Bañares is a municipality of

La Rioja La Rioja () is an autonomous communities in Spain, autonomous community and provinces of Spain, province in Spain, in the north of the Iberian Peninsula. Its capital is Logroño. Other List of municipalities in La Rioja, cities and towns in the ...

, Spain. It is located in the

comarca A ''comarca'' (, , , ) is a traditional region or local administrative division found in Portugal, Spain, and some of their former colonies, like Brazil, Nicaragua, and Panama. The term is derived from the term ''marca'', meaning a "march, mark ...

of Santa Domingo de la Calzada, some 45 km west of

Logroño Logroño ( , , ) is the capital of the autonomous community of La Rioja (Spain), La Rioja, Spain. Located in the north of the Iberian Peninsula, primarily in the right (South) bank of the Ebro River, Logroño has historically been a place of pa ...

. Its economy is primarily based on

agriculture Agriculture encompasses crop and livestock production, aquaculture, and forestry for food and non-food products. Agriculture was a key factor in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created ...

. Especially in the cultivation of

potato The potato () is a starchy tuberous vegetable native to the Americas that is consumed as a staple food in many parts of the world. Potatoes are underground stem tubers of the plant ''Solanum tuberosum'', a perennial in the nightshade famil ...

cereal A cereal is a grass cultivated for its edible grain. Cereals are the world's largest crops, and are therefore staple foods. They include rice, wheat, rye, oats, barley, millet, and maize ( Corn). Edible grains from other plant families, ...

beets The beetroot (British English) or beet (North American English) is the taproot portion of a ''Beta vulgaris'' subsp. ''vulgaris'' plant in the Conditiva Group. The plant is a root vegetable also known as the table beet, garden beet, dinner beet ...

and

green beans Green beans are young, unripe fruits of various cultivars of the common bean (''Phaseolus vulgaris''), although immature or young pods of the runner bean ('' Phaseolus coccineus''), yardlong bean ( ''Vigna unguiculata'' subsp. ''sesquipedalis ...

History

The first references to the village of Bañares confirm its existence as early as 1051: (Scemeno Munioz de Cerratón in his letter about a donation that he makes to Saint Millán, when Garsea was

King of Pamplona The Kingdom of Navarre ( ), originally the Kingdom of Pamplona, occupied lands on both sides of the western Pyrenees, with its northernmost areas originally reaching the Atlantic Ocean (Bay of Biscay), between present-day Spain and France. The me ...

in 1089, where he stands witness before Lope Enecores de Vaniares). In the year 1133 King Alfonso the Battler, who ruled over La Rioja, donated to Pedro, Archdeacon and rector of the Church of El Salvador, all the estates that touched upon the castle of Bilibio, along with all the land of the King in the village of Bañares, by Royal Decree. In 1157, on the plain of Valpierre, near Bañares, two battles were fought between the troops of

Sancho III of Castile Sancho III ( 1134 – 31 August 1158), called the Desired (''el Deseado''), was King of Castile and Toledo for one year, from 1157 to 1158. He was the son of Alfonso VII of León and Castile and his wife Berengaria of Barcelona, and was s ...

and

Sancho III of Navarre Sancho Garcés III ( 992–996 – 18 October 1035), also known as Sancho the Great (, ), was the King of Pamplona from 1004 until his death in 1035. He also ruled the County of Aragon and by marriage the counties of Castile, Álava and Monzón ...

, the latter having tried to take advantage of the death of

Alfonso VII Alphons (Latinized ''Alphonsus'', ''Adelphonsus'', or ''Adefonsus'') is a male given name recorded from the 8th century ( Alfonso I of Asturias, r. 739–757) in the Christian successor states of the Visigothic Kingdom in the Iberian Peninsula. ...

to acquire Castilian territory. By 1200, Pedro Fernández de Villegas I (hero of the

Battle of Las Navas de Tolosa The Battle of Las Navas de Tolosa, known in Islamic history as the Battle of Al-Uqab (), took place on 16 July 1212 and was an important turning point in the ''Reconquista'' and the Spain in the Middle Ages, medieval history of Spain. The Christian ...

in 1212) was lord of the ''behetría'' (benefactor) of Bañares. The town was the scene of bloody battles in the 12th and 13th centuries between the kingdoms of

