Cattle drive time on the Herederos de Antonio Fernandez ranch

La ganadería jiennense, de procedencia Samuel Flores, acaba de trasladar su ganado como cada inicio de verano.

(from mundotoro.com 6-28-20)

s una estampa añeja. Imperdible. Un choque de épocas que confrontan. Porque confronta ese campo, ese mundo rural único de la España despoblada con el inexorable avance de la España moderna, de un país en permanente avance de infraestructuras. Puentes, carreteras, caminos antiguos hoy casi perdidos ante el avance del asfalto… Son testigos de la trashumancia en la ganadería de los Herederos de Antonio Fernández en el inicio de cada verano.

¿El objetivo? Trasladar el ganado -de inconfundible procedencia Samuel Flores– en busca de una segunda primavera. De tierras más frescas, con mejores pastos para las reses. Un camino largo y arduo por el complicado manejo de centenares de cabezas de ganado por lugares inhóspitos. que nada tienen que ver con la tranquilidad de sus apacibles cercados.

El destino final son los prados de la Sierra de Segura, procedentes de Sierra Morena. Un ciclo anual que se repite con añeja estampa en este hierro jiennense.Porque el toro bravo no entiende de fases, de estados de alarma ni de confinamientos… El trabajo es el mismo.

Aroma a otro tiempo pasado, que deja imágenes bellísimas como las que acompañan a este reportaje. Por ejemplo, el paso de las reses por el Puente Ariza, en la comarca de Úbeda y construido en pleno siglo XVI.

No te pierdas la espectacular galería de imágenes de la trashumancia en la ganadería de Herederos de Antonio Fernandez.

Artwork by Jose Villegas

I like how the facial expressions on many of the persons in this painting show boredom. Bullfights can be like that sometimes, boring.

But then there are those other times when it is the most exciting thing you have ever seen.

More Lea Vicens photos

Toros de Nunez del Cuvillo

Madrid, May 24th, 2017

Tobellita - 589 kilos

Toro de Nunez del Cuvillo, Madrid, May 24th, 2017

Guardando puya

Covering the tip of the picador's lance

Castoreno

The picador's buckskin hat

Si a los ninos en los toros

Artwork by Sergio del Amo

Artwork by Sergio del Amo

Significado de la Espiga

(por Alejandro Escárcega en Facebook)

En la Edad Media las medias eran un distintivo de los nobles y los reyes, por eso se conocen como la parte noble del traje de luces. ...

La espiguilla, emula a la espiga de trigo, mantiene similitud con el símbolo ancestral de la cristiandad: el pan, la espiga significa religiosamente el alimento del hombre. En este caso el alimento del toreo. Si el grano muere dará abundancia. Es decir los toreros fallecidos en su liturgia, dan vida a la fiesta brava. La espiga es símbolo de grano de vida, en este caso la vida del torero.

El color rosa significa buena suerte, son también en este color brillante para darle visibilidad al toreo y que los espectadores puedan seguir sus rápidos y ágiles movimientos en el ruedo, el uso del rosa en ciertas piezas del toreo cumple con una tradición de más de 400 años.

Bullfighting in a downpour

Quito, Ecuador

December 6th, 2006

A flying bull in Sevilla

Mission Sonoma

The Sonoma Mission was the last Spanish mission built in California, founded in 1823 by Father Jose Altimira. Its official name is Mission San Francisco Solano, named for St. Francis of Solano, a 17th-century missionary to the Peruvian Indians, but it's more commonly called Mission Sonoma.

Interesting Facts

Mission Sonoma was the last and northernmost California mission. It was the only one founded after Mexico gained independence from Spain and it was the only one founded without the Catholic church's prior approval.

1820's - 1830's

Father Jose Altimira came from Barcelona, Spain, to California in 1819, to help at Mission Dolores. The ambitious young man soon got tired of the routine work at the established mission, and he devised a plan to move it north to a warmer spot.

