When I was growing up I loved stories like The Song of Roland, or Beowolf, King Arthur, or other ancient, epic sagas of medieval times. The Song of Roland is about a battle in 778, when Roland (or Roldan in Spanish), the nephew of Charlemagne, led a battle to fight the Moors in Spain by leading the French through the mountain pass in the Pyrenees called Roncevaux (or Roncevalles in Spanish).
Later, I learned more about Roncevalles while reading about the pilgrim trail The Camino de Santiago. I have read many books about the Camino, and watched dozens of documentary films and feature movies. Over the years Vincent and I have walked tiny portions of the Camino in Burgos, and in Santo Domingo de la Calzada, and other villages in Spain. The Camino begins in Roncevalles, and follows through the Pyrenees. Roncevalles is considered one of the hardest parts of this trail.
Two weeks ago we were in Spain again, and we took my mother-in-law to see the village where she was born. While helping Vincent navigate the twisting roads in Navarra up into the mountains of the Pyrenees chain, I noticed how close we were to Roncevalles. You can read all about our trip HERE. When we arrived at the village of her birth, Orbaiceta, I was surprised to see a weathervane on the church of San Pedro (they are very rare in Spain), but even more surprised to see the figure on the vane. It was obviously Roldan (Roland)!
This two dimensional weathervane is extremely detailed, right down to the little stirrup on his foot and the bridle reins on the horse. I'm sure it must represent Roland considering the history of the area, and the proximity to Roncevalles. Orbaiceta is the last village in the valley before the French border. It has only about 150 inhabitants. My mother-in-law was born here in 1934 during the Spanish Civil War.
Views of San Pedro Church in the village of Orbaiceta, Navarra, Spain
For the truly curious:
Wikipedia The Song of Roland https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Song_of_Roland
Wikipedia Roncesvalles https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roncesvalles
Yesterday's blog post about our trip to Navarra, Spain and the villages in the Pyrenees:
https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2019/05/a-family-history-visit-to-pyrenees.html
----------------------------
Heather Wilkinson Rojo, "Weathervane Wednesday ~ The Song of Roland near Roncevalles (Roncevaux)", Nutfield Genealogy, posted May 22, 2019, ( https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2019/05/weathervane-wednesday-song-of-roland.html: accessed [access date]).
No comments:
Post a Comment