Roque Lorenzo Velez Lozano emigrated from Cariñena to La Habana, Cuba in 1774.  Cariñena is a “city” in the province of Zaragoza, in the autonomous community of Aragon, Spain. It’s really a village with a population of about 3,500 but it was famously granted the title of City in 1909 by King Alfonso XIII. If you go to Cariñena, you’ll call it a village or “pueblo” and you’ll call nearby Zaragoza a city.

Cariñena is the capital of the region (“comarca”) called Campo de Cariñena. Think of Comarca Campo de Cariñena like the Town of Hempstead on Long Island: a collection of villages. Campo de Cariñena comprises 14 municipalities (Aguarón, Aguilón, Aladrén, Alfamén, Cariñena, Cosuenda, Encinacorba, Longares, Mezalocha, Muel, Paniza, Tosos, Villanueva de Huerva and Vistabella de Huerva) as shown in the map of Aragon below.

Campo de Cariñena

Cariñena is known for its wine and it also gives the name to the Cariñena grape (today called Mazuelo in Spain) although many varieties of grapes produce the rich wines from this region.  The Garnacha is my personal favorite.  In Roman times the area was known as Carae and it was recorded that in the 3rd century BC its inhabitants drank wine mixed with honey. Today the region is encompassed by vineyards and each September there is a fiesta celebrating the harvest that also coincides with a religious feast. Here are links to the spanish and english Wikipedia pages on Cariñena (they are different).

Satellite view of Cariñena – the tree-lined paseo is where the walls once stood. See the Plaza de Toros?

When I began to study the history of Spain and Cariñena, it became clear I must have been sleeping during European history classes. Today most texts describe the area as being inhabited by about 300 BC.  Nearby Zaragoza (a true “city” by today’s standards) began its life as Caesaraugusta by about 25 AD during the expansion of the Roman Empire. Cariñena supplied wine to the booming city and the export activities the Romans developed using the then-navigable Ebro River to reach the Mediterranean.

 

After the Romans came the Visigoths ~700 AD and then shortly thereafter the Muslims whose kingdoms stretched from the Middle East, across north Africa, and into the Iberian Peninsula. After 400 years of Muslim rule, the Christians returned in ~1118 and the town became a part of the Kingdom of Aragon when it was conquered by Alfonso I El Batallador in 1119. After this Christian conquest, the Collegiate Church of Santa María was built on the site occupied by the Muslim mosque, as seen in the sketch above.

Cariñena found itself in the middle of the many conflicts between the competing crowns of Castile and Aragon. Although Aragon directed the building of the wall to fortify it against attack by the Crown of Castile, the town was taken by the Castilian troops in 1363, and Pedro I (“The Cruel”) ravaged the entire village, cutting off the nose and ears of those who had defended her walls.  After retaking Cariñena, the King of Aragon granted the town a coat of arms as a reward for its loyalty where the central figure displays the loyal signs of a missing nose and ear.

The shield of Cariñena

The Jews who lived under the Muslim caliphates of Al-Andalus were “tolerated” until they were expelled in 1339 when Cariñena’s synagogue was reestablished as the Iglesia Santo Cristo de Santiago.  Later, in 1492, the Catholic Monarchs conquered the Nasrid Kingdom of Granada and decreed expelled from all of Castile and Aragon. Today you could easily walk past Iglesia Santo Cristo de Santiago as it is tightly nestled among the shops and apartments along Calle Mayor.

In the 16th century the Consistorial House (the city hall or “ayuntamiento”) was built , a Aragonese-style Renaissance-style “palace”, a building with a floor in the 17th century with the typical Aragonese gallery. Attached to the town hall sits the “Fuenta de la Mora”, the fountain mentioned in other posts in this blog.

Some Moors remained in Castile and Aragon after the return of Christian rule with the heaviest concentrations in Aragon, mostly in the region of Zaragoza and this included Cariñena.  They were formally expelled in 1609 in a wave of similar action across the Iberian Peninsula. Nearby Zaragoza published its expulsion order on 10 May 1610 – see a copy here.

In 1694 the church Our Lady of the Assumption was built on the old collegiate church of Santa Maria, which had been destroyed in the War of the Pedros, attached to the Gothic tower of 1375. This is the church you see today when you visit.

 The 1700s saw more war and then even the French decided they wanted to cross the Pyrenees and have a go at taking the region in the early 1800’s. Cariñena saw itself caught up in the Spanish Civil War in the early 20th century.

I certainly don’t do the long history justice, but what you should take away from the brief history lesson is that there is Christian and Muslim influence and it shows in the village, the architecture, and surrounding sites.

