Murias de Rechivaldo (León) (0)

Did you know that... Murias de Rechivaldo

It is located at the gates of La Maragatería, next to the river Jerga. It is not known which or when it was the origin of the town, if it is supposed that it could have arisen there in the late Middle Ages when the Christians were reconquering the lands from the Muslims and little by little the area was repopulated. There are writings from the 14th century in which it is named along with the villages of Valdeviejas, Castrillo de los Polvazares and Santa Catalina de Somoza. Murias de Rechivaldo depended on the municipality of Castrillo de los Polvazares until the latter became part of Astorga, so Murias de Rechivaldo was also attached to it.

To discover What to see in Murias de Rechivaldo?

In the village you can see the typical constructions of the maragatas houses with their big gate where the carriages were kept. Its parish church dedicated to San Esteban dates from the 18th century, has a niche under the lintel of the door where there is a relief of the Virgen del Pilar and the interior of the church houses a statue of San Roque Peregrino. Bordering the river Jerga you can take a quiet walk along the walk of the cross. Curious is undoubtedly the mill, which is quite well preserved, is located on this river. Walking along this village-street you can see how, along it, different crosses are marking the Way.

Festivities

Murias de Rechivaldo celebrates its patron saint festivities in honour of Nuestra Señora and San Roque on 15 August. The day of its patron saint, San Esteban, is the 26th of December. 15 days after the Sunday on which Corpus Christi is celebrated, Murias de Rechivaldo celebrates the Sacramental Feast and the Sunday following the 5th of February the Brotherhood of Santa Águeda celebrates it.

Traditions

A deep-rooted tradition in the village is the feast of the Ram. On 16 August the men of the village gather to eat a lamb that they cook themselves. In the past the lamb was chosen from among the flocks of the village and was killed the day before, those who went to the sacrifice of the animal were left to cut it the next day and prepare it for roasting and then all together participated in the Parva, which was a breakfast consisting of tortillas and schnapps with pastas.

Curiosities

The current location of the village is not the original, as it was destroyed by a large flood of the river Jerga that took place in 1846 and devastated much of the region. Here in the village everything situated on the river bank was led in front of. Only the church and the houses around it were saved from this avalanche.

The Legend

There is some source of oral history that attributes the name of the population and its origin to Rechivaldo. This personage was a Visigoth who arrived to these lands fleeing the Arab domination and the fratricidal fights. He worked very hard for a man who had only one daughter and seeing that Rechivaldo was an honest and hard-working person, he married her to him. Don Pelayo counted on Rechivaldo to start his offensive against the Moors, as these places were the gateway to the northwest and serve as a barrier to prevent the entry of Arabs. His defence and courage were so great that these lands, inherited from his father-in-law, became known as the "lands of Rechivaldo" and became a motto for the Christians of the reconquest who said "From the walls of Rechivaldo". If we look for the meaning of murias we find that they are piles of stones that delimit a territory, so it was the same as saying "from the limits of the lands of Rechivaldo".