Author:mena
Ramón García, shepherd of Navarres VI January 2010 One cold afternoon in January, Ramón’s herd grazes peacefully on top of a mountain range, in the herd there is a dying sheep, Ramón tells me that about 3 days ago he was stung by a sheepdog. In the afternoon he decides to leave her in the corral, because he saw her in very bad condition. Vipers are one of the dangers that a shepherd can encounter. This snake usually bites in […]
Ramón García, shepherd of Navarres V June 2009Dawn in the mountains, the rooster sings. The herd prepares for the suffocating heat of summer. Ramón arrives at the corral and before taking out the impatient sheep, hangs the bag and the crook on the stake of the entrance door. He prepares to carry out his daily liturgy, which consists of separating the lambs born days before from their mothers, since they are too small even to go out into the bush, […]
Ramón García, shepherd of Navarres IV May 2009Sierra de Navarrés, reservoir road of Escalona and Tous. Sunny morning, the herd quietly grazes in an abandoned orchard. Suddenly, a sheep goes into labor. Days ago the shepherd had already warned him: “Tomorrow there is a change of the moon and it is easy for the sheep to start giving birth.” So it happens, one of them does and gives birth to two lambs. In the shade of a large cherry tree, […]
Ramón García, shepherd of Navarres III May 2009At the end of May we accompany Ramón, our shepherd from Navarrés, through the abandoned fields that border the clearings in the forest. It is already spring and the swallows are celebrating wildly from one side of the sky to the other, knowing that the passage of the cattle will provide them with food: the insects that hide among the stones and are now exposed. Nearby, in a small grove on the mountain, […]
Ramón García, shepherd of Navarres II One cold and icy afternoon in January, we returned to one of the two pens that the shepherd has in the mountains. This time we go to the one near the path that leads to the Fuente del Pino. The corral is located at the Pie-de-Monte of the sierra, in a dry land area full of terraces of olive and carob trees. At its side: abundant water, air, the sound of sheep shearing, a […]
Ramón García, shepherd of Navarrés I DECEMBER 2008 He accompanied Ramón and his flock along the paths of the Sierra de Navarrés, known in Valencian by the beautiful name of El laberint de la lluna plena. We leave the road that goes from Playamonte to Fuente del Pino, a mountainous area that is currently populated with chalets. Nature continues to struggle to make its way, but each time feels more drowned by the hand of man. That is why there […]
The Avendaño brothers October 7, 2009 TRAIL TO THE WINTER PASTURES I met Jose and Amando one autumn day, when the yellow leaves of the poplars begin to fall. An icy wind was blowing. These two brothers from Ayora, who were 42 and 48 years old in 2010, respectively, had a herd of two thousand white mountain goats. They spent the summer in pastures in the Requena area, in the Herrada del Gallego area. When autumn arrived, they migrated to […]
The last shepherd of castelló. Ramón Aviñó In 1994 I made a photographic report on the last pastor of Castelló, aware at that time of the importance of the inevitable fact of the disappearance of a profession doomed to oblivion and absorbed by progress. Thank you Ramon. I have been privileged and I will always feel grateful for your kindness and that you have shared with me some of your secrets. Ethnographic document Ramon Aviñó Martínez is currently (2007) […]
Vicente Talens: heritage from a near past Text: Xavier Aznar and Jose Mena. Photography: Jose Mena. (This article was published on August 2010. Unfortunately, two years later our friend Vicente passed away, leaving us a legacy of incalculable value and an example of honesty, very difficult to find today in this hypocritical society full of rascals). We are shown, friendly and smiling, a silhouette mounted on the back of an old post-war bicycle, in which the traces of a history […]
The last shepherds of Caroig This article aims to show a brief introduction to the work I have done as a photographer in these lands, which will bring us closer to some unique characters who have gone unnoticed in our history, who have lived their lives in the silence of the roads and mountains. They have contributed to leaving an important mark on our culture and heritage. Anonymous, unknown and marginal beings for most of society, but enormously attractive to […]
