The 24th edition will take place next Sunday from 10.30 a.m. in the magnificent Golmar de Anzo house, jointly organised by the neighbourhood of Anzo and Busto. The parking area will be at the top of the Prado-Bodaño provincial road where there are several farms near the house, where neighbours and visitors will be able to park. The organising committee is finalising with the neighbours of the two participating parishes the last preparations for Sunday's event, which they have been working on since November. They have agreed on an organisational chart and timetable of tasks to ensure that the event runs as smoothly as possible, in an edition which will include, for example, a display of old trades, the arrival of an emigrant from Buenos Aires or an improvised dialectic dispute over the ownership of water.
The XXIVth edition of the Traditional Slaughter of the Pig, organised jointly by the neighbourhood of Anzo and Busto together with the City Council of Lalín, will be held next Sunday, January 21, in the Golmar house of Anzo, from 10.30 am, in an edition in which no detail will be missing. For this purpose, the residents of these two parishes have been working on the preparations for more than two months - the first working meeting took place on Sunday 19 November - through an organising committee made up of representatives from both parishes, and in coordination with the councillors of Fiestas, José Cuñarro, and of the area, Marcos Mariño.
It is important to highlight the full involvement shown by the neighbourhood of these two parishes located in the surroundings of the Corpiño Sanctuary to organise such an identifying event as the Pig Slaughter and also to thank the Cortizo family (the couple formed by José Luis Cortizo Vila and María Josefa Méijome Pérez and their son and daughter-in-law, Rubén Cortizo Méijome and Ana Valladares González) for the cession of the magnificent century-old noble house and its annexed buildings to carry it out. The aforementioned property includes a wooden doorway dating from 1856; a barn from 1902 where the pig is to be hung; a fountain in the middle of the threshing floor; a four-span granary dating from 1879; a balcony from 1868; an oven; a stone tiled threshing floor; a wine press, among other unique elements typical of a strong farmhouse dating back to 1868; a stone oven; a stone tiled threshing floor; a wine press, among other unique elements typical of a strong farmhouse dating from 1868; oven; a stone tiled threshing floor; wine press, among other unique elements typical of a strong farmhouse of the old ones in our area.
The pig will be a Lalaíno pig weighing around 300 kilos live and a little over a year old, similar to the typical pig that used to be slaughtered in Galician homes, with better properties for salting the meat and making chorizo than a younger pig.
These days the organising committee is finalising with the residents of Anzo and Madriñán the last preparations for the distribution of tasks and the staged recreation of the Slaughter in which each of the participants will carry out a pre-determined role. At a meeting held in recent days, they agreed on an organisational chart and timetable of tasks, distributed among them so that the Slaughter can be carried out in the best possible way, in the hope that the weather will be favourable.
The neighbourhood of Anzo and Busto will start working on Sunday at 9 a.m. to bring everything to a successful conclusion. At that time they will go to the Celso Toimil farm to transport the pig to the Casa de Golmar, where the Traditional Slaughter will take place, which will start at 10.30 a.m. and will include live narration by Manuel Vilariño and Daniel González Alén.
Various ethnographic performances
At around 11 a.m., the pig will be singed and at around the same time there will be an exhibition of farm implements, as well as an opportunity to see how bread was made in the oven or the kitchen utensils that were used in the olden days. We will also be able to see the neighbourhood playing cards, knitting or sewing (on an old-fashioned machine) or ironing (also on an old-fashioned machine).
Another novelty is that we will be able to see (at about 11.30 a.m.) a representation of the arrival of an emigrant from Buenos Aires who will be pleasantly surprised to see a traditional slaughter among so many neighbours, as well as taking part in the odd wake.
After the singeing, it will be time to wash and open the pig, untie the guts and weigh it. At the same time (around 12.45 p.m., approx.) there will also be a representation of how the scythes were sharpened in the past in order to better mow the grass, which served as food for the different animals in the houses. There will also be a representation of the many taverns that existed in the rural areas of our region and even a representation of an old scribe, with old documents.
At around 1 p.m. it will be possible to see how the meat was prepared to make the chorizo sausages, and at 1.30 p.m. there will be a performance of the "escarocha" of the corn. At around 2 p.m., the salting of the pork will take place, followed by a performance of an improvised dialectic dispute over the ownership of water, very representative of old quarrels between neighbours, which will have a few other attractions.
This will be followed by the tasting of pork products, as well as homemade desserts, which will take place in the marquee at the back of the building, together with musical performances by the Carballeira de Cercio during the process of the Slaughter and during the afternoon by the Trio 3.com.
Everything is also ready and prepared to facilitate from first thing in the morning the parking on the upper side of the provincial road EP-6005 Prado-Bodaño, where there are several farms near the house of Golmar, as it will be forbidden to park near the building where the whole process of recreation of the Slaughter will take place.
Note: the photos correspond to the meeting held by the organising committee and the neighbourhood on Sunday 14 January for the distribution of tasks on the day of the Slaughter.
