Valdehijaderos

Valdehijaderos 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 Béjar region. It belongs to the Béjar judicial district and to the Embalse de Béjar and Ruta de la Plata communities.

Its municipal area is made up of a single population center, occupies a total area of 11.75 km² and according to the demographic data collected in the municipal register prepared by the INE in 2017, it has a population of 79 inhabitants.

The original structure of the town is configured around the Cañada Real Soriana Occidental or El Cordel, which comes from Valdefuentes de Sangusín and goes to Montemayor del Río, on its way to the pastures of Extremadura.

On the other hand, Valdehijaderos is part of the Sierras de Béjar y Francia Biosphere Reserve, which gives a good account of its scenic beauty and the conjunction of human use of the land with respect for the environment.

Valdehijaderos borders the municipalities of Horcajo de Montemayor, Valdefuentes de Sangusín, La Calzada de Béjar and Aldeacipreste.

Etymology

"Godson" It is a word that the Royal Spanish Academy collects as belonging to the province of Salamanca, with the meaning of "meadow that is reserved for the sheep to grow and breed". Thus, Valdehijaderos is the shortened result of "Val de Ahijaderos", the old name of the town, so Valdehijaderos means "Valley of Ahijaderos" or “Valley of sheep breeding meadows”.

Geography

Apart from the Cañada Real Soriana Occidental, the GR-10 long-distance path and the E-7 European path also cross the municipality, connecting the Valencian town of Puzol with Lisbon, serving as a link between the Mediterranean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean.

In addition, there are other routes in the municipality marked as "Caminos de Valdehijaderos", of remarkable charm and scenic interest.

Climate

Fitted in a zone with a continental Mediterranean climate, it registers cold, dry and sunny winters, with strong frosts and little snowfall, as well as dry and hot summers, but cool at sunset. The highest rate of precipitation is recorded in spring and autumn in the form of rain.

History

The land of Valdehijaderos was framed in the Middle Ages within the dependencies of the Council and Marquis of Montemayor del Río, in the Kingdom of León. It was a place on the border between León and Castilla, when passing the dividing line through the Vía de la Plata, just 2 kilometers from the town in the place of La Calzada de Béjar, then split in half, with "La Calzada& #34;, almost the entire town, belonging to Tierra de Montemayor and "Casas de la Calzada", a street located to the east of the road, belonging to the Community of Villa y Tierra de Béjar.

Although its foundation is assumed within the repopulation process carried out by King Alfonso IX of León around 1227, when this monarch created the council of Montemayor del Río, in which the municipality of Valdehijaderos was integrated, within of the Kingdom of León, the first reference to the population itself is located in a much later document, from 1543, where a town called "Val de Ahijaderos" is named as an annex of Montemayor and which then has 57 neighbors (families).

In 1752, the Ensenada Cadastre details that Valdehijaderos has 32 neighbors, of whom 4 are widows and 8 are single. Of its 48 houses: 26 are inhabited, 4 without residents, 8 haystacks and 10 ruined. It also reports that the town has, as common assets, a house and a council pen, a forge and a boyal pasture.

With the creation of the current provinces in 1833, Valdehijaderos was included in the province of Salamanca, within the Leonese Region.

Already in 1845, the Madoz Cadastre registered 36 poorly built houses, forming a body of population, inhabited by 25 neighbors, 81 souls. It is described as a town with a town hall in the province of Salamanca, judicial district of Béjar and diocese of Coria, located on a hill to the left of the Sangusín river. It is said that the climate is temperate and the most common diseases are tertians and quartans. The town has a fountain whose waters are used by the residents, an adjoining church of La Calzada, dedicated to the Beheading of San Juan Bautista, and a hermitage entitled San Marcos. The land is sandy, dry and of inferior quality. The roads lead to the immediate towns. Produces: wheat, rye, barley, chickpeas, flax, potatoes and legumes; there are sheep, goats, bovine and sow cattle and small game. It has a village mayor and has a "pósito" (cereal store to transfer it for planting or in times of difficulties).

Demographics

Graphic of demographic evolution of Valdehijaderos between 1900 and 2022

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

As we can see, the XX century already started with a very high population compared to previous data. This forced the need to plant more land and more orchards, among other solutions.

Traditionally, the surplus population was also resolved with emigration, for a few years or permanently. Until the 1930s, the most frequent destinations were Argentina (for definitive emigrations that included the whole family) and Cuba (where young people went for a few years to cut sugar cane, returning to do military service). There was another type of emigration that was carried out by parents who left their women in charge of the property and children and they sent their savings to support them, and above all, to buy more farms. The most unique episode was the one made to Panama to build the canal (1904-1914). Many men from towns in the region participated, including Valdehijaderos.

In the thirties and forties of the XX century, due to the Spanish Civil War and World War II, the emigration was closed, and some families even returned to the town. For this reason, the exploitation of the territory intensified strongly, becoming the largest in its entire history, although this did not imply a change in the system.

It is from the mid-50s, as in the rest of Spain, when the great rural exodus to the cities began. The destinations were very varied: Béjar, Asturias, the Basque Country, France, Germany, Switzerland, but the vast majority were absorbed by Madrid and Barcelona.

Currently, in recent decades, the population decline is constant but it is no longer due to emigration but to the predominance of the elderly and very old population over the youth and children.

Culture

Church of San Juan Degollado.

The bridge, of Roman origin.

