'Spainwash' Galicia.

And it's not just outspoken Spanish nationalists, who are just as likely to reject outright any public success of languages other than Spanish. I've seen such vicious comments, yes, but outweighing them are the nice comments from the nice Spanish nationalists. Perhaps they wouldn't describe themselves as nationalists but in their conception of Spain, it falls into Spanish nationalism. And I don't just mean Spanish monolinguals, you can speak Galician, Catalan, Basque etc and be a Spanish nationalist.

What do I mean by 'nice' comments? I mean things like:

Como galega,a ver se se empeza a entender e respetar a diversidade e verdadeira riqueza deste país,sodes moi grandes,oxalá “Terra” en Eurovisión,que mellor escaparate para que quede claro que a diversidade lingüística non separa,sale fermosura

Estoy super orgullosa de la cantidad de tradiciones e idiomas que tenemos en España, ya era hora de llevar una canción que lo demostrara. GRANDES


On the face of it, yeah, it's nice...but I fundamentally disagree with the ideology behind it. "This song shows the multiculturality of Spain! It's time to show the linguistic and cultural diversity of Spain" and things like that assume that Galician culture and language are part of Spanish culture and language.

I disagree with that because I don't actually believe there exists a Spanish culture or language, and it's certainly not the sum of the various 'parts' that compose the Spanish nation state.

The muiñeira is not a Spanish dance. The alalá is not a Spanish music genre. Uxío Novoneyra was not a Spanish author. The horreo is not Spanish architecture.

You can be as nice about it as you want, you can sincerely believe that Spain is a diverse country etc, but that you still conceive of Spain or Spanish identity as something that supercedes and englobes all the rest into one Spanish nation, is something common to all Spanish nationalists.

I've read many people say that what the Spanish are doing with Tanxugueiras, they consider it akin to cultural appropriation, which I find very appropriate, given the historical and current power diferential. Galician is a minoritised language in its own community, closer to outright endangerment than its ever been in entire history. It is bleeding native speakers, it has been effectively chased out of the cities and urban areas, it is a language that is blocked from so many aspects of daily life...and they dare speak about Spanish linguistic diversity?

Spain gleefully continues its process of annihilating the various cultures and languages of Spain, and this one... song...is somehow meant to show the contrary? It's not a change. It's not even the beginning of a change.

It's absurd for Spanish nationalists to point to this song as a celebration of 'linguistic diversity' when one of the lines, 'nun hai fronteres' is in Asturian, a language that isn't even official at this moment in Asturias. Very possibly, a lot of these same Spanish nationalists who fill their mouth with stories of Spanish linguistic diversity would turn around and oppose the officialisation of Asturian. A very nice touch by Tanxugueiras, by the way, to include a language that is not one of the official languages of the state, throwing one of the great contradictions of Spain into the face of Spanish nationalists. You can't use this song to say how great Spain is when Spain is denying speakers of Asturian their basic human rights.

That's actually why I fully hope that Tanxugueiras wins and gets to Eurovision. Because I believe in their subversive ability to counterarrest the dominant Spanish discourse, to air out its dirty laundry on a public stage and condemn Spain before the eyes of millions. I'll repost one of their collaborative songs which - unfortunately - will be heard by very few Spaniards, and would certainly never be voted on for Eurovision because it would be too 'political'. But which is why I have utmost trust in them, because Tanxugueiras are Galicians who love Galicia, first and foremost.

It's possible that the Spanish nationalists made the critical mistake of thinking that "ah, how cute, a Galician trio of women who modernise traditional Galician songs, how cute and folklorical", without actually realising what kind of people they're dealing with.

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Re: Bla bla bla

Postby nooj » Wed Jan 19, 2022 12:45 am

I've mentioned Extremaduran a couple of times in the log without saying anything about it, but I've recently had occasion to interest myself in it. More concretly, over the Christmas holiday, I hiked through a small part of Northwest Extremadura, including a small part of the Las Hurdes. This area is supposed to be where Extremaduran has best survived.

Extremaduran is either an (extremely endangered) language or variety of Astur-Leonese, or an independent language deeply influenced by Astur-Leonese, depending on who you ask, although I think the consensus is that it's another variety of Astur-Leonese, brought by Leonese settlers during the conquest of this area. Paradoxically, given the Western position of Extremadura in geographical terms, there are striking similarities between Extremaduran and Cantabrian (an Eastern Astur-Leonese variety), possibly due to repopulation from that part.

You'll see maps that use the classification scheme of High/Low Extremaduran, distinguishing between the Northwest of Extremadura that has best retained Extremaduran from all of the other varieties. According to this view, what is spoken above Caceres is fundamentally or qualitatively different from what is spoken around Badajoz.

