Leon Cathedral
We have already told you that this year León is the Spanish Capital of Gastronomy, so either you have already planned a visit or you are about to buy your AVE tickets to arrive in the city of Bernesga in two hours from Madrid and thus discover the incredible cuisine practiced in the capital (and also in the rest of the province) .
Thus you will need some basic notions of our idioms, of those words and expressions that we use on a day-to-day basis believing that we share them with the rest of the Spaniards, but which in reality are as unique as the first Courts of History held in 1188 and which have earned us the legitimacy and title of 'Cradle of European Parliamentarism' by UNESCO.
Before someone takes for granted or forgotten... Yes, we know that many of them have been taken or are shared with our neighbors in Asturias, Cantabria, Palencia, Valladolid, Zamora and Galicia, but that the interesting thing about language, that it mutates, evolves, it expands, it mixes, it dilutes. The linguistic domains are not absolute and that is a guarantee of permanence.
Graffiti by the Leonese artist David Esteban on Calle de la Paloma, with the León Cathedral in the background.
BASIC NOTIONS
To begin with, we are going to make a simple approximation so that later we do not get unexpected surprises, because here everyone seems to be clear about it and then it happens as with Correos, which illustrates a stamp dedicated to Léon with the Cathedral of Burgos (Hey, it's beautiful too, but it turns out it's in Burgos).
The first thing you should know is that the countrymen of León are very clear that our city is the most beautiful in the world. We respect that you do not think the same, but in that (unlikely) case, we are governed by a popular saying that goes like this: "If you don't like León, there you have the station", in reference to the raised arm of the statue of Guzman the Good in the homonymous square of the capital and that points to the bus station (and for a few years also to the train station, which changed its location due to technical needs of the AVE).
And it is not that we are bad hosts, because at Léon we do not judge people by their appearance or their way of being, we don't care that someone is like a 'trullo' (fat), or that he is a 'gijas' (scrawny), or that he is 'drowsy' (foolish) or like a cowbell (crazy); nor that he arrives made a (disheveled) Adam.
We are not 'cuzos' (gossip) either, nor do we make esparavanes (fuss), but if you are restless we will not throw it in your face, we will only tell you that 'you have quicksilver'... We are not here to talk, that we are ' get by': we are cazurros and stubborn as a guillemot (stubborn) and sometimes, not many, we have someone crossed (we don't just like it) or we have 'chined' (angry) with him.
In León we have bars to welcome all types of travellers.
THE MOST BEAUTIFUL WORDS FROM LEONES
This spring, the Faceira Association, dedicated to the study, dissemination, protection and projection of the cultural, historical and linguistic heritage of León, launched a campaign on social networks in order to choose the most 'formous' words from Leon (pretty). Ten words that will represent León in the Pavilion of Languages of the European Capitals of Culture 2018, in Ljouwert (The Netherlands), until October and that join an initiative that seeks to give visibility to linguistic diversity in Europe .
How could it be otherwise, among the most voted words appeared the verb lend, that in León it has nothing to do with leaving something to someone temporarily, but rather means to like or like. So if someone from Leon tells you that you lend him, you're on the right track.
Loom (weaving machine) was also another of the chosen ones, but we also use it to refer to a useless piece of junk or object. I don't tell you anything anymore if we wait for you "I don't know what looms caught me", something like 'I don't know what he meant by all that', when you tell someone that another person told you something, giving too much thought to an issue or confusing the conversation.
I've always imagined a T-shirt in the style of "From lost to the river" ('From lost to the river'), only with a message translated from Leonese: "I don't know what weaving machines brought me together."
In León we don't go to the market, we go to the Plaza, since the Plaza Mayor is where the open-air market is placed.
Other words were Chosen for their loudness: 'fervienza' (waterfall) , 'ilumbreiru' (rural lighting system) , 'panxulina' (butterfly) , 'señardá' (melancholy) and 'xeitu' (with art or style) . To be honest, even I am not familiar with them.
Some Leonese customs deeply rooted in the popular imagination They also found a place in this selection made by Faceira, such as 'facendera' to refer to community work and 'filandón', which is when women gathered at night in front of the fire to carry out tasks such as weaving, sewing or spinning. 'Llariega', the kitchen fire, completes the list.
CUSTOMS, STORIES AND LEGENDS
If we talk about customs, we would like you to know that in León we don't go to the market, we go to the square, since every Wednesday and Saturday in the Plaza Mayor of the capital a barrage of fruit, vegetable and sausage stalls unfolds with which the most partiers of the capital end up crossing first thing on Saturday morning on the way home from the Húmedo (the party zone of the city) .
In León it 'lends' us a lot to tell that a giant mole destroyed the construction works of the cathedral every night.
That we appreciate our cathedral, the Pulchra Leonina so much, has a lot to do with its French-style Gothic beauty, but also with the effort of those builders who woke up every morning with the intention of continuing to erect this majestic building and found that a giant mole had destroyed all their work from the previous day. This picturesque story that we were told when we were little gives us a lot of fun with the visits of foreigners, to whom we proudly show them the skin of the enormous mammal exposed on the San Juan door.
It is useless that the director of the Museum of the Cathedral of León, Máximo Gómez Rascón, has clarified on several occasions that several researchers from the University of León confirmed in the 90s that it was actually the shell of a leatherback sea turtle, for us it is the skin of a giant mole, period!
oh! And don't even think about leaving the Cathedral without stick your head through the hole in the tomb in which, as tradition dictates, you have to ask for three wishes that will be granted. I haven't done it for years, but I remember that it provokes laughter and anguish alike.
What mystery is hidden in the royal Collegiate Church of San Isidoro de León?
THE HOLY GRAIL OF LEON
A story that not many know is that in the museum of the Royal Collegiate Church of San Isidoro de León is what could be the Holy Grail of the Last Supper of Christ. This is attested to by doctors Margarita Torres Sevilla and José Miguel Ortega del Río ("The Kings of the Grail", ed. Reino de Cordelia, Madrid 2014), who have managed to place the relic in Palestine in the 1st century AD. A Roman agate bowl that, according to this historical research, would have been venerated as early as the 4th century AD.
Known as the chalice of Doña Urraca, the Leonese infanta to whom it was donated, don't be blinded by its sumptuous current look (We know you've seen in Indina Jones that if it's gold it can't be a carpenter's glass). It turns out that the daughter of King Ferdinand I and Sancha had it decorated in 1063 with gold, gilded silver, amethysts, emeralds, sapphires...
We are sorry for the disappointment, but it will not be possible for you to fill it with water to achieve eternal life, the most you can hope for is to 'manipulate' it thanks to a new virtual reality service implemented by HP that allows you to see it in 3D with special glasses.
Pantheon of the Kings, in the Royal Collegiate Church of San Isidoro, in León, where they say the Holy Grail of Christ is found.
You are already informed of all our legends, stories, dimes and diretes, words and idioms from León, but 'you'll last longer' (you will arrive earlier or go faster) if you come to meet us and let us instruct you in the first person.
Yes indeed, Don't even think of confusing León's cathedral with Burgos's, because we will 'chinese', we will no longer make out with you (let's talk, the verb has nothing to do with How to flirt with a Leonese) and we will have you crossed for all eternity (never underestimate someone who has the Holy Grail in his can) .
In León we will only 'chinese' with you if you confuse our cathedral with that of Burgos.