SARIEGOS MOUNTAIN (ZAMORA)

THE UNINHABITED TOWNS

Thanks to the Montero brothers (Francisco and Jacobo). Excellent and enthusiastic informants of their town, whose history they do not want to fall into oblivion.

As its name indicates, a town located on a knoll or hill from where you can see excellent views of the Villafáfila lagoons as well as the plain where the towns of Villarrín de Campos and Villafáfila are located.

"When we were waiting for a family member and he was a little late, we went to the side of the church, from there we could see all the way and see where he was coming from." JACOBO MONTERO.

Nice town already come to less that came to have about eighteen houses. The houses were built of mud and adobe and since this material does not last very well over time, many of the buildings are on the ground.

Wheat and barley were the main products that were planted in their fields, while mules, cows and sheep were the most representative animals in livestock.

Their neighbors were associated in the Trade Union Brotherhood of Farmers and Ranchers to manage and defend their interests. They had the figure of the rural guard who was in charge of monitoring possible thefts as well as taking care that the cattle did not get into the farmland in addition to other matters.

They had an excellent farm for pasture: the Valdecasas prairie, where they would graze cattle and mules that were not used for farm work. The cowboys who played a cowbell in the morning around the town took care of this so that the neighbors could take out their animals.

Miguel de Villarrín de Campos and Julio de Villafáfila exercised this trade as cowboys for years in Otero de Sariegos.

They celebrated their patron saint festivities on April 25 (San Marcos). The launch of rockets and firecrackers announced the beginning of the party where the mass played a leading role, spectacular with some songs that gave goosebumps. The virgin was taken out in procession through the streets of the town, with the women in charge of carrying the litter. The dance took place in the afternoon and at night, always inside a building such as the ground floor of the Ojeros' house, in a bread basket or in a well-conditioned corral. The music was provided by a barrel organ brought by the Santacirila brothers from Villafáfila, in more recent years it was replaced by a record player.

That day there was a special meal in the houses but the star dish was the rice pudding prepared for the occasion that was very famous in all the surrounding towns.

De Villafáfila and Villarrín de Campos were the towns from which most people came to participate in the festival.

On November 11 for San Martín there was a party again, but this time there was no procession.

The priest always came from Villarrín de Campos. Every Sunday mass was officiated. Don Julián, Don Abdón, Don Arcadio or Don Agustín were some of the parish priests who came to perform such an act.

The doctor (Don Daniel), arrived from Villafáfila, they had to go looking for him with a cavalry so that he could go to Otero to visit the sick person.

Agustín Miñambres the postman came twice a week from Villarrín de Campos to bring all kinds of correspondence and even the pension that older people received.

Teófilo the barber came from Villafáfila to cut hair in the houses that were requested.

They went to grind the grain at the flour factory in La Tabla, where they delivered the wheat and returned the equivalent in flour.

The busiest day in Otero de Sariegos was on Thursdays, which was market day in Benavente (Thursdays in Benavente). to buy products or simply to spend the day even if nothing special was done. To do this, they got up at two in the morning to travel the twelve kilometers that separated them from the La Tabla railway station and take the train to Benavente. Years later there was a bus that left Villanueva del Campo and collected people from all the towns in the region to transfer them to Benavente. The Oteranos also had to get up early because they had to be at the intersection of the highway at eight in the morning, which is when the transport passed by.

To a lesser extent, the markets of Zamora (the twelve of Zamora) were also visited by the same means of transport.

Products and goods of all kinds were always bought the day they went to Benavente, but they also went to Villarrín de Campos and Villafáfila where there was a shop to make simpler purchases.

And in addition, the street vendors were in charge of bringing products to Otero that were not in the town, such as the Toresanos who, with a mule cart on a string (one mule in front of the other), carried peppers, tomatoes, onions, etc. Another street vendor from Villalba de la Lampreana appeared with a car selling rice, oil, sugar...

Already when there was a road, a vendor from Villafáfila would come with vehicles of the time selling utensils and household items such as the famous Duralex plates so fashionable in those years.

In general, each house used to have its own oven, where apart from bread, delicious pasta and muffins were made. Years later, the bread was no longer baked and the baker from Villafáfila brought it.

The youth traveled on Sundays to Villarrín de Campos or Villafáfila where there were dances and movies in both towns.

"We went to one or the other depending on the love or friendship interests we had at the time." FRANCISCO MONTERO.

In the early 1960s there was a resurgence in town life with two events that made life easier for Oterans: the arrival of the highway and electricity.
These comforts arrived when Mr. Ignacio Montero was mayor of Otero de Sariegos.
The light was a great novelty and replaced the carbide lamps with which the oteranos were lit at night.

“It was brought from a power station in Asperiegos owned by Aquilino Gato, it cost 25 thousand pesetas to bring it, it was in October 1961”. FRANCISCO MONTERO.

The other great advance was the road, it was something very necessary because before it was a trail and in winter it became impassable with mud and water because there were many wetlands, sometimes you couldn't even cross it.

