Brieva de Cameros (La Rioja) (0)

Did you know that... Brieva de Cameros

It is the village of the Cameros located further west, between this mountain range and that of the Viniegras. The rivers Brieva, Roñas and Najerilla delimit it, and its landscape is dominated by the Sierra de Castejón and the Cameros Nuevo while it loses altitude as it enters the valley of Roñas and Najerilla. The river Brieva, which rises at the foot of the Sierra de Castejón, gives its name to the town and part of its activity, as its waters abound with autochthonous trout. Brieva de Cameros has a fish farm, owned by the Autonomous Community of La Rioja, with two autochthonous trout breeding plants. All the trout rivers in La Rioja are repopulated from this fish farm.

A little more history

It is believed that the villa was a Roman city under the name of Brita, although it is possible that the city of Briga of Iberian origin existed before. There is news of its existence, linked to Valvanera, from the tenth century, when Dominic, a clergyman of the town of Brieva, built a hermitage where according to legend he found the image of the Virgin of Valvanera, thus giving rise to the foundation of the monastery. In Brieva de Cameros there was the image of the Virgin of Valvanera, from the disentailment of Mendizábal until December 1885 and with the reopening of the monastery, was transferred back to him. Like the rest of the villages of Alto Najerilla, it belonged to the Señorío de Cameros since the 15th century. The mayors of the 7 Villas, of which Brieva forms part, used to meet in the so-called "Casa de Islas", in Mansilla, to discuss their affairs and deal with common issues. The location of this House was decided by its centre as for the rest of the villas, and its passage in the direction of Puente Suso from where the transhumance took place. The house was called Islas because it was anchored between the rivers Portilla and Urbión. Brieva de Cameros belonged to the province of Soria until the province of Logroño was created.

To discover What to see in Brieva de Cameros?

From the Brieva de Cameros lookout, which dominates the village, we can see the imposing beauty of the Sierra de Cameros and try to discover which is each of the peaks that we see in front. It is an old town that preserves some architectural jewels. A rococo coat of arms from the 18th century, the Felguera Palace and a typical construction in the mountains, with a floor flown over wooden canals from the 15th century. We can also admire the parish church, under the patronage of San Miguel, is from the fifteenth century and has numerous images and religious objects, of unquestionable interest, from the fourteenth to seventeenth centuries. And the church of Santa María, in the Barruso neighbourhood, situated on a hill with a lot of trees around it, possibly built in the 16th century. A little less than a kilometre from the Valdiña district, across the river, we find the Soledad hermitage, whose origin may be the 16th century, although with reconstructions from the 18th century. On entering the village there is a transept column with a capital decorated with angels from the mid-sixteenth century and next to it a small temple in which a 16th century Piety is embedded.

Festivities

The patron saint fiestas are in honour of San Felipe or as they say in the village of San Felices and are celebrated on 31 July and 1 and 2 August. The cattle fair, on September 6, where business is scarce and meetings and meals festive important. The weekend closest to the 15th of May is the recuperated festivity of San Isidro. And of course, in June, the feast of La Trashumancia.

Traditions

Every year in June the Feast of Transhumance is celebrated, attended by several thousand people. There are all kinds of activities related to this traditional livestock system. Among these activities are: shearing with scissors, popular tasting of migas and caldereta serrana, typical pastoral folklore, wool crafts fair. There are also routes through significant places nearby (cañada, contadero, chozos).

Curiosities

There are villages with the name Brieva in several Spanish provinces: La Rioja, Ávila, Burgos and Segovia. For this reason, and at the proposal of the Real Sociedad Geográfica de España, Brieva was added "de Cameros", being the only town with this surname located in the Najerilla valley, outside the natural region of Camero Nuevo.

The Legend

A very ancient legend runs around the place about a very Christian family and adherent to the law of the church. It is said that when the mother died, the son wanted her to have a good burial and funeral. The priest fulfilled the boy's wishes and in compensation he gave him a coin of two pesetas. When the priest took it, he noticed it was strange, but as he did not understand a lot of money, he sent the altar boy to the tobacconist for tobacco and gave him the coin so that he could pay with it. After a while the zagal came back with the coin telling him that it was false, then the priest kept it. After some time the boy, who had given her the coin, went to fulfill the commandment of the Holy Mother Church to confess and receive Holy Communion for Easter in Florida. And he took Communion, and began to spin it in his mouth to try to swallow it Holy Form but he could not. When the priest saw him, he approached him and asked him, to which the young man answered "well, it doesn't pass". "Anda the same thing happened to me in the tobacconist" answered the priest.

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