Navarre Navarre ( ; ; ), officially the Chartered Community of Navarre, is a landlocked foral autonomous community and province in northern Spain, bordering the Basque Autonomous Community, La Rioja, and Aragon in Spain and New Aquitaine in France. ...

and Castile. In 1478, the title of the Earl of Bañares was granted in favor of Alvaro de Zúñiga y Guzmán, owner of the castle, of which some ruins remain today, and the town remained in its domain until the abolition of this jurisdictional system in 1811 . It was part of the province of

Burgos Burgos () is a city in Spain located in the autonomous community of Castile and León. It is the capital and most populous municipality of the province of Burgos. Burgos is situated in the north of the Iberian Peninsula, on the confluence of th ...

until the province of

was created, and today it belongs to the

autonomous community The autonomous communities () are the first-level administrative divisions of Spain, created in accordance with the Spanish Constitution of 1978, with the aim of guaranteeing limited autonomy to the nationalities and regions that make up Sp ...

. The village has had a

hospital A hospital is a healthcare institution providing patient treatment with specialized Medical Science, health science and auxiliary healthcare staff and medical equipment. The best-known type of hospital is the general hospital, which typically ...

since 1837.

Demographics

As of January 1, 2010 the population of the town rose to 321 inhabitants, 156 men and 165 women.

Etymology

In the

papal bull A papal bull is a type of public decree, letters patent, or charter issued by the pope of the Catholic Church. It is named after the leaden Seal (emblem), seal (''bulla (seal), bulla'') traditionally appended to authenticate it. History Papal ...

of 1199 which granted privileges to the

Monasteries of San Millán de la Cogolla The monasteries of San Millán de Suso (6th century) and San Millán de Yuso (11th century) are two monasteries situated in the village of San Millán de la Cogolla, La Rioja, Spain. They have been designated a World Heritage Site by UNESCO sinc ...

, it appears as "Bannares", with the collective suffix -ar and the

Mozarabic Mozarabic may refer to: *Andalusi Romance, also called the Mozarabic language *Mozarabs The Mozarabs (from ), or more precisely Andalusi Christians, were the Christians of al-Andalus, or the territories of Iberia under Muslim rule from 711 to ...

feminine plural -es. The name of the place makes reference to baths, widely used in the Roman period.

Tourism

Buildings and monuments

Chapel of Santa Cruz or Santa Maria la Antigua (Saint Mary the Ancient)

An ancient, Romanesque parish church that was constructed around the 12th century. After a new church was built with the name Santa Cruz, the older one was renamed as Santa Maria la Antigua (Saint Mary the Ancient). It was declared a

Bien de Interés Cultural (, , , ) is a category of the heritage register in Spain. The term is also used in Colombia and other Spanish-speaking countries. The term literally means a "good of cultural interest" ("goods" in the economic sense). It includes not only mater ...

(Heritage of Cultural Interest) in the

Monument A monument is a type of structure that was explicitly created to commemorate a person or event, or which has become relevant to a social group as a part of their remembrance of historic times or cultural heritage, due to its artistic, historical ...

category on 9 April 1964.

Parish church of the Holy Cross (Iglesia parroquial de la Santa Cruz)

It is a Gothic building. Construction began around 1490 and ended around 1510. In the interior of the church, one finds the ark of San Formerio. It is one of the jewels of Spanish Romanesque art; scholars place it halfway through the 12th century. It is made of wood covered with copper plates enameled with different motifs. It was declared a

(Heritage of Cultural Interest) in the

category on 9 April 1964.Mininsterio de Cultura.
/ref>

Castle of Bañares

This

castle A castle is a type of fortification, fortified structure built during the Middle Ages predominantly by the nobility or royalty and by Military order (monastic society), military orders. Scholars usually consider a ''castle'' to be the private ...

is now in ruins; since the stone was sold for construction. It is known that it had thick walls, a keep, and a moat that defended it. Currently only the Banares castle ruins are preserved, situated on the exit road toward Hervias, which allows reconstruction of a rectangular floor plan, with an entrance, facing east, on one of the long sides, flanked by cylindrical

turrets Turret may refer to: * Turret (architecture), a small tower that projects above the wall of a building * Gun turret, a mechanism of a projectile-firing weapon * Objective turret, an indexable holder of multiple lenses in an optical microscope * ...