“Around the year 60, the construction of the road began by means of a contractor from Salamanca, Ramiro Gullón, it was one kilometer seven hundred meters long and was done with a pick and shovel. It cost 63,000 pesetas. The work was stopped for two years. More than a kilometer had already been built, but about four hundred meters before reaching the town the road was going to occupy part of a nearby farm, to which the owner opposed. The road got stuck here. There was a trial and the city council lost it, so in order to pay the costs and delays, the Valdecasas prairie had to be parceled out in parts and each neighbor rented a parcel to take the cattle there and thus be able to cover the costs of the trial.
After a time, the good lady, possibly with a remorse of conscience for the damage she caused the town with her refusal, gave authorization so that the road could pass through her land and the work was considered finished. FRANCISCO MONTERO.

Although the early 1960s were good years for the town, which even came to know the telephone when there were only two open houses left, the same did not happen with the 1970s, in this decade there was a significant outflow of residents seeking better quality of lifetime.

Villarrín de Campos and Villafáfila absorbed almost equally the Oteranos who left the town.

The dissolution of the municipality of Otero de Sariegos due to the fact that the town was losing much of its population was the beginning of the end for Otero. The remaining neighbors chose by vote to join the municipality of Villafáfila. The Brotherhood of Farmers was integrated into that of Villafáfila, the plot consolidation was carried out, so the residents who remained chose to go to the two nearby towns, where there were more comforts and better services and from there they could continue going to work the land Knoll. If we add to this the lack of water in the houses and the closure of the school, the decline of Otero de Sariegos will be understood.

Even so, two people kept a breath of life in the town until not many years ago.

“When we left, everyone stayed on one side, María Ares, who was a widow, and on the other, Porfirio Alonso, who was single. Although María in recent years spent some time in Villafáfila and another in Otero, she was not there continuously and however Porfirio did live in the town all year round, so it can be said that Porfirio was the last of Otero de Sariegos. . He was a man in his eighties who lived without water at home and was somewhat precarious. He left Otero on November 21, 2003. The previous afternoon I was in Otero, I talked a bit with him and he told me- ¨The next morning I am leaving, I have never left Otero other than to go to military service but with great regret I leave and never come back-¨. Word that has fulfilled because Porfirio with almost 95 years lives in the residence of Benavente”. FRANCISCO MONTERO.

With his departure, smoke stopped coming out of the Oteran chimneys and the town was plunged into silence.

Even so, the children of Otero and their descendants continue to come to the town on April 25 to commemorate the feast of San Marcos and to ensure that the flame of Otero de Sariegos does not go out completely.

The lands continue to be cultivated by farmers from Villarrín and Villafáfila and the town, even if it is a glancing blow, is very popular because it is in the area of ​​passage to the bird observatories that are in the Villafáfila lagoons. In fact, a dovecote has been rehabilitated as an observatory.

Visit made in April 2014 in the company of Francisco Montero.

The parish church of San Martín de Tours. On the right, a wall that was used by young people to play handball and a corner that was also used by women to sit and sew.

The last house that was closed in Otero de Sariegos. Porfirio Alonso lived here with two brothers and a sister. All single. The house functioned as a bar but without being a bar. They had some beers, soft drinks and fantasies and some lollipops for children and they served whoever wanted to have a drink. The two sides of the house were the social gathering center for the people of the town. Depending on whether the air or the sun came from one side or the other, they changed walls. There they spent hours commenting on the news and observing whoever came to town.

“There were about twenty children in their heyday. Each child had to bring something to keep us warm inside on the coldest days of winter because there was no stove. We used to carry a kind of can with coals. The interior was simple: the teacher's table, a blackboard, two maps on the side walls, a cupboard and the desks in the center.

Doña Demetria was the teacher who spent the most years. She was from before, more demanding and strict. I remember once that at her recess a child brought her some very nice osier branches as a gift. The teacher so happy for the gift and the child also for having liked it. But she all went to limbo right away, fifteen minutes into the class she gave him a big slap on the face for a prank she had committed.

Later, younger teachers came who had just finished their degree, they were barely a year and they went to another destination. I have very good memories of Doña Bernarda, she was 23 years old, she only spent a year here, but I learned a lot from her.” FRANCISCO MONTERO.

The teleclub. First it was the headquarters of the Trade Union Brotherhood of Farmers and Ranchers. The arrival of television was a small revolution due to its novelty. The women came in the afternoon to watch the entertainment programs of the time. The young people also played card games.

The last house to be built in the village. Of good appearance, it was built by the Morejón family, a wealthy family in the region but who never lived in it. They sold it to other owners.

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Water well and battery. This is where the women from Otera used to come to wash their clothes. There were five or six piles. They put the clothes to dry in the meadow. This water was good for soaking the chickpeas, it softened them better than the water from the fountain which was a bit harder.

Circular dovecote with an interior patio already in ruins. The dovecotes were very characteristic of the Tierra de Campos, they were dedicated to the breeding of pigeons.

Author:

Faustino Calderon

https://lospueblosdeshabitados.blogspot.com/

https://lospueblosdeshabitados.blogspot.com/2014/04/otero-de-sariegos-zamora.html

Photography:

Faustino Calderon

Transcription and Assembly:

Jose Luis Dominguez Martinez.

All text, photographs, transcription and montage, the rights belong to their authors, any type of use is prohibited without authorization.