San Isidro He is the patron saint of Madrid and his feast day is May 15. But do we know why? In De Salas We wanted to find out the origin of our patron and, along the way, explore the history of the capital and the customs that revolve around it. celebration, which seems that this 2021 will be able to take place.
It is said that Isidro He was born at number 1 Águila Street, in Madrid neighborhood of La Latina, in the year 1080 and within a very humble family, so he had to go to work in the fields, hence Isidro Labrador. It is also said that he was very pious and prayed before starting to work, something that his employer did not like until, they say, one day she saw how while Isidro was praying, some angels came down to plow for him.
He had a special talent for finding water, he was a dowser, which is also why he is taken out in procession in times of extreme drought. Be that as it may, the truth is that with a blow of his staff on a rock, he made a spring of water gush out next to which the town stands today. Hermitage of the Saint. And he worked almost all his life in Madrid, on the Vergas family farm, in the area that is now Carabanchel. And if we take into account that already in the time of the Visigoths, Madrid was known as “the mother of waters” due to the amount of the liquid element that the city enjoyed, the importance of this saint is understood.
Married to María Toribia, at the time Saint María de la Cabeza, there are several miracles that Saint worked. Isidro and which earned him canonization on March 12, 1622 at the hands of Pope Gregory XV, along with Saint Ignatius of Loyola, Saint Francis Xavier and Saint Teresa of Jesus. From that day on, he became the patron of Madrid.
One of his most famous miracles was the one that says that he saved his own son when he fell into a well and made the water rise to be able to rescue him, a well that by the way can be visited in the Museum of Origins, in the Plaza del Humilladero. Buried in 1172 in the Madrid parish of San Andrés, forty years later his incorrupt body was discovered. At the end of the XNUMXth century, the procedures for his canonization began, supported by Philip II.
From Madrid, traditional, everything that surrounds the festival of San Isidro It is like the saint, and its meadow is filled year after year, except in 2020, with chulapos and chulapas, from Madrid and from outside, to sit and enjoy a good chotis (closely held and spinning counterclockwise). ) or gastronomy, from the potato omelet, some tripe, chicken and ins and outs to the delicious donuts, the ready ones and the silly ones with or without sugar, but also those from Santa Clara, the French ones and those from the Aunt Javiera y Fuenlabrada, known for being strung on a hemp cord. The brave carry a pot of stew to distribute among the people.
By the way, one of the most famous popular sayings has to do with this holiday. Be cooler than an eight, without going further. Once upon a time there was a trolley car, number 8, which went from Puerta del Sol to the vicinity of the meadow, and was the one that the chulapos and chulapas took to go to the meadow of San Isidro. And of course, there were few things back then “cooler than an eight” in Madrid That tram full of manolos and manolas.
En De Salas We love history and culture, and in addition to encouraging trips to discover others, we undoubtedly have to start with our own, the closest one. If any of our clients and friends did not know it, we are delighted to have made it known. Now all that remains is to adjust your vest, and sing that Pichi, it's the pimp who punishes. Good Saint Isidro to all Madrid residents.
Gala Mora
DESALAS Lifestyle