, that also reinforce the corners of the rectangle. The walls were of great thickness and sloped. In its interior, one found the

keep A keep is a type of fortified tower built within castles during the Middle Ages by European nobility. Scholars have debated the scope of the word ''keep'', but usually consider it to refer to large towers in castles that were fortified residen ...

, attached to the southern section of the wall. Rectangular in form, it was constructed with massive

cobblestone Cobblestone is a natural building material based on Cobble (geology), cobble-sized stones, and is used for Road surface, pavement roads, streets, and buildings. Sett (paving), Setts, also called ''Belgian blocks'', are often referred to as " ...

and pebble core

masonry Masonry is the craft of building a structure with brick, stone, or similar material, including mortar plastering which are often laid in, bound, and pasted together by mortar (masonry), mortar. The term ''masonry'' can also refer to the buildin ...

walls, reaching approximately 3.5 m in thickness. The interior space of this tower is divided longitudinally (E-W) in two naves, by two semi-circular

arches An arch is a curved vertical structure span (engineering), spanning an open space underneath it. Arches may support the load above them, or they may perform a purely decorative role. As a decorative element, the arch dates back to the 4th mill ...

which support a square

pillar A column or pillar in architecture and structural engineering is a structural element that transmits, through compression, the weight of the structure above to other structural elements below. In other words, a column is a compression member. ...

in the center and two

corbels In architecture, a corbel is a structural piece of stone, wood or metal keyed into and projecting from a wall to carry a bearing weight, a type of bracket. A corbel is a solid piece of material in the wall, whereas a console is a piece applie ...

on the eastern and western walls.

Festivals

The fiesta in honor of St. Formerio is celebrated on the third weekend of August. These include religious ceremonies, the

running of the bulls A running of the bulls (, from the verb ''encerrar'', 'to corral, to enclose'; , literally 'haste, momentum'; 'bulls in the street', or 'bull-runner') is an event that involves running in front of a small group of bulls, typically six Fiske ...

rock concerts A rock concert is a performance of rock music. During the 1950s, several American musical groups experimented with new musical forms that fused country music, blues, and swing genre to produce the earliest examples of "rock and roll." The coi ...

and a community meal held the last day in the La Salceda park. On the last Sunday of July, a day in honor of the Virgin of Antiquity (Spanish: La Virgen De La Antigua) is celebrated. Their local holidays were celebrated at the end of September, after the

harvest Harvesting is the process of collecting plants, animals, or fish (as well as fungi) as food, especially the process of gathering mature crops, and "the harvest" also refers to the collected crops. Reaping is the cutting of grain or pulses fo ...

. They are in honor of St. Formerio,

patron saint A patron saint, patroness saint, patron hallow or heavenly protector is a saint who in Catholicism, Anglicanism, Eastern Orthodoxy or Oriental Orthodoxy is regarded as the heavenly advocate of a nation, place, craft, activity, class, clan, fa ...

of the village. The main attraction of these festivals are their processions that began the Day of Thanks, celebrated on September 14, and then the Patronage Festivals celebrated on the 24th and 25th of the same month. Recently, the patronal fiestas have been changed to the third weekend, but September 25 is still celebrated as Thanks. Every day of the fiestas is celebrated by a procession, where the young people raise the patron saint in dance through many streets of the pueblo. In the past, having more people in the village, there were teams of young people, always boys, that competed amongst themselves to see who was going to be the dance team that year, having already asked for permission from the

Mayor In many countries, a mayor is the highest-ranking official in a Municipal corporation, municipal government such as that of a city or a town. Worldwide, there is a wide variance in local laws and customs regarding the powers and responsibilitie ...

. Now it is different because there are no young people responsible for teaching the future dancers, it is very difficult to find youth, so, for lack of men, the women have had to do it. The dances on the first two days are performed with

castanets Castanets, also known as ''clackers'' or ''palillos'', are a percussion instrument ( idiophonic), used in Spanish, Calé, Moorish, Ottoman, Greek, Italian, Mexican, Sephardic, Portuguese, Filipino, Brazilian, and Swiss music. In ancient ...

, the dancers are eight or nine similarly dressed with somewhat different neckerchiefs or Cachiburrios. The chief attire is a white shirt and trousers with a red

sash A sash is a large and usually colorful ribbon or band of material worn around the human body, either draping from one shoulder to the opposing hip and back up, or else encircling the waist. The sash around the waist may be worn in daily attire, ...