Instead of asking the church for permission, he went to the Mexican Governor Don Luis Arguello. Altimira wanted to move both the San Francisco and San Rafael missions to the new location. Arguello thought that would help keep the Russians out of northern California.

Altimira went north to scout a spot founded Sonoma Mission on July 4, 1823. He went back to San Francisco and took soldiers and supplies back to the new location. Other Fathers in the church opposed his plan, and when the Church finally approved the new mission, they insisted that the two remaining ones stay in place.

Father Altimira was determined to prove that he was right about the new mission, and it had a good start. He brought almost 700 Indian neophytes from San Francisco. The vineyards, planted in the midst of what is now the Sonoma Valley wine area, flourished.

However, Altimira was a cruel man who flogged and imprisoned the natives in an attempt to "civilize" them, and they soon revolted. A large group attacked the mission. They stole and burned, and soon afterward Father Altimira fled to San Rafael. After that, he worked at San Buenaventura and returned to Spain in 1828.

Father Buenaventura Fortuni, who had worked at Mission San Jose, replaced Altimira. He rebuilt the mission and its buildings and regained the Indian's trust. 1832 was the mission's most successful year, when Fortuni recorded 127 baptisms, 34 marriages and 70 deaths, and a total of 996 neophytes. The mission also had 6,000 sheep and goats, 900 horses, 13 mules, 50 pigs and 3,500 cattle. The fields produced wheat, barley, beans, peas, and corn.

In 1833, the Zacatecan Franciscan priests from Mexico took over the Sonoma Mission, and Father Jose Gutierrez was placed in charge. Father Gutierrez also punished the Indians by beating them in an attempt to control them, an action that eventually helped General Vallejo gain control.

Secularization

The mission buildings were barely finished when Sonoma Mission was secularized on November 3, 1834.

General Mariano Vallejo, Commandant of the San Francisco Presidio, took control. He was supposed to give the property to the Indians, but he kept it for himself instead. Vallejo founded a town around the mission, which is now the town of Sonoma. The chapel was used as a parish church until 1880 and was eventually sold to a man who built a saloon in front of it and used the chapel as a storehouse.

The Historic Landmarks League bought the mission property in 1903. They finished restoring the mission in 1926 when they turned it over to the State of California. After further restoration, the mission is part of the Sonoma Mission State Historic Park.

Jose Tomas en Granada

2019

Mission San Rafael

Mission San Rafael Arcangel was founded on December 14, 1817, by Father Vincente de Sarria. It was named for Saint Raphael, the Angel of Healing. It was a good name for a mission created as a medical sub-mission of Mission San Francisco de Asis.

Interesting Facts

Mission San Rafael is one of the few missions that never had a quadrangle and one of only a few missions that built ships.

1817 - 1820's

At Mission San Francisco de Asis in 1817, Indian converts were sick and dying from white men's diseases. They couldn't get well in the cold, damp climate. In 1817, the Fathers decided to build a hospital, an extension of the main mission, north of San Francisco where the climate was warmer and drier.

On December 14, 1817, Father Serra, the President of the Missions, raised a cross and performed the founding ceremony.

Father Luis Gil, who knew some medicine and spoke many native American languages, was put in charge of the tiny outpost. The Fathers in San Francisco wrapped the sick Indians in blankets, put them in boats, and took them to San Rafael to recover.

By the end of the first year, Mission San Rafael's population grew to 300, including transfers from San Francisco and some local converts. Father Gil served two years and then turned the mission over to Father Juan Amoros.

Father Amoros was an energetic priest who went out looking for converts. He was the only priest there, and a busy man who also grew the businesses — farming, ranching, sandal-making, blacksmithing, harness-making, carpentry and boat building. By 1822, Father Amoros converted so many of the local Miwok Indians that Mission San Rafael Archangel got full mission status on September 19, 1822.

The next year, some people wanted to Mission San Rafael Archangel and build a new mission at Sonoma. Eventually, the Catholic church decided to have two missions north of San Francisco, and Mission San Rafael Archangel was saved. It grew to 1,140 converts by 1828.

