Trinidad González has always been and will be in his town of Savariz, in the municipality of Coaña, “Trini da Casía”, but this only happens in his town, because even the Amazon packages have abandoned the name of A Casía to rename it “a casa del hórreo das pumpkins”, for more than ten years its hórreo has become, without a doubt, the most photographed in Asturias for its traditional and striking decoration loaded with pumpkins.
Trini would never have thought that her modest home, where she devoted her entire life to tending livestock and the garden, and which is located on the side of the winding road that connects the towns of Navia and Boal, in the heart of western Asturias, would be photographed by hundreds of people every year; She, who had always lived an unnoticed life, with her checkered apron and to the rhythm of clocks in rural areas where everything moves more slowly and to the rhythm of nature, suddenly found herself the protagonist of many, many photos per day.
And in Asturias, it wasn’t Halloween that made pumpkin fashionable. This was not the case. It was Trini and her husband, José Luis de la Uz. About to celebrate fifty years of marriage, the couple, who continue to regard each other with affection and respect, have fathered three children: Francisco, Jorge and “el noso hórreo”, as they call it in their “fala”, the Galician. – Asturian.
It’s not a joke, just put in a search engine “the house of Asturian pumpkins” to see the number of photographs that have been taken in front of this attic which, in addition to being a symbol of architecture tradition of rural Asturias, is also the attic that makes Trini smile proudly, the same one that keeps José Luis what makes him happiest: his books.
The attic is also, in addition to a colorful showcase for tourists and curious people, the place where José Luis built his own library. “A lot of people pass by, a lot, and stop to take a photo. I like to chat with them, ask them where they come from and I almost always give them something: oranges, lemons or eggs,” explains Trini. People are fascinated to see a granary that once had hundreds of pumpkins, corn cobs and onions in front of it. “Some take the photos from the car, but the majority park and want to know. I’ve always loved talking to people, so I really enjoy that,” he adds. And there are also those who, succumbing to the charm of the construction and its colors, got lost and ended up paying dearly for remaining dazed while looking at the attic. “It was a doctor coming down from Boal, when we realized that the car was in the meadow, going downhill, it didn’t end up going down to the Navia river by a miracle. “So much to look at the attic…” the couple said.
Lots of people walk by and stop to take a photo. I like to chat with them, ask them where they come from and I almost always give them something: oranges, lemons or eggs.
Trini, always talkative and curious, would never have thought that the granary that stood next to her house all her life would give it so much life and even less, once empty of harvest. So always and yet so active. “Before, we mainly used it to store potatoes, but we haven’t done that for a long time, because as we get older it becomes more difficult for us, especially for me,” emphasizes the owner, gripping the crutch tightly who has supported her for several years. The years pass and with them the back, the knees, the arms… everything suffers. And the stairs to access the interior also seem to have become more uneven over the years… Trini looks at them from below and it’s only her husband who enters the attic, but nothing happens because Trini recognizes that she has never been a big fan of reading and prefers to enjoy dressing up outside.
Now the onions, potatoes and cobs are kept outside, hanging outside, where there is also a wooden yoke and other traditional agricultural utensils that turn this granary into a postcard construction , in fact his image has already been rewarded in several related photography competitions. in the rural world.
But the beauty of Trini and José Luis’s hórreo is not only external, oh no! The proverb says that “in the blacksmith’s house, a wooden knife”, well that’s what happened to José Luis with the pumpkins. Seventy years without wanting to know anything about their consumption, especially since the day his mother placed a plate of “deep, deep” puree in front of him, when he was a child of ten. He never finished eating it and has no intention of trying it again. José Luis always loved the taste of a good book much more than that of a pumpkin. “I’m the one who calls them pumpkins,” he notes sarcastically. This is how, inside this attic that he kept so many crops and protected from mice attacks, José Luis appropriated a collection of more than a thousand books placed with love and care and which found their place as he devoured them. Book that can be read, book that can be put in the attic. Lorca and his Poet in New York They are also found in a Savariz attic. “At the moment I am with these two (explains José Luis about the books) in reality there are many that I have read two or three times, I have always been a lover of reading and I I loved the booklets. One day I want to put up a sign for this particular library, it seems to me that filling an attic with books is a fantastic alternative and even more so now that, unfortunately, the land is less and less cultivated”, explains José Luis de the Uz, who places on the living room table the two copies with which he kills time these days, as almost always: “Anti-Franco Chronicle” and “The Counted Days”. of poetry. “I love it,” he murmurs as he climbs the stairs of his attic to show his interior, where for him the true charisma of this construction lies.
It is now the children of José Luis and Trini who continue the tradition of decorating the attic with crops and dressing it with lights at Christmas. The attic’s success is such that most people stop by to pick one up. photo They also want to take one of the pumpkins, but the calculation is simple to do: if each selfie If it cost a pumpkin… Trini’s attic would be empty. “People want us to sell it to them, but we couldn’t have it as beautiful,” she insists. But since Trini and José Luís have generous hearts, it turns out that there are almost as many pumpkins as there are exceptions. “There is a man from Gijón who likes to make pumpkin pudding and of course we always give him some. See how grateful he is for always bringing us the sausage so we can taste it,” the couple says. And it is there, in the pumpkin pudding, that José Luis reconciles himself with the pumpkin dish that his mother placed in front of him that day. “The sausage has a bit of heat and I have to say it’s good, yes,” he says with a smile.
Although this year there have been fewer pumpkins because the harvest has not been the best, it is time to renew the decoration of the attic and they are working on it, decorating it at a time when, in addition, the municipal festivals arrive. You never know what luck in life or what decision can lead to putting a city like Savariz on the map, where nothing and no one has ever been so famous. “The truth is that no one decorated it with the intention that it would be visited and photographed like this, but we have many anecdotes and all of them good. Note that one day a man who studied with me at La Laboral came, so we hugged. And some Cubans who were friends of parents and with whom we ended up speaking by video call, says José Luis.
The couple, who are preparing to celebrate their golden wedding anniversary, have not yet thought about how they are going to celebrate them, but they know that this attic which has always accompanied them is the living symbol of a life in company. “Years ago we repaired the roof and improved it a little inside,” explains José Luis. And then came the exterior decoration phase.
Between the cracks of the interior, just between two books by Kafka and Molière, slips a halo of orange light. It’s autumn which heralds the time to pick pumpkins, to pick them too and to read against the light or with a candle. Fifty years together, settled in their village with the same integrity that keeps the attic full of pumpkins, that neither Trini nor José Luis will ever give each other.
