Cepeda (Salamanca)

Cepeda is a Spanish municipality and town in the province of Salamanca, in the autonomous community of Castilla y León. It is integrated into the Sierra de Francia region. It belongs to the judicial district of Béjar.

Its municipal area, made up of a single population center, occupies a total area of 10.73 km² and according to the demographic data collected in the municipal register prepared by the INE in 2017, it has a population of 346 inhabitants (175 men and 174 women).

Symbols

The heraldic shield that represents the municipality was approved on February 2, 1994 with the following coat of arms:

Cut. First, of silver with three sable-booted cepones, put on a girdle. Second, silver match with a lion of gules, with a golden castle; harbor of gules with eight golden spikes. To the bell the Spanish Royal Crown.

Official Gazette of Castilla y León no. 25 of 7 February 1994

Geography

It sits on a large and protected valley. Its clustered houses are erected on a hill with an ordered and at the same time anarchic architecture, which gives the population its peculiar and unique appearance in the Sierra de Francia. In local speech the name of the town is Cepea.^{[citation required]}

The river Francia, a tributary of the Alagón, and the closest stream of El Coso run through its term. Already in the town, the Turrutero that was until not long ago the place where the women did the laundry.

Northwest: Monforte de la Sierra	North: Mogarraz	Northeast: Miranda del Castañar
West: Madroñal		This: Molinillo
Southwest: Herguijuela de la Sierra	South: Sotoserrano	Sureste: Pinedas

Map of the municipality

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Interactive map — Cepeda (Salamanca) and its municipal term

Nature

Flora

Butterfly saving lavender.

The forests of Cepeda are made up of oaks, chestnuts, strawberry trees, holly and blackthorn. On the banks of the streams there are alders, poplars. You can also see eucalyptus, to highlight a specimen next to the El Coso stream, pines, holm oaks and cork oaks.

Among the cultivated species there is a proliferation of apple, pear, quince, peach, pomegranate, olive, vine and cherry trees. These last three species with great implantation and importance.

Rose rockrose, thyme, gorse and lavender are the majority among the small ones.

Formerly the cultivation of flax and wheat was of great importance, today both have disappeared.

Wildlife

There is a great variety of species: squirrels, foxes, roe deer, wild boar, ibex, vultures, and partridges, among others, have their habitat here.

The most important domestic species were porcine, equine and caprine, although nowadays they have practically disappeared. Almost all the houses had one or several copies of the aforementioned classes.

Demographics

According to the 1534 census, Cepeda had 122 residents, increasing its population to 200 residents at the end of the century. In the XVIII, specifically in the year 1752, the date on which the cadastre of the Marqués de la Ensenada was drawn up, Cepeda had about 900 inhabitants. In the XIX century, according to statistics carried out by Miñano in 1827, it had 520 residents.

Graphic of demographic evolution of Cepeda between 1900 and 2021

Source: Spanish National Statistical Institute - Graphical development by Wikipedia.

According to the National Statistics Institute, as of December 31, 2018, Cepeda had a total population of 331 inhabitants, of whom 166 were men and 165 women. Regarding the year 2000, the census reflects 530 inhabitants, of which 256 were men and 270 women. Therefore, the loss of population in the municipality for the period 2000-2018 has been 199 inhabitants, a 38% decrease.

History

It seems that Cepeda has been inhabited since ancient times. Vestiges found allow us to affirm that it is based on a pre-Roman castro. The Romans also occupied this space located next to one of its roads. An altar, a column and other remains attest to this. The Visigothic period has been recorded in pieces of slate and ceramic remains. Later it was a land of Moors and Jews. Reflections of the former remain in the clothing, in the architecture and in the legends; of the latter, on the lintels of the houses, reaffirming their conversion. The so-called Casa de los Judíos, now in ruins, also evokes the presence of this group in Cepeda.

House of Inquisition.

