Corto Plazo

Día X del mes Y. Ocurrió algo de suma importancia en mi que aún no logro descifrar. Se cruzaron todas mis neuronas y decidieron bailar reggeaton o algo por estilo. Ésa es una teoría. Probablemente algún hecho en particular provocó que mi cerebro dejara de funcionar en un 40% * mientras que el resto debe lidiar con la tediosa labor con la que deben cumplir nuestros sesos. De todas formas, no lo culpo. Para ser una masa semi gelatinosa que causa naúseas a morir, debo decir que hace un trabajo realmente maravilloso. Me cuesta comprenderlo en plenitud (quizás eso sucede porque funciono sólo con el 60%) .

Mis últimas palabras y frases han estado enfocadas nada más y nada menos que a preguntar por cosas que no recuerdo Ó que no se y, por lo tanto, no recuerdo (Ó que no recuerdo y por eso no sé...¿?) De cualquier forma, mi memoria a corto plazo está fallando. ¿Sérá el famoso odiado estrés? ¿Será una bloody cosa rara en mi cerebrito :S ?

No recuerdo -o no sé, whatever- qué debo hacer para la U mañana. Vamos a seguir con un listening, luego...Yo sé! Siento que hay algo importante que hacer, pero nunca se QUÉ! Esto se parece a esos momentos en que pareciera que olvidaste algo en casa, así es que mejor te devuelves -de paso te pegas la lata de hacer todo el seremonial para abrir la puerta- a verificar lo olvidado. La misma sensación, pero multiplicada por 100.

Este problema ha sido causa de serios episodios de desvarío (más de lo usal) de los cuales mi familia ha sido testigo (se obvia el "no escribiré acerca de ello"). He llegado a pensar seriamente que un evento sospechoso de tipo traumático debió haberme ocurrido cuando era una beba y ahora está pasando la cuenta, imposibilitando que recuerde asuntos importantes.

Parece gracioso...HASTA que Mr. Dolor de Cabeza Extraño invade mis sesos.
Sesos, ¿qué os ha sucedido? ¿A qué dimensión os habéis trasladado dejando mis pensamientos en un oscuro y lejano rincón de mi pequeño cráneo?

Oh, Sesos...

Tan asquerosos, ¡¡pero tan necesarios!!

* Es siempre bueno recordar a los abstractos números

Influence of Galician in Chiloe's Culture

One of the main influences in Chile located in a special place, such as Chiloe, is the Galega’s. When the people coming from Galicia, Spain met the island they realized there were some weather similarities to the place they had just left which led them to use the new land just as they used to work their old land. Architectonic buildings and mythology are the two main legacies that are possible to find in Chiloe’s culture and people.

Chiloe has been very well characterised because of its old houses and their shape. First, Galician people arrived in Chiloe and settled there because the special weather: rain, humid and a green environment. They all thought the same of Chiloe, just as the famous Galician writer Suárez Picallo said once “Only here, after having crossed so many of America, one feels that the wounds can be recovered, that life can have a sequence and that yet) it has a way out to the alleys walled...” *. Galician people started then to build house with the same system they used to construct in Galicia: hard chunks of native wood that will avoid cold, snow and rain to enter the houses. These pieces of wood were cut in such a way that they were put on the roof one above half of the other so the rain could slide its self through the tiles. In addition, the wood they used was so strong that it could last for ages. Nowadays, if someone crosses the island and meets urban and rural places, then this sort of construction would be appreciated because all people still using it for the same reasons. In fact, this sort of architectonic style is considered extremely important and for that reason some Catholic churches located there have been declared Cultural Patrimony.

But not only Galician building style can be found in Chiloe, but also artistic legacy is present.

It is possible that at this point not only Chiloe had been architectonically influenced by Galicians, but it also affected people’s beliefs. For instance many Spanish people who arrived Chiloe were very well educated and had very strong Christian beliefs, although they gave the island a magical factor related to mythological elements. For instance, Renato Cárdenas Alvarez*, in “The Book of Mythology” wrote about some similarities among Galician Spanish myths that have equivalents in Chiloé’s mythology. For instance, he said, Spanish people have the Holy Compaña, while Chiloé’s people have the Trauco, an opportune goblin that is the father of all the children without father recognized in Chiloé, since the legend says that it appears to women and makes them automatically pregnant which avoids awkward explanations; the Pincoya, a beautiful siren, brings bad luck when you see her of backs to the sea, and good when she is abreast, which means good fishing and the pleasure of observing her beautiful naked body; the Basilisk is a mythological being, with head of rooster and body of reptile, which lives in the basements of the houses and steals the life of its inhabitants. Also there is a ship ghost in the style of The Errant Dutch called El Caleuche; and many legends more. These facts tell us about the mixture of indigenous beliefs and names and Spanish Galician conceptions. Galician people were always tending to create a mystical atmosphere in the island because the same spirit lived in Galicia.

It is quite noticeable that even today there are people who are trying to keep all those influences that have made Chiloe a different cultural place from the rest of the country safe from any changes that other foreign beliefs who could distort such ancient myths. Besides, after knowing this culture a little bit more, it will not be strange for anybody to recognise that architectonic and mythology are the very main features of Chiloe’s culture and that They are the perfect sample of the interlace between Spanish Galician culture and “Chilota” culture.

* Suárez Picallo was a Galician writer who lived in Chile as an exiled man. He dedicated his life to research and journalism.
* “The Book of Mythology”. Renato Cárdenas Alvarez. Ed. ATELÍ y Cía. Ltda.. 1997