1830's

In 1829, local Indian converts Chief Marin and his friend Quintin left the mission. They attacked Mission San Rafael Archangel, but the neophytes formed a human shield to protect Father Amoros, hiding him in the marsh until the fighting ended.

The buildings were damaged but quickly rebuilt. Later, both Chief Marin and Quintin returned as converts, and both are buried in the cemetery. Today, Marin County and nearby San Quentin prison are named for them.

Father Amoros died in 1832. An inventory taken after his death lists 5,508 animals and a harvest of 17,905 bushels of wheat and 1,360 bushels of beans. Pears grown at San Rafael were highly desired in the area.

In 1834, Zapatecan (Mexican) Franciscans took control and put Father Jose Maria Mercado in charge. He was a short-tempered man who caused a lot of trouble. There are many versions of exactly what happened, but all agree that 21 innocent Indians died because of his actions.

Some say he saw unknown natives approaching, thought they were going to attack and ordered his people to attack them first. Others say he armed his neophytes and sent them out against a group who had scorned him. Another account says he accused some innocent Indians of stealing, then armed his converts to keep them from coming back for revenge. They wrongly attacked some innocent visitors, thinking they were the ones he feared.

Whatever the truth is, Mercado was sent away and punished.

Secularization

Mission San Rafael Archangel was secularized in 1834. General Vallejo (who was in charge of the Presidio in San Francisco) became the administrator. In 17 years, Mission San Rafael Archangel had converted 1,873 Indians and raised 2,210 cattle; 4,000 sheep and 454 horses. In 1834, it was worth $15,025, mostly for its land.

Vallejo transferred the livestock to his ranch and dug up grapevines and pear trees and moved them his estate. By 1840, there were only 150 Indians left.

General Fremont used the buildings as his headquarters for a while when he was taking over California from Mexico for the United States.

The site was abandoned in 1844. What was left was sold for $8,000, a sale declared illegal a few months later when U. S. took over. A priest returned in 1847.

The United States returned 6.5 acres of land to the church in 1855. By then, the buildings were ruined. A new church was built next to the ruins in 1861. In 1870, the rest of the buildings were torn down to make room for the growing town. Eventually, all that was left was a single pear tree from the orchard.

In 1949, Monsignor Thomas Kennedy built a chapel on the site of the original hospital.

Few drawings or sketches remain today to give clues about what the buildings at San Rafael were like. The first mission building was a simple building 42 feet x 87 feet with two stories, divided into rooms for the hospital, chapel, storage, and father's quarters.

Because it was not built originally as a full mission, it did not have a quadrangle like many of the other missions. The design did not change when it got full mission status in 1822.

The chapel building that stands in San Rafael today was built in 1949. It is more of a memorial to the mission than a reproduction. Its walls are hollow concrete plastered to look like adobe, and it faces a different direction than the original. Four bells are some of the few objects that survive from the original mission, and three of them stand by the chapel door.

Plaza de toros de Villena (Alicante)

Otra vez in Valencia con Lea Vicens

Mission Santa Ines

Santa Ines Mission was the nineteenth one built in California, founded September 17, 1804, by Father Estevan Tapis.

Interesting Facts

Santa Ines was the last mission to be built in Southern California and was the home of California's first seminary college.

1804 - 1820

Father Estevan Tapis and Captain Felipe de Goycoechea surveyed sites in the mission's area in 1798. They recommended the place the local Indians called Alajupapu, but changes in Spanish governors and Catholic leadership caused delays.

Finally, Father Tapis founded Santa Ines Mission on September 17, 1804, naming it for Saint Agnes. Two hundred Chumash Indians attended the first mass, and 23 were baptized.

The first priests were Father Jose Rumualdo Gutierrez and Jose Antonio Calzada. By the end of 1804, they reported 112 converts, and there was constant construction in the early years.