Some good sites for local information:

• Zaragoza Tourism
• More Tourism

Today

Today the village is friendly and small. The town hall is in the center along Calle Mayor and it’s where you’ll find La Fuente de la Mora, the fountain they fill with wine each September for La Fiesta de la Vendimia, which celebrates the annual harvest. Beware – there are two events at this time and they are on separate weeks. One is the 7 day Christian feast for Santo Cristo de Santiago. Bulls run up and down Calle Mayor every day, multiple times a day and each evening has another bull event in the Plaza del Toros.  There’s food, music, dancing and a lot of drinking. Some events begin at 3AM!

The other event at this time of the year is a weekend event put on by the vineyards and the governing body of the Campo de Cariñena. Think tents along the street with each vineyard giving samples. There’s also a number of events at the Ayuntamiento and La Fuente de la Mora in La Plaza de España where you’ll see the red wine flowing. My point is this: know which event you’re trying to attend – it’s hard to figure out sometimes by casually searching the web.

Just around the corner from the town square (Plaza de España) you’ll find the Catholic church Nuestra Señora de las Asuncion which is where I obtained most of the family records.  Most of what you see today was built in the 1700’s except the 14th century tower as I mentioned earlier.

The wall that surrounded the city is mostly gone.  It’s been replaced by a tree-covered paseo with fountains and park benches. One tower does remain, and it’s in the southeast corner of town quite close to the Plaza del Toros.

Our Velez family comes from an area rich in history – get to know it with a visit!

El alcalde de Cariñena, ingresado con coronavirus, está fuera de peligro. Le deseo una recuperación rápida.

https://www.elperiodicodearagon.com/noticias/temadia/alcalde-carinena-ingresado-coronavirus-fuera-peligro_1452623.html

Mejorate pronto, Sr. Ortiz!

What worked for me

I can not begin to describe the overwhelming experience of walking into the Nuestra Señora de la Asunción church in Cariñena and putting my hands on the baptismal, where my ancestors were likely baptized over two hundred years ago, as I followed closely behind the parish caretaker up the narrow staircase to the door securing the archives.

Maribel happily unlocked the door and revealed the archive. She gave me a few simple instructions and locked the door as she left. And there I was.

The agreement was that I would stay put until she returned to let me out. She gave me her mobile number and disappeared to her tasks. Many churches probably have their own Maribel, the volunteer who works tirelessly cleaning floors, unlocking doors, collecting donations, and ringing the bell during mass. The parish priest was busy taking care of parishioners of a couple of area churches so my request for access to the archives fell on Maribel’s shoulders, but she was very willing to help me out any way she could.

Before Your Visit

OK, let’s get to the facts:

(1) You want an ally in the town where you’re visiting. In my case it was Ana Christine, my Airbnb host and now my hermanita. She was very responsive to my questions and helped me plan each detail.

(2) You probably need some formal permission from the local church or diocese. I told Ana Cris what my plans were and she quickly shot back an email, “I saw the parish priest, you need permission from the Archbishop to see the archives.” So, I found the web site for the diocese of Zaragoza and sent them a letter.

I drafted a letter, saved it as a PDF and sent it to the Secretary of the Delegacion Episcopal de Patrimonio Cultural. I received a reply in less than 24 hours by email with an approval.

(3) Contact the parish priest and arrange for the logistics of the visit. Father Cano (then the “sacerdote” in Cariñena) had many area duties and would appear shortly before afternoon mass and depart just as quickly to repeat the rituals in another nearby church. Do not expect prompt replies via email and good luck trying to get someone on the phone. So, get started early on this.

(4) Take care of Maribel. I’m from Maryland where Old Bay seasoning can be requested from virtually every restaurant for any meal without question. This classic seasoning is sold in large beautiful cans and so I packed cans of Old Bay seasoning and Old Bay Peanuts in my bag as tokens of appreciation. Lots of fish and other seafood is served across Spain and Maribel loved it (at least she said she did) when I explained it came with me from home. Maribel is a volunteer and if she wasn’t willing to help me, I would not have been able to easily access the archives. Be sure to thank your Maribel!

(5) Research what is in the archive. You must absolutely review the information here to prepare. When I read that guide I discovered that the holdings of the church archive in Cariñena had been cataloged in the following:

(Many thanks to Inma who tracked down a copy for me)

Working in the Archive

(1) Be prepared with low tech and high tech research tools. In Cariñena I had considerable freedom in handling and obtaining copies of records so I was free to use my iPad (no flash) and some notes in my logbook. However in the visits to La Seo de Zaragoza for other records (such as Las Matriculas), all personal bags are required to be locked up in a locker and researchers are limited to pen and paper. Copies of the records I desired were ordered at the front desk.

