Magaña

Altitude: 870 metros
Population: 113
Municipal districts: Villaraso y Pobar (Entidad Local Menor)
Area: 5.919 Has
Annual Festival: San Martín

Mr Miguel Moreno, from Magaña, wrote: “On the way to the mountain ranges of San Pedro Manrique, or at the Pass level, towards the Rinconada place and Agreda, there is a town divided in two –that are both its neighbourhoods- and a castle over the hill that divides the ground. A well-built castle whose walls have been destroyed along the years. Although its walls, towers and merlons hold out against the ravages of time and stand as witnesses of the changes, they are always guards of the town from its height. They watch the rinconada and the sturdy, brown, mountain fields.

"Magaña lies at the crossroad with its warlike castle. And with its houses clustered around it".

Magaña, placed at the crossroad of the Montes and Alhama rivers, tributaries of the Ebro, dividing the town in two neighbourhoods and converging under the hill of the castle. Alfonso VIII was there the 14th June 1181. Its origin may date from Christian settlers, survivors of the battles against Almanzor that moved from here to the area of Agreda. In the middle of the Fifteenth century, the domain of Magaña belonged to the constable Alvaro de Luna, favourite of the king of Castile, Juan the Second, in a time of fights against Aragon and Navarra. Afterwards, Magaña belonged to the Duques de Alba (Dukes of Alba) and the Marqués de Vadillo (Marquis of Vadillo).

Magaña Castle (BIC 1949) – Sited on top of a hill besides the town, it has a double courtyard around the keep, which was built by the Berbers in the Ninth to Eleventh centuries, and therefore earlier than the other parts of the castle, which are original of the Sixteenth century. The keep has some remains of battlements and some windows with carved ashlars. Two concentric rings are the base of its structure. Inside it, it is remarkable its great height and its rectangular ground plant with cylindrical tubes in two of its corners. The third corner is empty and in the fourth stands the keep. The outside is much more lower and its plant is an irregular polygon with seven cylindrical tubes and several arrow slits spread all over its walls.

“Magaña of Magaña, leaning out over the meadow and the river flow. Castle in the middle of Castile. More than open to the immensity of the plains and cereal fields, it is hidden among the mountains as a reduction of the landscape and as a restriction of the conventional administrative signs" (Miguel Moreno)

San Martín de Tours Church – One nave and polygonal apse, Gothic style, Sixteenth century. The sculpture of its Baroque reredos has a marked influence of the region of La Rioja. There is a Romanesque carving of the Madonna of the Monastery which used to belong to the old chapel that is nowadays in ruins.

Madonna of Barruso Chapel- Pre-Romanesque chancel with horseshoe plant and partially dug in the rocks. The original church (Thirteenth century) was dedicated to the town and the ground. Its reredos dates from the Seventeenth century. It is decorated with interesting popular fresco paintings in its inside.

Municipal districts

Villaraso – In the middle of the mountain range Sierra del Almuerzo its peculiar landscape, relieves, mountains and hills, characterize this town.

The River Alhama separates it from Suellacabras and moves two mills, according to what Pascual Madoz wrote on his dictionary in 1845. It is also written that in those days, 28 people lived in that town, plus 112 souls, as they used to say. However, it is probable that during the Middle Ages, or even later, this town had a higher population, because there were three neighbourhoods: The Old House, the Hill of the Houses and the Stockyard of the Curate, inhabited from a long time ago. Under Feudalism, Villarraso belonged to the Marquis of Vadillo, who also owned some pasturelands for its transhumance cattle. Magazine “Aires de Villaraso” | Association “El Espino”

Pobar - From pobo, from the Latin POPUS. The suffix -ar means collective and plentiful, so its name means a place rich in poplars.

The parish church is dedicated to S. Esteban, with a single nave with plain roof and in the shape of a cross. Aisles with dome on pendentive and arms with lunettes. The main chapel has a round arch and arms with lunettes. Tower in the chancel, made of two bodies and four openings. Although it dates from the Eighteenth century, many alterations were made during the Nineteenth and Twentieth centuries.

Festivities in honour of Santa Rosalía the weekend after the 4th September. Other festivities are: The Triunfo de la Santa Cruz (Victory of the Holy Cross) the weekend after the 16th July; also known as El Carmen. 26th December dedicated to S. Esteban and 20th January to S. Sebastián.

Interesting links

[http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comunidad_de_Villa_y_Tierra_de_Maga] (History of the Community Villa y Tierra of Magaña)

[http://usuarios.lycos.es/pobar] (Website of Pobar)

Festivals and other information

In San Martín they used to share the so called bibitoque, made of walnuts, almonds, bread and wine (also called almendreques) while drinking in a silver cup that is preserved; the Mayor used to drink first and nobody would drink from that side of the cup. They used to pay the rent, the advance to the neighbour and service boy, and if they did not do so, they were cencerreados (“belled”). On Easter Sunday they used to hang aleluyas.

In San Martin they cook some sardines (sardinada). In San Antón, the 17the January, some bonfires are lighted. Procession with an auction in the chapel of the Madonna of Barruso, patron of Magaña and its fields.

Services

Town Council: Plaza Buenaventura Herrero, 1, 4281, Magaña (Soria), Tfno: 975 38 31 02

Bar María Pilar Zamora: La Plaza 2

Foundation Hogares de Magaña: 975 38 30 36