By 1812, the complex was well built. Then, on December 21, 1812, two earthquakes struck. It took more than four years to repair the damage. In 1817, the mission produced 4,160 bushels of wheat; 4,330 bushels of corn and 300 bushels of beans. Records listed 1,030 converts; 287 marriages, and 611 deaths and its largest-ever population of 920.

Father Uria was in charge into the early 1820s. Building continued into the early 1820s when the church murals were painted.

1820 - 1830's

When Mexico won independence from Spain, they had little money to support the missions. Soldiers were forced to get their supplies from the missions and pay with IOUs. They got no salary and became frustrated until their anger came out toward the Indians.

In 1824, a Spanish guard beat a Purisima Indian. That set off a revolt that spread to all the Santa Barbara area missions. At Santa Ines, two Indians were killed, buildings were burned, and the priests were taken hostage. The Indians burned the soldiers' quarters, but not the Fathers'. When the fire threatened the church, they stopped fighting and helped put the fire out.

Secularization

After secularization in 1834, the Fathers kept the mission running for a while by selling its cattle, tallow, hides, and grain. Eventually, the Indians lost interest and drifted away.

In 1843, Governor Manuel Micheltorena granted part of the land to Francisco Garcia Diego y Moreno, first Bishop of California. He used it to create the first seminary in California, College of Our Lady of Refuge. The college later moved near Santa Ynez, where it stayed open until 1881.

The next Mexican Governor, Pio Pico, illegally sold Santa Ines Mission to Jose M. Covarrubias and Jose Joaquin Carrillo for $7,000 just weeks before the United States took California over from Mexico. The United States revoked the sale in 1851 and returned the mission to the church.

The mission was never entirely abandoned, but the buildings fell into disrepair. Finally, in July 1904, Father Alexander Buckler was put in charge. He and his niece Mary Goulet spent 20 years restoring it and preserving its artwork and fabrics.

When Father Buckler retired in 1924, the church was offered back to the Franciscans, and Franciscan Capuchin fathers from Ireland took over. They modernized the buildings to make them livable. A full restoration began in 1947, returning the buildings to the way they were before the 1812 earthquake.

In 1989, a multi-million dollar project reconstructed eight of the 19 arches on the eastern facade and restored the east wing.

Santa Ines Mission is now an active parish church with regular services.

Entrance into the bullring

The order in which the bullfighters and their teams enter the bullring.

EL PASEILLO

El Paseillo es el primer choque visual del espectador con los toreros, sus cuadrillas, alguacilillos y demás empleados de la plaza como los monosabios (quienes asisten a los picadores en el tercio de varas) o los areneros.

Se considera todo un rito, como casi todo lo que el arte del toreo conlleva, con su historia, razón de ser y orden.

Esta ceremonia de salida de cuadrillas en la antigüedad se denominaba “Despeje”, y el término deja bien claro cuál era su función: despejar los aficionados que se encontraban en la arena y que, al toque del clarín, salían de ésta rápidamente para protegerse del eminente inicio de la lidia del toro.

Hoy en día obviamente ya no es así. Todo el mundo se encuentra sentado en sus asientos (o al menos así debería ser) cuando un alegre pasodoble da comienzo al Paseillo.

Los primeros en pisar el ruedo cuando comienza una corrida de toros son los alguacilillos. Es la pareja que sale a caballo, vestida de negro y con sombreros con tocados de plumas o traje de Charro cuando se realiza el festejo en México, y son los encargados de ejecutar las órdenes del presidente y entregar los premios a los toreros. Dan una vuelta al ruedo que simboliza el antiguo despeje del mismo y van a buscar a los componentes del paseíllo.

El orden viene marcado por la antigüedad del diestro que no es por su edad sino por la fecha en que tomó la alternativa. Los tres matadores ocupan la primera línea.

Desde el punto de vista de los propios toreros, a la izquierda irá el más antiguo, en el centro el más “novato” o joven alternativado y a la derecha el otro. Desde el punto de vista del espectador (vista de frente) a la derecha el más antiguo, el centro obviamente no varía. Detrás de ellos marchan sus cuadrillas, los hombres de plata, seguido de dos picadores por cada torero. El orden de ellos viene marcado por la antigüedad de su matador y por la suya propia.

