16. Oh no

Rosalía was in Brión, where some of her family lived. She was there to spend a few days with her relatives, but also to carry out some other plans. Brión was not that far from Santiago and the area was the birthplace of many of the writer’s relatives. Luis Tobío had brought the body of a martyr from Cádiz in 1848 and the cult had quickly taken root in Galicia. Santa Minia was Roman and had lost her life when she was fifteen. That had been in 362 under the emperor Julian, or so some sources say..

Tobío had transported the body to his village by sea, from southern Cádiz to the port of Vigo. As in other instances, the cadaver, or more likely just the bones, had been encased in wax, and the tiny body arrived at its final destination in that form. It is venerated by the people in the area and a later Tobío would write a religious tract, a novena, in her honor. There’s at least one popular song that synthesizes the trek from the south:

Santa Minia milaghrosa

na súa cama deitada,

se non fora Santa Minia

Brión non valía nada.

Teño de ir á Santa Minia,

Teño de ir á Escravitú,

téñolles de dá-as gracias

que me deron a salú.

Santa Minia milagrieira

Veu de Cadis a Padrón

e agora vamos vela

a San Felís de Brión 

[Saint Minia worker of miracles

Resting on her bed,

If it weren’t for Saint Minia

Brión wouldn’t be worth a cent.

I must go see Saint Minia,

must go to A Escravitú,

I must give thanks to them,

for they gave me good health.

Saint Minia worker of miracles

Came from Cadis to Padrón

And now we’re going to see her

in Saint Felís of Brión.]

One has to think that the girl saint appears in other local lore, from tales to sayings or refrains.

As far as saints go, Minia was from the fourth century, but she was new to Galicia. Maybe Rosalía wasn’t especially religious, but there were some family ties to the saint. These ties were through her father, who was a priest, although that may not be especially relevant. The name Minia may be related to the majestic Miño River that divides Galicia and Portugal and to the mineral known as minium, lead (or iron) oxide. That remains to be seen and the name is obviously less important than Rosalía’s motive for making the trip to a place she had visited more than once as a child. On this visit she was meeting one of her early friends to discuss the idea of a reading and creative writing group. In Santiago everything was close and people walked everywhere, which made it easy for groups to get together. It was much more difficult to organize meetings when people lived ten kilometers or so away. Women especially were limited in their movement, either because of family obligations or, put more bluntly, because they were women. 

This meeting was intended to discuss if the distance was a hindrance and if maybe Brión shouldn’t have its own group. To be honest, Rosalía was already thinking of organizing a network that could meet as a whole once a year. She was thinking about the groups her American correspondents had described to her, but also she was well aware of European groups, in Britain, France, Germany, Switzerland. There was so much she wanted to do, and it was hardly a project for one woman. Maybe her friend Amara would have ideas. If her friend were to take on the organization in Brión, then the participants in turn could take their experience with a literary circle to other towns. 

Rosalía was level-headed and knew there were far fewer women who could even read in the population beyond the cities. However, she knew the Galician language that they spoke was important for writing, and it might not be widely known, but nobody or almost nobody had published anything in galego for four centuries. That meant support was needed not only to encourage women to write, but to write in the language of the people, considered only good for working in the fields, was equally important. Rosalía also knew she wanted to relay this identity of the land, its women and their speech, to her correspondents on the other side of the Atlantic. Hadn’t the Americans expressed interest in learning more about the part of the Iberian Peninsula that was rarely talked about in books? 

For their conversation, Rosalía had brought one of her journals. She and Mara entered a tiny eatery to have lunch.

“What did you bring in that satchel?” asked Amara, since it had seemed heavy. She thought it might have contained books, which it did, but the they weren’t for them to discuss that day.

“I’ve written down a few things. Here’s a list of the women I’ve been corresponding with and their addresses. Here’s another list of things they’ve written. I haven’t been able to buy any books or reviews, plus my English isn’t as good as I’d like - yet. I do have their notes, because they were kind enough to write descriptions of their own work.”

“Oh, that’s incredible!” Amara said, now hoping to get a closer look, as if the pages that had crossed the ocean had some extra power. It was the thought of ‘talking’ with women in other countries that made the eyes of both women light up.

The meal lasted at least three hours, and neither Amara nor Rosalía thought much about the especially good fare and wine, because the plan for expanding the Santiago circle was felt as very urgent and possible. The ways they could exchange information written in two languages when one of them had almost nothing to offer by way of books and articles. That led to Amara’s very enthusiastic approval of the third item: the collaboration with women who were for the most part workers in fields.

“What a great idea! I run into the woman who sells grelos and another who has the biggest couves at the market. We always talk and they are really funny. We could ask if they’d let us write some things down.” 

“Yes,” replied Rosalía, “we could do something like that in Santiago!”

“So we have market days for meeting, maybe. I’m thinking the lavadoiros in the nearby areas are also good places. The women doing the washing always have things to say about how heavy the sheets are, how cold the water is.”

“Because wet sheets are really heavy and water around here in the streams is really cold,” pointed out Rosalía.

“I didn’t mean it that way,” said Amara. 

“Of course not.” Then the conversation continued until they had to move to a little bar across the street from ‘San Felis’ to have coffee and where Rosalía would wait for the coach back to the big city of Santiago. While they ate, it had begun to pour like it pours in Galicia. On went capes and other apparel, up went umbrellas, and still the two friends got soaked. Once in the bar, they removed their outer attire to let it dry out a little. When the coach arrived, Rosalía had to rush to grab everything up, because the driver was in a bad mood due to the dampness and his weary bones.

Back again in her very small apartment, Rosalía went to take out her journal. It was gone! She was convinced she’d left it propped up against a wall that was dry. Surely she’d hear that it had been found by someone who would return it to her, even if they might read it first.

Nobody returned it. 

Rosalía was frantic, because there so many things in the journal, from the correspondence that had traveled many kilometers to the detailed plans developed over three hours in Brión. Amara was distraught as well and of course asked in the bar, but nothing. Years later both women would meet and still lament what had been worked on so hard and had been lost. It was impossible to recreate it all.

Lavinia*, in her notes, mentions where the journal ended up and how. I have been able to ascertain that the house where she found it as it was being readied for sale belonged to a family member of Rosalía’s. That family member I was also able to track down and trace back to the little bar in Brión. The owner had a daughter who occasionally helped straighten it up. She must have found the journal and placed it somewhere. From the bar it made its way onto a bookshelf in the owner’s home and from there to where Lavinia found it in Santiago.

This is the journal Lavinia left in my house without telling me. The one she also left with some of her own notes.

This is the story I can’t put down. Or one of them, because Rosalía is the center of a very special place. 

To be continued.

*Much has been written about Lavinia. I think I said fifty stories at least. She’s also in the early part of this biofiction. She’s an ex-academic living in Santiago. That may be enough for now.