Cirauqui-Zirauki (Navarra) (0)

Did you know that... Cirauqui - Zirauki

Preceded by vineyards and cultivated lands and located on a hillock, Cirauqui-Zirauki is sheltered by the cornice of the Lóquiz mountain range. The lands of Cirauqui-Zirauki were intensely Romanized, as evidenced by the ceramics found, the stretch of Roman road, where the Way of St. James runs, at the exit of the village, and the fallen bridge, as it is known among those of the village, to the medieval bridge. In the Middle Ages it lived intensely the life of the pilgrim and it had a lodge-hospital where to be able to take care of them.

A little more history

It is known that in 1945 the village was donated by García El de Nájera to the monastery of San Millán. In 1425 it formed part of the County of Lerín, as Charles III the Noble, gave Cirauqui-Zirauki and other Navarrese towns to his daughter Juana, on the occasion of her wedding to Don Luis de Beaumont, Count of Lerín and Condestable of Navarre. Cirauqui-Zirauki was the scene of the Napoleonic Wars and above all of the Carlists. This is how Cirauqui-Zirauki's life has continued with its lights and shadows throughout its history.

What to see in Cirauqui - Zirauki?

The streets of Cirauqui-Zirauki are arranged following the medieval layout that was enclosed within its walls, of which some part of its structure has been preserved. The oldest constructions date from the 16th century. The Town Hall Square becomes another important area that houses interesting buildings. It is a group of Baroque dwellings dating from the 17th and 18th centuries.

To discover

Of the monuments preserved by Cirauqui/Zirauki, it is worth mentioning the church-fortress of San Román, the town's main temple, of medieval origin and dating back to the year 1200, enlarged and remodelled in the 16th and 17th centuries. Also of medieval origin is the church of Santa Catalina de Alejandría. The hermitage of the uninhabited Aniz offers a pleasant environment for strolling and resting as well as the medieval hermitage of San Cristóbal, located on Mount Eskinza. The walks and incursions to its nearby mountains, the Eskinza or the Axixuri, high Guirguillano, this one to the north of the municipality, constitute in themselves an interesting attraction.

Festivities

The main festivities are celebrated on 14 September in honour of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross. At the beginning of May the small festivities are celebrated, pilgrimage is made to the hermitage of San Cristóbal, located in the mount Eskinza, where around a good fire tasty calderetas are prepared.

Traditions

It is a tradition that the vespers of San Román and Santa Catalina, which are respectively the 17th and the 24th of November, after singing the Salve in the church, gathered in the street around a big bonfire, and with the hullabaloo of a charanga, to the cry of chestnuts, chestnuts!, from the balconies and windows of the parish house begin to throw them and people from below try to collect some without receiving any chestnuts.

Curiosities

One of Cirauqui-Zirauki's most famous and peculiar characters was Tirso Lacalle, "Cirauqui's cripple". Liberal guerrilla who fought the Carlists in the third Carlist War between 1872 and 1876. His adventures were known throughout Navarre. When the first Carlist uprisings took place in 1872, a small garrison of carabineros, including Tirso Lacalle, stood out to defend Cirauqui. They fortified the church and, according to reports, the water they needed for the work was carried by the women of the village, mocking them. When the Carlists took over the municipality, the women harangued the town that murdered 38 prisoners.

The Legend

According to the legend narrated by the cluniacense monk Aymeric Picaud, first pilgrim who described this route, and who warned about the Salado river: "Beware of drinking in it, neither you nor your horse, because it is a deadly river! He adds that they asked if they could water the animals and they were told "yes for what we gave our horses to drink, that two died to the point, that the Navarrese skinned right there". Apparently the Navarrese, at the bridge of the Mill in Cirauqui-Zirauki, urged the horses to drink from this water.