Tras ellos desfilan los monosabios, que les acompañan siempre mientras están picando al toro y les ayudan en caso de ser necesario.

A continuación van los mulilleros con su tiro de mulillas, que son los encargados de recoger del ruedo al toro una vez muerto y sacarlo por la puerta de arrastre.

Cierran el desfile los areneros, que son los encargados de mantener el ruedo en perfecto estado para la lidia.

Es tradición que todos los participantes del festejo se saluden mutuamente deseándose suerte para después iniciar la marcha hacia las tablas en la zona donde se encuentra el presidente de la Plaza (juez), al cual saludan y son correspondidos por él.

Como dato curioso verán que los toreros al hacer el paseíllo llevan la montera puesta sobre sus cabezas. En el caso de que el torero la lleve en su mano significa que es la primera vez que actúa como matador en dicha plaza, llevándola así como forma de respeto.

Por Lu Llanos

Toros en el campo Mexicano

El Batan ranch

Mission San Luis

Mission San Luis Rey de Francia was the eighteenth one built in California, founded June 13, 1798, and was the last California mission founded by Father Fermin Lasuen. It was named for Louis, King of France (Mission San Luis Rey de Francia).

Interesting Facts

The mission has the oldest pepper tree in California, brought from Peru around 1830, still growing in its quadrangle.

1798 - 1820

San Luis Rey Mission was founded on June 13, 1798, by Father Fermin Lasuen. It was number eighteen out of twenty-one missions.

Father Lasuen chose the San Luis Rey Mission site because there were lots of friendly Indians living in the area, but he also picked a place with good soil. Under the guidance of Father Antonio Peyri, who stayed here for more than thirty years, it soon became the most productive of all the California missions.

The natives liked to work and accepted baptism readily. Soon, they were making adobe bricks; within two years, many tile-roofed buildings were completed, and a big church with room for 1,000 people was under construction.

1820 - 1830's

By 1821, the first church was finished. Only six years after its founding, the San Luis Rey was already producing 5,000 bushels a year, and its herds numbered more than 10,000 animals. The Fathers trained the Indians to do many kinds of work: candle and soap-making, tanning, wine-making, weaving, farming, and ranching. They also taught them to sing in the choir.

San Luis Rey Mission reached its peak in 1831 when records show there were 2,800 natives living there. It produced 395,000 bushels of grain, and its vineyard yielded 2,500 barrels of wine.

Secularization

Father Peyri stayed here for 34 years, but he couldn't bear to see what would happen with secularization, so he retired in 1832 and went back to Spain. The decline began as soon as he left. The natives tried to maintain the place but were unsuccessful. Eventually, Mexican Governor Pio Pico sold the San Luis Rey Mission buildings 1846 for $2,427, a fraction of their $200,000 value.

The Indians moved to a reservation at Pala where they still live. The U. S. Army occupied Mission San Luis Rey de Francia site for a time, but then it was neglected. It was returned to the Catholic church in 1865, but it languished until 1892 when Franciscans from Mexico returned along with Father Joseph J. O'Keefe, an American Franciscan. The church was rededicated in 1893, and reconstruction started in 1895.

It took until 1905 for the Fathers to finish enough reconstruction to move back in, and it continues today.

Madrid de anniversario

Hoy la Plaza de toros Las Ventas está de celebración. Hace 89 años, el 17 de junio de 1931, la plaza abrió sus puertas por primera vez.

Torearon los diestros Fortuna, Marcial Lalanda, Nicanor Villalta, Fausto Barajas, Fuentes Bejarano, Vicente Barrera, Armillita Chico y Manolo Bienvenida.

La corrida de toros fue organizada por el Ayuntamiento de Madrid para recaudar fondos para los obreros en paro durante la República.
...

