Hontanas (Burgos) (0)

Did you know that... Hontanas

It is located to the west of the province of Burgos, in the region Odra-Pisuerga. The Garbanzuelo stream, a tributary of the Odra river, passes through its municipal district. Hontanas to the being a point of passage of the Way of Saint James acquired certain relevance to what contributed the construction of the hospital of pilgrims and poor of San Juan. In the year 1787 in the census of Floridablanca it appears like Place that formed part, in its category of alone towns, of the Party of Castrojeriz, one of the fourteen that formed the Intendance of Burgos, and had royal jurisdiction with pedáneo mayor.

What to see in Hontanas?

The streets of Hontanas take us to the parish church of Nuestra Señora de la Inmaculada Concepción, once known as Santa María. Next to it there is a curious fountain with an interesting stone fence. The church was built in the 14th century in the Gothic style, although it was later remodelled in the neoclassical style. It has a large tower from this period and a half-orange dome. The temple was built next to the bishop's palace, which was the former lord of the town, of which a Gothic arch remains. The hospital of San Juan, which is known as Mesón de los Franceses, today rehabilitated as a hostel, conserves in its interior a pointed arch that formed part of the façade of the old hospital. The local people remember that in the area known to them as The demolished hospital there was another assistance centre for pilgrims. The houses of the village present a popular architecture in which the influences of the constructions of the fertile plain are mixed with closed buildings typical of the moor.

To discover

When we take a walk around Hontanas we come across the remains of what was the hermitage of San Vicente, of which only one wall remains in a corner, it seems that it was the church of a medieval village, around it there are traces of a Via Crucis of the time. If in Hontanas the visitor passes under a false tunnel between two buildings, he is passing through a puntido, this false tunnel is made to facilitate the flow of water from the spring that once passed under it.

Festivities

In Hontanas the Immaculate Conception is commemorated and celebrated on the 8th of December and on the 16th of August the Hoguera de San Roque is celebrated.

Traditions

On the night of 15 to 16 August a bonfire is burned in honour of San Roque asking the saint to protect the animals. In other times it was the young men who were in charge of going to the mountain with two carriages pulled by oxen and mules, richly adorned, to collect the firewood that would later be lit in the bonfire, once back in the village they would walk singing, with the carriages full, to the house of the mayor and the priest where they were given a tip and a glass of wine.

Curiosities

Between Hontanas and Castrojeriz, crossed by the road, are the impressive Gothic ruins of the Convent of San Antón, belonging to the order of the Antonianos was founded in the 13th century as a hospital. Windows divided by the three sections of the Tau, the double pointed arch through which the road passes and which joined the hostelry and the church and its façade with worn out statues, watch over our transit.

The Legend

Legend has it that in the place where the hermitage of the Virgin of Espinosa is located, about 2 kilometres from the village, the Virgin appeared to a neighbour of Hontanas and it is known that in ancient times people went on pilgrimage to change the Virgin of Espinosa for the Virgin of the Rosary.