Cantabria: a journey through time by Raicedo

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Forgotten are the Carnivals of Madrid and my proposal to continue discovering places with charm and mystery, located in that small paradise in the north of Spain, which is Cantabria, still stands, so I invite you to accompany me to the small town of Raicedo and visit two unique cultural landmarks, such as its 12th-century Romanesque church, dedicated to the figure of Saint John, and its rescued medieval cemetery.

Located in the vicinity of the Besaya River, as well as on the side of a more important locality, such as Arenas de Iguña and not too far away from that other charismatic place in Cantabria, such as the town of Los Corrales de Buelna -famous, among other things, for housing the largest and most fantastic collection of funerary stelae of those brave Cantabrian peoples who made history in their fierce fight against the legions of Rome- on the outskirts of Raicedo, the landmarks previously reviewed, allow us to carry out, at least logically , in a dreamy and metaphorical way, a little trip back in time.

A small journey through time, where we will enter a fundamental part of those fascinating Spanish Middle Ages, where, among other vicissitudes, not only the construction of temples gained an unusual boom, which marked a turning point in architecture, defining a style, the Romanesque, in accordance with an increasingly consolidated faith, but also, and given that, generally, they were located, as supports, within those incredible cultural settings, which are the pilgrimage routes, they were the origin of the first hospitals, as well as the justification for the presence of important military orders, also attracted by what was not in vain called the prelude to the Crusades, a sad role, however, that Spain would play again in the 20th century , when our unfortunate Civil War, meant a new prelude to one of the greatest horrors the world would know: World War II.

As I have already said, dating from the beginning of the 12th century, the Romanesque church of San Juan, which still preserves a good part of its primitive structure, although a sacristy was added in the 17th century that distorts it, was part of a small monastery, belonging to the religious-military order of the Knights of Saint John of Jerusalem, popularly known as hospitallers, who, in fact, also maintained a Bailiwick or Commandery, which was in charge of administering a large part of this territory.

Its nave is rectangular in plan, its apse or head obeying the typical semicircle of Romanesque temples and still preserves, in some cases, quite worn by time and erosion, an interesting sculptural presence, in whose characteristics, there are historians who observe a certain resemblance to the sculptures of the Collegiate Church, also Cantabrian, of San Pedro de Cervatos.

This aforementioned sculptural presence does not differ at all from the archetypes related to the Romanesque architecture of the time, which included not only references to the environment -different representations of plants and animals characteristic of the place- but also the well-known references to the sins of carnal abuse, generally represented by mythological motifs, such as mermaids or harpies, which, at the same time, invited the faithful to forget the old cults and lead a life of correction, according to the principles of the Christian Religion.

Although, above all, in large cities, churches were prohibited from maintaining their customary cemetery, to prevent the spread of diseases, which, in many cases, became true pandemics, leaving behind numerous victims, in small towns, It is still common to find a small cemetery, attached to this type of church, as is the case, in this case, with the present church.

But what is most relevant and, at the same time, what gives it a certain air of historical nostalgia, is the discovery of the voluminous medieval cemetery, partly discovered and also partly remodeled with newly created models -or rather, recreation- that They offer us, as a whole, a perspective of the life of that time, inviting us, incidentally, to situate ourselves in the environment in which, both neighbors and pilgrims who, from the coast, went inland, to reach the itineraries towards Compostela, crossing border areas of Palencia and Burgos - currently delimited by places of great beauty, such as the Ebro reservoir - some lived and died without ever reaching their goal.

As in the majority of Christian cemeteries of the time, also the tombs, humble, for the most part, are made with flagstones, simulating those same boxes, which, centuries later, would be so common, maintaining a constant, such as that of always be oriented to the East, in the direction of the Holy City of Jerusalem, symbolically indicated by the sunrise and by default, by the rooted belief in the resurrection.

It is still a detail, certainly not aesthetically pleasing, to observe that the main road separates the church from the medieval cemetery, but it is also true that the traveler interested in this type of place will find a great wealth of scenarios, because, following it , will reach other relevant places, such as Silió, in the Molledo Council and its magnificent Romanesque church, dedicated to the figures of Saints Facundo and Primitivo, a picturesque place and a highly recommended visit, which I will talk about on a future occasion.

NOTICE: Both the text and the photographs that accompany it, as well as the video that illustrates it, are my exclusive intellectual property and, therefore, are subject to my Copyright.

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