Tras esta corrida, Las Ventas no volvería a abrir sus puertas hasta mayo de 1933. Hubo que esperar a 1935 para la primera temporada completa.

Mission San Fernando

Mission San Fernando was the seventeenth Spanish mission built in California. It was founded on September 8, 1797, by Father Fermin Lasuen. The name San Fernando de Espana was to honor Saint Ferdinand III, King of Spain.

Interesting Facts

Many travelers stopped at the mission. There were so many that the fathers kept adding onto the convento wing to accommodate them. The hospice (hotel) became known as the "long building" of the El Camino Real.

Also, actor Bob Hope is buried in the mission cemetery.

1797

The Spanish first discovered the San Fernando Valley in 1769. In the late 1790s, Father Lasuen, successor to Father Serra, wanted to close the gaps in the El Camino Real. In 1797, he established four missions in four months, including San Fernando Mission.

Francisco Reyes, mayor of the Los Angeles pueblo, owned the best land in the area. He got rights to the property shortly after Los Angeles was founded, and he raised cattle there. Some historians say Reyes got his land from the king and he was thrown off it. Others say he had only been using the land and gave it up gracefully.

The San Fernando Mission was founded on September 8, 1797, and named for Saint Ferdinand III, King of Spain in the 1200s.

Five Indian boys and five Indian girls were baptized at the San Fernando Mission that day.

The San Fernando Mission church was completed within two months after the dedication, and by then, more than 40 neophytes lived there.

Because it was so close to the Los Angeles pueblo, there was a market for the mission's goods. Its location close to Los Angeles and on a favorite traveling route made it unique.

1800 - 1830's

By 1804, nearly 1,000 Indians lived at San Fernando Mission. By 1806, they were raising cattle and producing hides, leather goods, tallow, and cloth.

In 1810, work began on the convento (priest's residence). It took twelve years to complete it.

After 1811, the native population began to decline, and productivity was threatened. By 1812, there were not enough workers to farm the produce required for the military in Los Angeles. When an earthquake damaged the buildings in 1812, there were not enough people to do the repairs.

Mexico gained independence from Spain in 1822. In the California province, people fought to control the mission land. A few Indians in the valley received land grants, but most of the surviving Indians remained dependent on the San Fernando Mission.

When Mexican Governor Echeandia arrived in 1827, Spanish Father Ibarra was in charge. Ibarra refused to give up his allegiance to Spain, but the Mexican government let him stay there because they couldn't find anyone else to run the operations.

Secularization

Starting in the 1830s, the California officials began taking over mission lands. They usually left the buildings under the control of the church. From 1834 to 1836, most of the Indians stayed. The rest of them looked for work in Los Angeles or joined relatives and friends who were still living in the nearby hills.

In 1835, Father Ibarra left because he could not tolerate the secularization. In 1842, gold was discovered on a nearby ranch. Prospectors overran the area. A rumor that the missionaries had been prospecting gold for years drew prospector to the church. They dug up the floor looking for buried treasure.

The fight between northern and southern Californians to control the land got worse. In February 1845, two armed groups met at the Cahuenga Pass between the San Fernando Valley and Los Angeles. They shot at each other for half a day, but the only casualties were two horses and a wounded mule. The northerners gave up and left. In 1845, Governor Pio Pico leased the land to his brother Andres for $1,200 a year.

The San Fernando Mission was abandoned in 1847. From 1857 to 1861, part of it was a stagecoach station. By 1888, the hospice was used as a warehouse and stable, and in 1896, the quadrangle became a hog farm.

In 1896, Charles Fletcher Lummis began a campaign to reclaim the property, and conditions improved.

Aguardentero de Prieto de la Cal

En la concurso de Zaragoza del año 2018, saltó al ruedo una obra escultural en forma de toro que rozaba la perfección.

Aguardentero-31, reata clásica de Tomás Prieto de la Cal y que en otras ocasiones ofreció espectáculo de bravura y casta en varas, no fue propia en esta ocasión....