Because of their small size and the habit of looking for a mate in the immediate environment, the children of the town share a high consanguinity. Although there was more variety in terms of nicknames, there were barely more than a dozen surnames: Sánchez, García, González, Rodríguez, Martín, Ceballos, Castellano, Díaz, Luengo, Márquez, Cubino, Simón, Antón, Canónico, Manzano, Moreno, You kill…

Leisure

Besides the taverns and the sunrooms, the biggest fun is the bald spot. The town traditionally has good players and, in fact, the Spanish champion in 2012 is from Valdehijaderos. Youth also have fun at carnivals and dances, the latter during the patron saint festivities of San Marcos and San Juan.

Economy

Valdehijaderos is a town with an eminent livestock tradition, practicing extensive smallholder cattle and sheep farming. Along with the pastures, small areas of vineyards and orchards are cultivated.

Agriculture

The municipality of Valdehijaderos is located on one of the sides of the Sangusín river valley. On its slope, on the south side, dominates the oak forest with some meadows in its already high part. Along the foot of the valley, where the road runs, the best meadows are located, all of them surrounded by stone walls and populated by countless plywood ash trees. The orchards extended, mainly, on the margins of the regatas (streams). The flat part, from the town to the river, was used mainly for cereal and carob crops.

The council hardly has any farms, so practically all the land is in private hands. Like other towns, it is possible that in the past it had communal land that could have been what is currently the sunny day and that, at a given moment, it was distributed among the neighbors.

Focusing on its use, from the point of view of its management, and simplifying a reality that is always more complex, we can say that its term had the following uses:

• Prados (herb, hay, strawberry wood...).
• Lands of labor (pastos, wheat, algarrobas, rye, watermelons...).
• oak (wood, grass, beds for livestock...).
• Vineyards (grapes, wine, figs).
• Orchards (rule and dry). (Patatas, barley, all kinds of vegetables, nabos, corn...)

The main function of the meadows was to obtain hay (grass dried in the sun) to feed the animals in the winter. The grass was mowed with scythes and once dry it was taken to the town's casillos, since "anials" were not made then.

The vineyards were located in the vicinity of the town, on its upper part. The main destination of the grape was self-consumption, once transformed into wine. All the houses had a cellar and a wine press. As the production was not enough, they went down to buy wine in towns like Santibáñez de la Sierra or San Esteban de la Sierra. To take care of the vineyards there was a guard appointed by the town hall. His usual place of stay and observation center was the & # 34; Canchal de las Cabezuelas & # 34;.

The representative forest masses of Valdehijaderos are ash trees on the ground floor and oak trees on the slopes. All the meadows have ash trees as trees. They are dehesados (separated from each other at a certain distance) and "destoppers", which is why they have a disproportionate trunk with respect to the branches.

"Cut the branch" consists of cutting all the branches. It is carried out at the beginning of September every 8-10 years in order to obtain firewood for the fire and food (the leaf) for the cattle.

Livestock

The most representative animal was sheep. They mainly grazed in the fallows and stubble, also in the meadows (although little because they were reserved for hay). There were about 50 pastorías (one per family), each one with their “carea” dogs and their corresponding shepherd, who used to be the smallest waiter in each house. There were families that made a "dúa" and they tended their flocks half-heartedly. Each pasture could have about 25 ewes with their male and included two or three goats for daily milk. At night they were collected in the village stables, but from the month of March they slept in the net, to mulch the orchards. In spring they were not removed early because the dew could hurt them. The production of each ewe was one lamb per year.

Nothing was added to the borrunchos (weaned lambs), just like the sheep, they only fattened with what they ate in the field and were sold at the end of April to the butchers of Béjar. In summer oak branches with leaves were cut and dried in the haystacks. It was saved to feed the sheep on snowy days. The wool was sheared by shearers from Extremadura (from Las Hurdes) who campaigned through the towns.

The presence of the wolf was almost constant but its main threat was in spring, when the sheep slept in the net. That is why the shepherds were helped by the mastiffs who kept watch all night. These large, strong dogs wore a carrancla (spiked collar). To avoid them, the wolves attacked against the wind, so they wouldn't smell them.

Each family used to have 4 or 5 cows at most, with some exceptions. Its main utility was its use as a team to pull the cart and the plow. They also took some milk from them and many years raised a calf. The team and her young went to sleep in the castle from October to March (to protect them from the weather and to be able to make vice (manure) for the land. The rest of the year they slept in the field.

The guarrapos (pigs) were bought small in the market. One or two per family were fattened and they were almost their only source of protein (ham, chorizos, black pudding), as well as fat (butter), bacon and bones for cooking. Before imprisoning them to fatten them, they took a few months to streams and paths, they were ringed so that they would not "sink".

In "the porcá" All the pigs of the town went together, (every day it was the turn of a family).

In Valdehijaderos there were hardly any horses and the mule began to be used as soon as it became general to take milk to sell in Béjar. For transport, the usual animal was the donkey, one per family. He used to carry serones for the load or a "rig" if it was for riding.

The trips to Béjar were made on foot, since the donkey was already carrying the load. In Béjar there were inns to be able to leave it safely.

Monuments and places of interest

• The parish church of San Juan Degollado, with a baptismal pillar of Visigoth origin.
• Hermitage of San Marcos, recently restored by all neighbors (residents and migrants).
• Roman bridge over the creek of San Marcos, in the heart of Western Royal Soriana Cañada, called "La Puente".

Administration and politics

Municipal elections