, and colored ribbons across the body held in place by the sash. elbow patches with colored ribbons and the castanets also have colored ribbons sewn onto them. And on the shoulders, a

shawl A shawl (from ''shāl'') is a simple item of clothing, loosely worn over the shoulders, upper body and arms, and sometimes also over the head. It is usually a rectangular piece of Textile, cloth, but can also be Square (geometry), square or tr ...

of bright colors. The shoes were white

espadrilles Espadrilles ( or ; ; ; ; ) are casual, rope-soled, flat but sometimes high-heeled shoes. They usually have a canvas or cotton fabric upper and a flexible sole made of esparto rope. The esparto rope sole is the defining characteristic of an e ...

, with colored ribbons. The dances with castanets have two rhythms - one that is danced throughout the procession; and another that takes place a few meters before entering the church that is danced at high speed over a short stretch of space as the dancers perform short steps very rapidly, this is performed in a corridor while the retinue of the church authorities enter. On the second day of the festival, the dances are performed with sticks, that are called Troqueados. There are various dances of which the most picturesque are those called the dance of the Swords and the dance of the Professions. In the first a type of combat is carried out between two dancers, and subsequently between everyone at the battle scene, which ends with neither victor nor vanquished. In the dance of the Professions, as its own name indicates, is a dance in which everyone takes part and each in turn acts out a different job, such as tailor, shoemaker, blacksmith, violinist, flycatcher, etc. Another cultural event, celebrated in that area, is the serenading of newlyweds when they returned from their

honeymoon A honeymoon is a vacation taken by newlyweds after their wedding to celebrate their marriage. Today, honeymoons are often celebrated in destinations considered exotic or romantic. In a similar context, it may also refer to the phase in a couple ...

. This only happened once for each couple and was called "Asking for Rebollo". At night, when they went to sleep, the gang of their friends and acquaintances would go, singing, to hang around the door of the newlyweds' house, who would then treat their friends to

liquor Liquor ( , sometimes hard liquor), spirits, distilled spirits, or spiritous liquor are alcoholic drinks produced by the distillation of grains, fruits, vegetables, or sugar that have already gone through ethanol fermentation, alcoholic ferm ...

and

pastries Pastry refers to a variety of doughs (often enriched with fat or eggs), as well as the sweet and savoury baked goods made from them. The dough may be accordingly called pastry dough for clarity. Sweetened pastries are often described as '' bak ...

until the early hours of the morning. The most well-known songs with which the newlyweds are serenaded are the following: : It looks like I am watching you, : going down the stairs : with the bottle in my hand : and cookies in the other. : To these newlyweds : we come to serenade them : and to give them congratulations : with all sincerity. : To these newlyweds, : we wish them good fortune : and in about nine months : may they have a child in the crib.

Cuisine

The people use many products from the garden, examples being vegetable stew (called Menestra Riojana, or Riojan Stew), potatoes with sausage, potatoes with beef, piquillo peppers. Additionally, the meat is excellent, good examples being the local

chorizo ''Chorizo'' ( , ; ; see #Names, below) is a type of pork sausage originating from the Iberian Peninsula. It is made in many national and regional varieties in several countries on different continents. Some of these varieties are quite differe ...

sausages A sausage is a type of meat product usually made from ground meat—often pork, beef, or poultry—along with Edible salt, salt, spices and other flavourings. Other ingredients, such as grains or breadcrumbs, may be included as fillers or ex ...

, and chuletillas al sarmiento ( lamb chops with vine shoots), taking advantage of the wood that is a result of the pruning of the abundant

vineyards A vineyard ( , ) is a plantation of grape-bearing vines. Many vineyards exist for winemaking; others for the production of raisins, table grapes, and non-alcoholic grape juice. The science, practice and study of vineyard production is kno ...

in the area.

Sports facilities

Municipal pelota court, swimming pools and soccer fields of the Salceda. In addition there is a tourist cycling route that runs along the old railroad track path included in the catalog of

greenways Greenway or Greenways may refer to: * Greenway (landscape), a linear park focused on a trail or bike path * Another term for bicycle boulevards in some jurisdictions * European Greenways Association, an association for sustainable transport Peopl ...

Notes

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Banares Populated places in La Rioja (Spain)