"Life is not eternal for anyone... At my age, a new year is a gift, a humble celebration, a new adventure, a beautiful trip, a moment of happiness...", he tweeted on January 1, As a New Year's greeting, María Branyas, known on the internet as the Super Àvia Catalana, who, at 115 years and 320 days old, is now the oldest person on the planet. A ranking that until this Monday was led by Frenchwoman Lucile Randon, died at 118 years old.
Branyas received the news at the Santa Maria del Tura residence in Olot, his home for 22 years and where in 2020 he overcame the coronavirus. He was 113 years old.
On social networks, managed by members of her family, Branyas gave some clues, a month ago, about how she was able to become a supercentenarian. “I have always eaten little, but I have never put myself on a diet,” she pointed out. He has respected her health. “I have never suffered any illness nor have I ever undergone an operating room,” she says, although she recognizes that “luck” and “having good genetics” also influence “longevity.” In his view, many other elements linked to the lifestyle one leads also come into play, such as order, tranquility, a good connection with family and friends, contact with nature, emotional stability – he says – “no worries, no regrets, a lot of positivity and away from toxic people.” All this without forgetting “my heavenly manna”, which is nothing other than yogurt and which she asked a few days ago to “rescue at a time when miracle diets and foods are emerging.”
Walking through her profile allows us to learn a little more about her: about the hobby that accompanied her for years of playing piano, about her love for animals, especially her dogs, whom she misses so much, and about her sharpness and finesse. irony: “And with the years, perhaps there will come a day when perhaps they will say, like Diogenes the Cynic: The more I know people, the more I love my dog.”
A vital woman, in good health – as the residence recalled yesterday through a statement – who yesterday was as “surprised” as she was “grateful” for the enormous expectation that this anniversary has aroused. With great humility, she confessed to journalist David Dusster in an interview published in La Vanguardia upon turning 112 something as simple as it was at the same time complex: “I have done nothing but live.” Without further ado.
A life that began on the other side of the pond. Daughter of a journalist from Pamplona and a woman from Barcelona, she was born on March 4, 1907 in San Francisco, where her father had gone to work after spending some time in Mexico. In 1911 she founded the magazine Mercurio in New Orleans aimed at the Latin public and which featured exceptional signatures in its pages such as that of Miguel de Unamuno. But during World War I, her father fell ill and the family decided to return to Catalonia. She was orphaned by her father in 1915 when she was 8 years old. She resided in Banyoles until 1931 when she married Joan Moret, a doctor from Llagostera, in an eventful ceremony at the sanctuary of Els Àngels. She was injured because the priest who was going to marry them died that same day. She and her husband, whom she was widowed 40 years ago, had three children and one of them has already survived.
Maria seems not to fear death. In September, she fell and required eight stitches in her eyebrow, a situation that made him think about the end of her life. “It is the expected visit. I have been prepared for a long time and I think that she will soon come for me,” she noted in an online publication on September 8. But until that moment comes, many joys await María: the first will be the small celebration that is being prepared for her at her residence in the coming days by those who have cared for her and accompanied her for 22 years.
