The poet, winner of the National Poetry Prize and Galician Culture of Letters Award 2023, began the proclamation of the LVI Feria del Cocido by thanking "whoever thought of me", making her the "first writer to give it".
She dedicated her literary proclamation, seasoned with irony and humour, to the women of Lalín: "the only women in the world happy to celebrate Valentine's Day by falling in love with a pig".
Seven new Commanders were appointed: Yolanda Castaño; Michel Durrieu; Francisco Fumega; Belén Xestal; Rafael López; José González Vázquez and Víctor Manuel Vázquez Portomeñe.
The LVI Feria del Cocido is held under the challenges of achieving the definitive deseasonalisation of the stew and converting tourism into a vital economic resource for Lalín, Deza and the interior of Galicia.
"I would like to begin this proclamation by thanking the person who thought of me. To the one who made me not the first woman, I am the seventh, but the first writer as such to give it. You can imagine how it makes me feel to join the lineage of Cunqueiro, Celso Emilio, Alonso Montero, Alonso Montero, Alfredo Conde, Carlos Casares and Víctor Freixanes. And in my case, moreover, in verse; but it is true that the only poetry I believe in is that which comes out of the paper, exceeds the page, overflows the books and slips through the world ahead, bubbling where the people are, seasoned with the world and contaminated with life". With these words began the poet, philologist, cultural manager, video-creator and translator, Yolanda Castaño, the proclamation of the LVI Feria del Cocido that she offered today in Lalín. She continued: "Thank you, Lalín, for making me grow with your consideration: a few years ago I gave the proclamation of the Book Fair in this town, a little later I gave the proclamation of the Cocido del Orgullo, and today you raise me to the highest rank of affection that a gastronomic fair can express for someone". Castaño revealed that in his house "bets, favours or compensation for hard work are often negotiated with the fair and high payment of a stew. I suspect that for many this could well be a rather dubious accusation. Because man does not live by bread alone: you need a good stew," he said. A stew that he defined as "the cultural jewel of the Lands of Deza because it is the metaphor of how culture should be: that combines the support of the protein, the delicate coating of the carbohydrate, and a vegetable capable of providing us with vitamins". In this respect, he specified: "There is no dish more democratic as long as it offers enough to choose from its sources, and there are almost as many possible combinations as there are diners (If my friend Jorge Mira were around, he would make us a table of mathematical combinations: lacón, cachucha, grelo for this one; ham, chorizo, chickpeas for that one; potato, for the other; hen, cabbage and ear for the other one). Nobody is left out of the cocido, nobody is a stranger to the most integrating dish. Everyone is welcome to the only recipe for spoon, fork and knife at the same time".
"Diversity: as much as you want, almost infinite possibilities", he remarked, while also referring to it as "a safe-conduct, then, to enter the gateway to the heavens. It is in fact in Lalín where it is confirmed that a good stew makes you ascend to them just like the aviator Loriga; if it is as good as what they make here, you see the stars as if you were Ramón María Aller", he underlined. He also praised the cocido because "it promotes pacifism (...), it is also anti-capitalist as we can see that its raw material is accessible to any pocket (...) and it is cohesive as long as the six town councils of the region are always united with the same desire: no matter what the political differences of the municipal corporations, in the same pot they all boil together, cooperating and twinned, as if they themselves were equal ingredients in a shared pot". A metaphor for the people of Lalin.
The town crier defended that "in addition to the values of slow-food, the fact that the cocido de Lalín is based on the quality of the product and not so much on a sophisticated preparation speaks of an honesty without masks. The cocido is thus revealed as the best metaphor for the people of Lalín: frank people without artifice, without impostures that can disguise them. Here the hock is hock, the chickens are home-grown, here what looks like unto is nothing more than unto". "Let me continue the list of virtues of this much-talked-about feast. Another of cocido's virtues is its internationalism, and I'm not just referring to its recent official declaration as a Festival of International Tourist Interest.... Cocido is a pro-European dish: it happens to have as many ingredients as there are EU member states. Twenty-seven, according to the great Cunqueiro...", he pointed out. In closing her literary proclamation seasoned with irony and humour, Yolanda Castaño reiterated "my thanks to all the listeners and to those who made me this seventh proclamation and first among poets. Allow me, feminist, sororal, rightly or wrongly, to dedicate today to the women of Lalín: the only women in the world happy to celebrate Valentine's Day by falling in love with a pig". "Welcome to the fifty-sixth Feria del Cocido de Lalín. Hands to the pig, enjoy, have a good day and thank you very much", he concluded. Cocido, a dish that can be eaten all year round This LVI Cocido Fair is an edition immersed in the challenges of achieving the definitive deseasonalisation of cocido so that everyone is clear that it is a dish that can be eaten all year round, as well as converting tourism into a vital economic resource of the first level for Lalín, Deza and inland Galicia. This Fair is also marked by all the events and activities that revolve around it, including the International Beekeeping Fair, Alvariza. which in this third edition was very well received; the Traditional Slaughter of the Pig in an outstanding edition in which many traditions of yesteryear were present through staged recreations; the second Food Craft Fair to be held on 8, 9 and 10 March or an outstanding exhibition project by the sculptor Soledad Penalta which can be seen in the Ramón Mª Aller Municipal Museum until the beginning of April, among a very wide range of attractions.
Seven new Commanders
The events of this great day of the Cocido began at around 10.30 am in the Casa Consistorial with the Encomenda del Cocido, which this year included seven new members: Yolanda Castaño (Town Crier, National Poetry Prize 2023 and Galician Culture Prize -Letters- 2023); Michel Durrieu (CELO Huttopia International); Francisco Fumega (Mayor of O Carballiño); Belén Xestal (journalist, communicator and audiovisual producer); Rafael López (head of the Oncology Service of the University Hospital Complex of Santiago de Compostela); José González Vázquez (Regional Minister of Rural Affairs) and Víctor Manuel Vázquez Portomeñe (promoter of Xacobeo and the Way of St. James). Then, the delegation headed by the town crier, Yolanda Castaño; by the Mayor of Lalín; by the President of the Xunta de Galicia; by the President of the Diputación de Pontevedra; by the Mayor of Madrid; in which also participated several senior officials of the Xunta de Galicia (Regional Minister of Culture, Education, Vocational Training and Universities; Regional Minister of Health; Regional Minister of Rural Environment; territorial delegate of the Xunta in Pontevedra; Director General of Youth, etc.. ); the provincial deputy of Tourism, among other authorities, as well as the poster designer, Fernando Pereira, the Comendadores and members of the municipal Corporation, proceeded to the opening of the Fair and to visit the Cocido tent in the Campo de la Feria with typical gastronomic products of Lalín and handicrafts. Then the delegation went to the Main Street stage where Yolanda Castaño gave her speech after being introduced by the commendatrix, Belén Xestal. This was followed by the parade of charangas, musical groups and traditional Galician carnivals, which was opened by "Don Cochno" and closed by "El cerdo Queitano".
