Before reaching Pinos Puente, we turn left and head up to Moclín. Moclín is the site of an Arabic castle that was captured by the Catholic Kings in 1486. A church was built just next to the castle and the Catholic Kings donated a canvas of the Fallen Christ which had been a Castillian Standard during their battle campagne. This is what we are going to see. In the 16th Century a popular cult of the Fallen Christ sprang up and in the 17th Century the Archbishop of Granada recognised the special efficacy of the image in relation to sexual problems and female infertility. To this day, on 5th October there is a romería especially for couples without children who go to ask for the blessing of fertility.

 But the religious side of the festival, with its miraculous blessing of fertility has its counterpart in the malicious rumour that the women are endowed with the sudden blessing of fertility by much more natural means, to be found in the festive nature of the romería and spending the night in the open air. Be it as it may, it was the custom for the male participants of the romería to be greeted by the village youth and kids with the cry of “Cuckold!” and the clashing of goats’ and sheep’s horns.

 All this is from Francisco, Federico's brother, who points out that given the conjugal morality of the region and the attitude towards adultery in Granada, such a version is inconceivable, and suggests that the explanation lies in the pagan roots of the Christian tradition. He points out it is typical of the Church to impose its own religious content and significance on old pagan customs which it is trying to root out. And it is also common for the pagan content to resist and to filter through in some way into the imposed Christian ceremony.

Francisco says that their bedroom in the country was always presided over by a rough lithographic reproduction of the “True Image of the Most Holy Christ of the Sackcloth” and that his brother often reflected aloud on the pagan features of the image. “Looking carefully, below the thin layer that covers it, you can detect the hooves and the tangled hair of a faun,” claimed Lorca.  It does have a sinister look, agrees Ian Gibson.

The October pilgrimage to see the "Christ of the Sackcloth" is the basis of the third act of Yerma. The dance included in the scene is based on a dance of Asturian and perhaps Bachian origen. The man carries a horn and the woman a crown of flowers. Lorca accentuated the erotic nature of the dance and provided masks for the dancers.

This is an extract  from the third act of Yerma:
 

Alrededor de una ermita, en plena montaña. (...) Entran las MUJERES con ofrendas a la ermita. Vienen descalzas. (...) Canto a telón corrido.   No te pude ver cuando eras soltera, mas de casada te encontraré. Te desnudaré, casada y romera, cuando en lo oscuro las doce den.

Around a hermitage in the middle of the mountains(...) The WOMEN enter, carrying offerings for the shrine. they are barefooted. (...) Song before the curtain rises: I never saw you here  when you were single, but now you're married I'll find you. I'll undress you, wife and pilgrim, when in the dark it strikes midnight.

VIEJA: Venís a pedir hijos al santo y resulta que cada año vienen más hombres solos a esta romería. ¿Qué es lo que pasa? (Rie.)(...) MUCHACHA 1ª: El año pasado, cuando se hizo oscuro, unos mozos atenazaron con sus manos los pechos de mi hermana. (...)

OLD WOMAN: You all come to ask the saint for children, and it seems to me that each year more and more men come on their own to this pilgrimage. What's going on here? (Laughs.) (...) FIRST GIRL: Last year, when it got dark, some boys grabbed my sister's breasts with thier hands. (...)

YERMA: El cielo tiene jardines con rosales de alegría, entre rosal y rosal la rosa de maravilla. (...) Señor, abre tu rosal sobre mi carne marchita. (...) Escucha a la penitente de tu santa romería. Abre tu rosa en mi carne aunque tenga mil espinas. (...) Sobre mi carne marchita, la rosa de maravilla.   (...) Crece el ruido y entran dos MASCARAS populares. Una como macho y otra como hembra. Llevan grandes caretas. El macho empuña un cuerno de toro en la mano. No son grotescas de ningún modo, sino de gran belleza y con un sentido de pura tierra. La hembra agita un collar de grandes cascabeles. El fondo se llena de gente que grita y comenta la danza. Está muy anochecido. (...) MACHO: Si tú vienes a la romería a pedir que tu vientre se abra, no te pongas un velo de luto, sino dulce camisa de holanda. Vete sola detrás de los muros donde están las higueras cerradas, y soporta mi cuerpo de tierra hasta el blanco gemido del alba. ¡Ay, cómo relumbra! ¡Ay, cómo relumbraba, ay, cómo se cimbrea la casada!

YERMA:  Heaven has gardens with rose bushes of joy,  between rose bush and rose bush the wonder rose. (...) Lord, let your rose bush flower over my withered flesh. (...) Listen to the penitent in your holy pilgrimage. Let your rose blossom in my flesh though it have a thousand thorns. (...) Over my withered flesh, the wonder rose.   (...) The noise increases and two popular MASKS enter. One is male, the other female. They carry large face masks. The male clutches a bull's horn in his hand. They are not in any way grotesque, but of great beauty with the feeling of pure earth.The female shakes a collar of large bells. The background fills with people shouting and commenting on the dance. It has got very dark. (...) MALE: If you come to the pilgrimage to ask for your womb to open,  don't put on a mourning veil, but a soft shirt of Dutch linen. Go alone behind the walls among the fig trees and bear my body of earth until the white moan of dawn. Ah, how she shines! Ah, how she shines,  ah, how the wife sways!

Finally, we are going to return now to Granada via  Pinos Puente.

Homepage

This page is part of Granada en la Red