Lo que sí quedó plasmado es el trapío añejo del toro de Veragua. Robusto de piel, pero armónico y fino de hechuras. Sin necesidad de reventar la romana, pues no llegaba a 500 kg de peso.

Como una pintura ancestral. Como una escultura pagana de dioses con forma de toro. Como el honor, vestido de jabonero veragüeño. Como el orgullo de defender una divisa legendaria.

Tomás Prieto de la Cal: "Antes de matar a mis toros, los suelto por la Castellana"

¿Será el coronavirus la estocada final para el sector taurino? Tomás Prieto de la Cal, ganadero e hijo de la marquesa de Seoane, Mercedes Picón, asegura que no: "Conmigo y con mi familia es difícil que acabe un virus. Si no han acabado los mismos taurinos dejándonos a un lado e intentando hacer un mismo toro que no moleste al sector ni al torero, esto tampoco. Lo que pasa es que para poder sobrevivir necesitamos lidiar la mitad de los animales. No puedes dejar la temporada a cero porque es muy difícil la subsistencia".

Su ganadería posee un encaste legendario, de toros jaboneros muy bravos, los rebeldes Veragua. Un ADN que no tiene nada que ver con otros ganados. "Necesitamos lidiar para sobrevivir, ahí no entra el romanticismo del encaste. Si fuera el lince ibérico o el águila real los que estuvieran en peligro, sí se pondría atención. Aquí tendría que pasar lo mismo, incluso para las personas que no son partidarias de la tauromaquia". A los toros Prieto de Cal, históricamente lidiados por grandes figuras del toreo como Luis Miguel Dominguín, les cuesta colarse en las plazas desde hace unos años precisamente por la bravura de sus ejemplares, que resultan más incómodos para los toreros. "En los años 50 se daba la lógica aplastante de que el torero número uno mataba a las ganaderías más fuertes. Ahora los que tienen más capacidad se miden con lo más facilito y descastado. En el mundo del rejoneo hay otra corriente, los dos que más torean, Ventura y Lea Vicens, son los que están matando corridas de Prieto de la Cal. Se está dando en el rejoneo lo que reclamamos para el toreo a pie y está siendo el que está tirando de las ganaderías más encastadas".

La marquesa de Seoane sobrepasa los 90 años y en ninguna etapa de su vida había vivido una situación como esta. "Para alguien que su vida son los toros, es difícil asumir que ahora no los haya", afirma su hijo. Aún así y a pesar de las dificultades, aumentadas ahora por la crisis sanitaria, Mercedes Picón y Tomás prefieren ser optimistas. Con muchos festejos suspendidos y otros pendiendo de un hilo, muchas ganaderías ya han anunciado que tendrán que sacrificar a sus animales. Los Prieto de la Cal resisten. "No soy capaz de mandar a mis toros al matadero. Me sobrepasa. Soy incapaz de criar un animal durante diez años para que muera en un matadero. Prefiero esperar y ser optimista".

Las medidas de desescalada han trasladado al sector taurino un recorte del aforo que incluye una separación de nueve metros cuadrados entre los aficionados. "¿En la playa a dos metros y en los toros a nueve? Si esto no se corrige se debe unir todo el sector y hacer presión conjunta (ganaderos, toreros, ayuntamientos y uniones de aficionados). No se pide nada extraordinario, lo que los demás".

Tomás Prieto considera que uno de los errores que arrastra el sector del toro es no contar con los aficionados. "El aficionado, el que nos sostiene a todos, no manda nada. Al final el que compra una entrada quiere ir motivado, no a ver siempre lo mismo. Este problema ya venía de antes del virus".

Aún así, el ganadero no baja los brazos y manda un mensaje tranquilizador a los aficionados. "Nosotros, como dice la canción, resistiremos al máximo. No pensamos rajarnos ni muchísimo menos. Que el aficionado tenga presente que mientras haya un hilillo de dinero y de fuerza seguiremos. Y mis hijos son muy jóvenes, ellos tienen fuerza. El futuro está asegurado".