However, many Extremaduran activists argue that the difference is not so much between the North and the South of Extremadura, so much as between the entire West of Extremadura, approximately to the left of the ancient Vía de la Plata which served as point of transit and movement of Leonese settlers, and the east of Extremadura, which due to its more close geographical proximity to Castillian speaking areas, was more susceptible to Castillian influence.

If there's a difference between South and North, it wouldn't be so much lingustic so much as sociolinguistic, as for whatever reasons (mountainous, lack of easy access via car), Extremaduran has survived the onslaught of Spanish better.



Take an example of this pig farmer in Salvaleón, in the South-West corner of Extremadura, in the province of Badajoz. He speaks an Extremaduran that is phonetically identical to Extremaduran anywhere else, and which gloriously belies the idea that Extremaduran is a Northern thing. In fact, the Astur-Leonese language once reached even more south, into the Andalucian province of Huelva, following the classic pattern of colonisation during and following the Reconquista.

This map shows where the languages of Extremadura are healthiest today, but it ignores the south altogether, giving the impression it doesn't exist there.

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But the truth is closer to this map:

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I visited the area around Caceres, Plasencia, and the towns of Galisteo, Valdeobispo, Montehermoso, Aceituna, Santa Cruz de Paniagua, El Bronco, Palomero, Casar de Palomero, before turning back. I got to hike through some incredible dehesas with my trusty tent of course. Even got a hitchhike on a tractor from a farmer. I talked to as many people as I could. Given the diglossic situation and severely endangered position Extremaduran is in (something like 10,000 speakers), I honestly didn't expect to hear any Extremaduran, but in fact I was pleasantly surprised by what I heard. Even among people who I identified as Spanish speakers, the influence of Extremaduran was strong.

For example, - l for the ending of infinitives (ponel), the treatment of postonic vowels, such as in the plural endings: coches -> cochis, burros -> burrus, lexical use like aonde/ande for onde, arrancaeru for 'last drink before going home', paeci for parece etc...things that I had read about before going but could now hear in real life.

In fact in one bar I was in in Palomero, the bar had proudly painted an entire wall with a poem in Extremaduran, a poem I promised I'd take photo of but unfortunately got too drunk (because the people in the bar kept buying me goddamn drinks). I have more to say, but my battery is dying on me. Next post: literature in Extremaduran.
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Re: Bla bla bla

Postby nooj » Tue Mar 08, 2022 11:45 pm

Been a while! I need to look after my own mental health so I haven't come around here recently.

To celebrate March 8, here's a poem by Galician poet Rosalía de Castro, called 'Justice by one's hand'. She was born 185 years ago. When people say that we shouldn't politicise our poets...I suggest they actually read them. This poem of hers lends itself so well to politicisation.

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Those reputable men in the villa
Stole from me all the brightness that I had
They threw filth on my finery
Daily my clothes they tore into bits
Not a stone did they leave of where I once had lived
Without home, without shelter, I lived in the fields
Next to the hares I slept in the meadows
My children...my angels! Who I so loved,
They died, died, of starvation!
I was dishonoured, they caused my life to wither
They made me a bed of thorn and goose,
And meanwhile, those damned devils,
They slept in a bed of roses.

Save me, judges! I screamed. Mad hope.
They mocked me, the Justice sold me out.
My God, help me! I screamed and screamed.
So high above was He, that my good God did not hear me.
Then, like a sick or injured she-wolf
I leapt to grab the sickle in fury
I slowly crept around...not even the grass heard my movements!
The Moon hid itself. That savage beast
Was sleeping alongside his friends on a comfortable bed.

I looked at them calmly, and stretching out my hands
With a slice, just one, I took their lives.
And I sat next to the victims, happy
Peaceful, waiting for the dawn.

Then, only then, was justice consummated.
Me (by avenging myself) upon them,
And the laws fulfilled,
By my murderous hand.

The rock band Nao covered this song.

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nooj
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Re: Bla bla bla

Postby nooj » Wed Mar 09, 2022 12:06 am

Here's a poem by Nichita Stănescu that I translated into Basque:

Image

Esaidazu, egun batean harrapatuko bazintut
Eta oinzolan musu emango banizu,
Ordutik ez ote zara herrenka ibiliko pixkat,
nire musuak zapaltzeko beldurrez?


Tell me, if I were to catch you one day
And if I were to kiss you on the soles of your feet
Wouldn't you limp a bit from them on
Afraid to crush my kisses?
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