Description
Traditions, Customs, and Language in Fuencalderas
Book Summary
This work is a passionate and meticulous testament to life in Fuencalderas, a municipality in the Cinco Villas region of Zaragoza. José Arbués Possat, a direct witness to this reality, reconstructs the rich intangible heritage of his village, from its traditions and customs to the daily use of the Aragonese language. The reader will find an exhaustive vocabulary of more than 2,200 Aragonese terms, idioms, and the complete toponymy of the place, all presented with a profound love for this inherited culture.
What is it about?
The book is a journey to the heart of the popular culture of Fuencalderas. Through the author's attentive gaze, the traditions and customs that defined the lives of its inhabitants until a few decades ago are explored. The work is structured around two fundamental axes: on one hand, the description of the social, festive, and work-related practices that shaped daily life; on the other, the linguistic analysis that demonstrates the vitality of Aragonese in the region. The extensive vocabulary compiled, along with the idioms and toponymy, does not only document a way of speaking, but reveals a way of understanding and naming the world, offering an integral vision of local identity.
Main themes
- Ethnography and traditional life in the Cinco Villas of Zaragoza.
- Aragonese language: vocabulary, phraseology, and toponymy of Fuencalderas.
- Oral memory and the transmission of intangible cultural heritage.
- Festive, work, and social customs of a rural community.
- Cultural identity and connection to the territory.
Who is it recommended for?
This book is aimed at scholars of Aragonese philology, ethnographers, social and cultural anthropologists, as well as anyone interested in the popular culture and linguistic heritage of Aragon. It is also of great value to the inhabitants of the Cinco Villas region who wish to learn about or recover the memory of their elders, and to readers attracted to fieldwork and direct testimonials about rural life.
What this book provides
- A lexical corpus of more than 2,200 Aragonese terms, documented and contextualized.
- A detailed ethnographic portrait of the traditions and daily life of Fuencalderas.
- Validation of the survival of Aragonese in the Cinco Villas, corroborating the studies of the philologist Saroïhandy.
- A useful reference tool for researchers and for the preservation of local memory.
Technical Specifications
- Author: Arbués Possat, José
- Publisher: Xordica
- Language: Spanish
- Subject: POPULAR CULTURE, SOCIAL AND CULTURAL ANTHROPOLOGY, ETHNOGRAPHY
- Collection: QUADERNOS JEAN-JOSEPH SAROIHANDY
- Binding: Other
- Publication date: December 2012
- Number of pages: 256
- Weight: 450 g
Editorial Assessment
This is a work of great documentary value that combines a native's perspective with the rigor of a scholar. Its publication in the Quadernos Jean-Joseph Saroihandy collection underscores its linguistic relevance, while the breadth of the vocabulary and the richness of the ethnographic descriptions make it an essential resource for those researching Aragonese culture. It is a book that will especially interest readers looking for an authentic and detailed testament of a fading way of life, as well as specialists in dialectology and rural anthropology.