Tomás tiene cuatro hijos adolescentes, dos chicos y dos chicas, alguno ya rozando la veintena. "Se han criado aquí con el ganado y les gusta. Ellos también creen que esta situación es pasajera. Siguen la dinastía de la misma manera que mi madre antes y yo ahora, pensando en que el protagonista es el toro".

El ganadero apela una y otra vez a la importancia de un sector unido para afrontar este tipo de crisis y está convencido de la supervivencia de sus toros: "No se extinguirán, antes los soltaremos por la Castellana o haremos alguna revolución. Nosotros si tenemos que parar un país lo tenemos fácil (risas) porque como saquemos los toros, verás...Somos gente pacífica, pero que no nos acorralen mucho. Esperemos que sea más fácil que todo eso. Y que nuestro sector también se mueva, tienen que apechugar, no solo reclamar a las administraciones. Hay que echarle invención, ganas, protesta...".

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https://www.elmundo.es/loc/famosos/2020/05/16/5ebd8d7121efa063468b45e4.html

Mission San Miguel Arcangel

Mission San Miguel Arcangel was the sixteenth Spanish mission built in California, founded July 25, 1797, by Father Fermin Lasuen. The name San Miguel comes from Saint Michael, Captain of the Armies of God.

Interesting Facts

Mission San Miguel is the only one with unretouched original paintings. It was the last to be secularized.

The mission's cemetery contains some very interesting markers, for people from all over the world who were buried at San Miguel in the late 1800s.

The mission's bells can be seen from the cemetery, atop a long wall section behind the main church.

The structure they hang in wasn't part of the original mission but was built in the mid-1930s by Jess Crettoll, a stonemason from Switzerland. The largest bell is said to weigh 2,000 pounds and was made in 1888 by melting and re-casting six cracked and broken bells from other missions.

1797

On July 24, 1797, Father Fermin Lasuen founded his third mission of the year. It was next to a large Salinan Indian Village called Cholam or Cholami. Halfway between San Luis Obispo and San Antonio, it made a convenient place to stop along the El Camino Real.

Salinan Indians heard about the Catholic Fathers before they came and were anxious to join them. At the founding, 25 children were baptized.

Father Buenaventura Sitjar was the first administrator. Father Juan Martin took his place. By the end of the first year, Fathers and Indians had built a 71-foot-long brush fence, an adobe chapel, and a house.

1800 - 1830's

More than 1,000 neophytes were at the mission by 1803. By 1805, there were 47 Indian houses.

Despite poor soil and hot climate, San Miguel Mission succeeded. Indians came to live and work. Some worked in fields and vineyards or were herdsmen. Others learned to be carpenters, stone masons, blacksmiths, weavers, soap makers, and leather workers. They were good at making roof tiles and made 36,000 of them between 1808 and 1809.

In 1806, a fire destroyed most of San Miguel's buildings and supplies. Other missions helped them recover. By 1810, San Miguel had 10,558 cattle; 8,282 sheep and 1,597 horses.

Father Martin died in 1824. His assistant Father Juan Cabot took over. In 1827, Father Cabot reported San Miguel owned several ranchos covering an area18 miles north and south, 66 miles east and 35 miles west. He also reported it had an adobe house on the coast at San Simeon.

At a hot spring south of the mission, Father Cabot had a shelter built where the Indians could soak and get relief from arthritis, a common ailment.

Secularization

San Miguel Mission was the last to be secularized, on July 14, 1836. Three years later, most of the natives were gone. Father Abella, the last Franciscan Father there, died in 1841.

In 1846, Mexican Governor Pio Pico sold the land and buildings. The new owner lived in it and had a store there. After the Gold Rush, it was a stopping place for miners traveling from Los Angeles to San Francisco. It was also used for a saloon.

In 1878, the Catholic church returned. Father Philip Farrelly became the first pastor.

In 1928, the Franciscan Fathers returned. After earthquake damage in 2003, the old mission has now been repaired.

cemetery entrance

bell tower

old adobe wall