A total of 1,200 merino sheep and 200 retinta goats have flooded the most central streets of Madrid this Sunday to commemorate, as every year, the Transhumance Festival which, for the first time, has been directed by a woman Marity González.
Already consolidated in Madrid's calendar of traditions for 30 years, the capital has once again celebrated this event that highlights the right of herds to travel through public lands.
The cattle, which left Casa de Campo at 10:30 a.m., arrived half an hour later near the Almudena Cathedral, a space where a few minutes ago groups dressed in regional costumes from different parts of Spain.
One of the participants, a Spanish dance teacher who has been going to the center of the capital since her youth, has claimed, in statements to EP, not only the importance of transhumance but of tradition.
Like her, thousands of people have come to enjoy this picturesque tradition. There are those who enjoy it for the first time and those who relive it year after year in the center of the capital. This is the case of a couple from Móstoles, who from León, accompanies his group from his town to "live the folklore of Astorga" from Madrid.
But this year the tradition presents itself with a novelty: among pastors, a woman leads. Marity González, the first mayoral in the history of this celebration, today has become, as she has shared, the representation of "all the livestock farmers and transhumant shepherds of Spain." And she has highlighted that "always" women have been part of transhumance.
The mayor has been accompanied on the tour by several children, including her son Nico. "This is the new generation of extensive ranchers," applauded one of the mothers who accompanied the little ones.
Leading the cattle and guiding them with his whistle has also been Paulino Gómez, who has celebrated the generational change although he has warned that it is necessary to have institutional support. "If the administrations don't put many obstacles in our way, it will have a future. If not, this will end up disappearing," lamented the pastor.
Sheep and goats have followed the planned itinerary, photographed by many tourists and locals from Madrid. Thus, they traveled along Calle Mayor and Puerta del Sol until they reached Plaza de Cibeles, where they made a stop.
There, the mayor of Madrid, José Luis Martínez-Almeida, received the shepherds and ranchers who participated in the day and took the opportunity to praise the figure of Marity González. "It is the first time that a woman, a shepherd, guides them," he recalled.
The councilor also highlighted that the city of Madrid "would not be the same without the countryside and the people of the countryside" and recalled that "the big cities" have "a better quality of life thanks to all of them."
"Long live transhumance!" he cried out to the public, at the conclusion of the ceremony of delivering '50 maravedis per thousand' that the shepherds had to pay to the authorities for the use of the livestock trails, as stated in the Concord of 1418. After the ceremony, shepherds and cattle have prepared to continue their route, undoing what they have walked.