Later, King Alfonso IX of León repopulated the area at the beginning of the XIII century, when this monarch created in 1213 the council of Miranda del Castañar, within the Kingdom of León, maintaining the theory that this repopulation was carried out with people from beyond the borders, mainly of French or Gascon origin, based on place names and some existing surnames.

A town of great economic importance, it appeared in the book Repertoire of all the roads of Spain by Juan de Villuga published in the year 1546. It was an integral part of the county of Miranda and was protected by this population until mid-XVII century century, date on which it became an independent town upon payment of 3,500 ducats.

After this important moment, the town now writes the history of daily life, of the daily life of its inhabitants as witnessed by the preserved notarial protocols. Without great facts, that although they affected him, they were always written elsewhere.

Cepeda was a town open to the world. Dozens of muleteers or trajineros traveled the roads carrying the products that were made here; wine, honey and wax, meat, and linen, mainly and bringing those that were needed; wheat, fish, ceramics, utensils. And in addition to these products they brought stories, legends and people who finally stayed on this earth.

With the creation of the current provinces in 1833, Cepeda was integrated into the province of Salamanca, within the Leonese Region.

Administration and politics

Municipal elections

Culture

Heritage

Traditional architecture.

Cepeda was not a town of nobles, who lived in Miranda, and that has had consequences in the manifestation of its architecture, which is simpler and has not left behind great works. However, we can highlight the following:

• The Church. It began its construction in the centuryXVIprolonging in the XVII and XVIII. Although there is a mixture of styles, Baroque predominates. The altarpiece is of the centuryXVII and was made by the assembly master Ambrosio de Villalobos.
• The Humilladero hermitage. Located at the entrance of the village houses a Renaissance altar of the centuryXVI.
• The hermitage of San Marcos. It is outside the urban centre and was of great importance in antiquity. It's century.XV and is currently in ruins.
• The Tower. Civil and religious building, was built in the centuryXVII. It is separated from the church and from it was summoned to the neighbors, to the bell ring, to the council meetings.
• Hospital of pilgrims. Its construction took place in the centuryXVI.
• The Casa del Solano. Beautiful stone construction of the centuryXVII. It is close to the Church.
• The House of Inquisition. In the centuryXVII There were relatives of the Holy Office in this town and perhaps they lived in this stone house, although there is no record of the date on which the present building was erected.
• The House of the Jews. Faithful testimony of the presence of that religious group in Cepeda. It is in ruins but a Gothic arch of the century is preservedXV.
• The Houses and Streets. They are beautiful, peculiar and show elements that surprise us at every step. Stone, adobe and wood melt into shapes, textures and colors creating unique buildings.

Cruise.

• The Coso Molinos. They are located by the creek of the same name. These flour mills date back to the centuryX and there is evidence that in the centuryXVIII were, still, used.
• The Coso bridge. From medieval times, it is doorway to an enchanting forest of oaks and chestnut trees and old stone roads.
• The Moral. It is a living monument, the symbol of the villa. This age-old and sick wing, perhaps in times it was a moral one, is a witness to Cepeda's life; and almost everything important takes place at his feet.
• The crown. The ancient era has become a privileged viewpoint from which the best photographs of Cepeda are obtained. In 2019 four new eras have been added giving rise to a route of great landscape value.
• The Council Park. A recreational area recently created with the altruistic work of the neighbors in the place that occupied the council's house "place where we have the use and habit of bringing together and bringing together the matters of the public good of this said place" according to the words of the cepeans of 1640.

In addition to its aesthetic value, we must highlight the symbolism that emanates from the elements that make it up since it has been intended to be a bridge between the people of Cepe who decided the future of the town there and those who occupy this same space today in day.

Speak

The dialect spoken in Cepeda, with great coincidence with the others in the Sierra de Francia, has its origin in the Leonese language used in the town in the Middle Ages, having progressively become Spanish over time once the status The official language of Castilian and the lack of official status of Leonese made the use of this last language go backwards, so that the speech that we find today in Cepeda is no longer Leonese but a dialect of Spanish with notable influences from Leonese. Some of its characteristic features are:

Humilladero hermitage.