(2) Prepare your equipment for ease of use. Here’s what it looked like for me:

I used an iPad mounted to a tripod and a bluetooth shutter controller that I kept on my wrist. This allowed me to adjust and hold the delicate book while simultaneously taking a photo of the page I needed.

(3) Keep a diary or log book of some sort and keep notes even if all your work is in the photos. This came in handy later when I was piecing together my photos and completing the indexing and transcriptions.

(4) Create an index of the records obtained. I created a spreadsheet of every book and record I obtained on my first visit to keep with my original photos. On my second visit, I was able to use the index to quickly figure out which volume and folio I’d probably find a record I was looking for. This was a timesaver.

(5) Use cloud services like Google Drive or Microsoft OneDrive to back up your photos each evening. At the end of my trip I had all the photos on my iPad but I also traveled home assured that I had a backup copy in my Google Drive (actually, Google Photos). Ana Christine’s Airbnb had great wifi and I was able to synch up my work immediately after my visit.

(6) Preserve your integrity so you’re recognized as a respectful researcher. Each day I demonstrated to Maribel and Ana Christine (who escorted me in and out) that my bag was empty – that I was taking nothing with me. I wanted to cover my bases in case someone discovered a book missing after my visit. They didn’t understand, but I insisted they check my bag. You won’t have that issue at the archives in the cities, where the process is much more formal. At the Seo in Zaragoza, for example, I had to register as a researcher and present my passport so that my archive requests could be logged. Backpacks and cameras were required to be locked up in lockers they had near the information desk. Be a respectful researcher and take care of the treasures you handle; observe the rules and watch how other researchers interact with the staff and handle records.

(7) Make a donation to the church. It’s simple, send a note of thanks to the priest and send a small donation to the church. I use Xoom, a service of Paypal. It was easy and I felt it was the least I could do to thank this church for keeping family records around for a few hundred years and letting me have access to them.

I hope this helps you plan your trip to your family’s ancestral origin to explore the treasures in the archives!

The Spanish revere their titles and history, and Cariñena is no different. This community of some 3,500 residents has the look and feel of a small village, a “pueblo”, in the Aragon countryside. There are no supermarket chain stores, no shopping malls, no traffic lights, and no busses. The core of Cariñena existed inside a protective wall that has been replaced by a tranquil tree-covered area (“paseo”) to walk – the full journey around can be done in some twenty minutes. I think my subdivision is bigger than Cariñena!

But Cariñena was rewarded by King Alfonso for its loyalty when on June 4, 1909 the City Council received notification from the governor of Zaragoza that a day earlier the Minister of the Interior issued the following Royal Order:

“His Majesty the King has deigned to issue by this Ministry the following Royal Decree – Wanting to give a test of my Real Appreciation to the Villa de Cariñena, province of Zaragoza, for its historical importance and adhesion to the Institutions; I come to grant you the City Title. Given in the Palace on June 3, nineteen hundred and nine – Alfonso – The Minister of the Interior – Juan de la Cierva y Peñafiel -“

Shortly thereafter the City Council made preparations for a ceremony and proposed that the Plaza Alta be given the name of Alfonso XIII, that Calle del Cordero be renamed Tejón y Marín, and that Calle de las Siete Esquinas be renamed Marqués de Villafranca.

On June 20, 1909 Cariñena, decked in flags and pennants, received the governor and other dignitaries who arrived by train and paraded to Plaza de España for speeches, placing new signs on the renamed streets, and certainly a bit of wine that accompanied dancing in the Casino.

Fortunately, the City retains its village charm and soul. When you visit you’ll feel it instantly as you walk the streets and enjoy the sights and sounds. Oh, and you’ll appreciate it when you ask for a glass of Particular garnacha and hand over less than two Euro. Have the meat plate in La Mazuela and another glass of wine and you’re on your way for less than $10. Enjoy the village prices and save the city trips for later. Zaragoza and Madrid will wait for you. Just one more reason to visit la ciudad de Cariñena!

Source

I can’t memorize this language I’m trying to learn. Word lists are not working. Yes, I can read or understand a few hundred written words but my ear is bad. Recently I’m taking another approach: comprehensible input. I’m watching a lot of YouTube where the point of the video is to learn the language but the instruction is delivered by listening, watching, and reading. No memorization, no need to talk right now….the theory is that to speak, one must have the words in his or her brain and have heard many good examples of how those words are used. I’m listening to the words and watching the actors and the story…I’m learning meaning with all my senses. I recognize many of the words already, but I’m trying hard to push back the urge to translate them in my head, but instead concentrate on the story. And this brings me to the headline: to learn this language I’m learning that I must pay more attention to the people and the culture. Spanish words were not created to mimic english words. Spanish words express spanish thoughts in a spanish way.

I’ll use this posting for interesting external links

Cariñena on Wikipedia https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cariñena