• Conversion of [s] into [h]: Vah a venil?
• Replacement of postnuclear [v] [l]: sweat instead of Get up., il for go.
• The use of perfect analogue strengths in certain irregular verbs: said for said, had. for had.
• The construction of gerundios from the theme of perfect: Fucking for putting, Tuv for having.
• The use of article with the above poses: my garment, My Manolo.
• Second-person Lithic of the plural You: Ya voh vaih (you go.)

Cepeana house.

Globalization and the abandonment of agricultural tasks are ending the use of a lexicon that only remains in the memory of the elderly. Words like hoce, fusca, mijengro, pechao, tataruño, turbión, sahumerio, tolnaero... are already very rarely used.

Parties

Festivities: San Marcos, on April 25; San Bartolomé, on August 24.

Saint Bartholomew

Today it has become the most important festival, as it is also the meeting time for people who had to leave the town.

August 24

The Drummer, accompanied by the Guion or Gracioso, gathers the dancers and ramajeras from their homes to the sound of their instruments. All together they will go after the authorities and mayordomos to go to the church. After the mass, the entire town in procession heads to the Plaza Mayor. An image of San Bartolomé presides over this procession, escorted by people who carry a banner and two banners. Songs and dances, joy and bustle, and color invade the old streets of Cepe.

In the Plaza the offertory takes place and the hands deposit money before the Saint. Then there are dances in his honor: picao, paleo, bouquet and the always exciting one in the bottle.

When the dance is over, people go to the treat prepared by the mayordomos.

August 25

Another procession, this civil one, that takes people, first thing in the morning, to look for the bulls in a nearby pasture. Chosen and caged, they will be transported to the town, also escorted by a joyous merriment of horns and whistles from the procession cars.

In the afternoon they will be fought before the neighbors from all over the region who feel a real passion for this event.

Saint Mark

Arrival from San Marcos to the Plaza Mayor during the holidays.

The San Marcos fair, agricultural and livestock, had great importance in the area for centuries.

The day before the Saint is climbed from the Humilladero to the Church.

On the 25th, after the mass in honor of the Saint, attended by authorities, mayordomos, dancers, ramajeras and the neighborhood, they will take him out in procession through the streets of the town. Arriving at the Plaza Mayor, the offertory is made and people dance before it. This day is called Las Relaciones; requests and thanks in verse, which dancers and ramajeras make before the Saint.

Traditions

Consistorial house.

Thanks to the efforts of the residents, a large number of traditions are preserved. Among all we highlight the following:

The Bouquet. It takes place on Holy Saturday. The waiters gather to eat the bolla, a kind of bread, with sausage. Already at night, they cut the bouquets that they put on the balconies of the brides or girls they want. These are made of laurel or of other species, sometimes decorated with sweets. They say they have a meaning:

The laurel, I want to see you.

The rosemary, I love you.

The apple tree, I love you.

The olive tree, I forget you.

Cherries, firmness.

The Dawn. On the eve of the wedding, the friends and neighbors of the couple, accompanied by the drum, come to their house to sing to them. Through verses, they praise the virtues of the bride and groom or godparents or make requests. Later they will share sweets, and all kinds of food and drinks served by the spouses and their families.

Gastronomy

The oven. It is a bread stuffed with hard-boiled egg, chorizo and loin. The peculiarity of Cepeda's hornazo is that it is covered in sugar. It is eaten in the countryside, with family and friends, on Easter Sunday.

The serrano lemon. It is basically a lemon and orange salad to which eggs and meat or chorizo are added. Season with salt, oil, wine, vinegar and a few pennyroyal leaves. Naturally there are multiple variants.

As far as sweets are concerned, they eat perrunillas, mantecados, briñuelos and donuts.

The milkhela. In the summers of a few decades ago, this modest milk ice cream refreshed young and old.