Uruguay - 2014 - 135 Years of "Centro Gallego de Montevideo",
a Galician Social Club ( Previous
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Issue information:
Country: Uruguay
Date: September 10th, 2014
FDC Type: Official Cover from Post Office
FDC not sent Shape and Size: Rectangular [165 mm.
x 105 mm.]
FDC sent on issue day Shape and Size: Rectangular
[165 mm. x 105 mm.]
Topics:
Issue:
As Main Topic: I will choose The Galicians, or Galician People, a National, Cultural and Ethnolinguistic Group, whose
historic homeland is Galicia, an
Autonomous Community
in northwest Spain,
with the official status of a Historic
nationality.
Also their Homeland, Galicia,
could be considered the Main Topic, or going to more precise ones,
first Galician
People Diaspora, and then Galician People Diaspora in
Uruguay, that is the forth in population outside Spain , and through
another aproach Galician
People Social Clubs, or Diaspora Social Clubs,
and of course, inside this Topic, The "Centro Gallego de Montevideo"
in particular too, that has the particularity to be the Oldest Galician People Social Club of the World.
Perhaps too, the Main Topic could be a wider: National, Cultural and Ethnolinguistic Groups, instead of
the Galicians
in Particular
Then, surrounding the main topic, could be found the followings:
First, could be one related to Human
Population Massive Migrations or Diasporas, and also
it causes that generally are Economy
and Wars.
In particular the Galicians
Diaspora that occured since the Late 19th Century to
Eearly 20th century
was provoked at first by Economic
Issues, as at that time Galicia was a Relatively Isolated Village
Society whose main sources of income were Subsistence Agriculture and
Fishing. Its Agricultural
sector continued to be among the most backward in Spain
and Farm productivity
was severely hampered by the tiny size of the individual farmsteads
known as Minifundios,
that was the result of a System
of inheritance
that distributed land plots in a closed rural system to a growing
population by requiring that equal shares be bequeathed to every
descendant, so The land
had became subdivided so much that most of the plots were too small to support a family or
to be economically viable.
The latest waves of Emigration
of Galicians was caused too by the starting of the Spanish Civil War,
that was fought from 17th
July 1936 to 1st
April 1939 between the Republicans,
who were Loyal to the
democratically elected Spanish Republic, and the Nationalists, a Fascist Rebel Group
led by General Francisco
Franco. The Nationalists
prevailed, and Franco
ruled Spain for the next 36 years, from 1939 until his
death in 1975. The war is often called the "dress rehearsal" for World
War II.
Added to the difficult situation both Economical and Political that the Region of Galicia
was suffering, on the other side of the Atlantic Ocean, Uruguay in
particular, and all South
America in general, were in a period of both Peace and Welfare, so these
lands were the Destination
chosen by most of the Galicians.
South America has the largest number of people of Galician descent
outside of Spain. Several million South Americans are
descendants of Galician immigrants, mostly in Argentina, Venezuela, Brazil, and Uruguay.
In northeastern Brazil,
people with light or blue eyes or light colored hair are often called
galegos (Galicians), even if not of Galician descent, because of the large number of
Galicians that settled in the region in the early 20th
century.
In Argentina and Uruguay,
the term "Gallegos" was often used for all Spaniards because a large
part of them were Galicians
when they arrived in the first half of the 20th century. Today, Buenos
Aires is the city with the second largest number of people with
Galician ancestry, although most share the mixed origins of most
Argentinians.
Concluding the relationship established by the Human Population Massive
Migrations, it is clear that associated with them is also
the Topics of History,
in particular European
History, SouthAmerica
History, also Century
19th History and Century
20th History, and even Geography
could be included in that final relation too.
The other natural relationship could be made to the Club
itself, the "Centro
Gallego de Montevideo", specially about one of it
locations, the one at Downtown, that was Opened in 1923, a Building of Eclectic style,
which is currently Cultural
heritage of Uruguay and also Cultural heritage of Galician
People, in which you can visit: the "Rosalía de Castro" Rooms,
reserved for special occasions, and named honouring this Galician Romanticist Writer and Poet, also the "Concepción Arenal" Library;
that also honour another Galician
woman, Concepción
Arenal Ponte, a Galician
feminist writer and activist; and the "Castelao" a Room
for reading, named after Alfonso
Daniel Rodríguez Castelao, commonly known as Castelao, a
Galician Politician,
Writer, Painter and
Doctor, considereded as One of the fathers of Galician
Nationalism; then a kind of Pub called "El Viejo Pancho",
as the pseudonym that José
Alonso y Trelles, a Galician
Uruguayan Writer and
Poet, used for his work; And finally the Chamber "Valle Inclán",
a Theater
with a very rich Architecture
that astonishes
all of his visitors, named in hounour of Ramón María del Valle-Inclán y
de la Peña, a
Galician Dramatist, novelist and Member of the Spanish
Generation of 98, considered
perhaps as the most noteworthy and certainly the most radical dramatist
working to subvert the traditionalism of the Spanish theatrical
establishment in the early part of the 20th century.
Related to the Club itself, the 135th
Anniversary could be another one included, and a very rare
in Anniversaries Topics.
Also another relation could be done to the Galician Culture
whose first elements can be traced back to the Bronze Age Celtic Civilization
known as the Castro
Culture. Although being taking over by the Roman Republic and Empire,
after the empire declination the Galicia
Region was followed by the rule of two Germanic Tribes, The Suevic, who
settled in considerable numbers, and The Visigoths in the
Middle Ages. Later, in 718, the region briefly came under the control
of The Moors
after their conquest of the Visigothic Kingdom, but The Galicians successfully
rebelled against Moorish rule in 739, and Joined their Christian neighbour
the Kingdom of Asturias.
After being ruled by very different cultures, is with the
first that they experienced, the Celtic Culture, the
one that Galician Culture
felt more represented. In the 19th
century a Group
of Romantic and
Nationalist writers and
scholars, among them Eduardo
Pondal and Manuel
Murguía, led a "Celtic
revival" initially Based
on the historical testimonies of ancient Roman and Greek authors (Pomponius Mela, Pliny the Elder, Strabo and Ptolemy), who wrote
about the Celtic peoples
who inhabited Galicia; but they Also based this revival in
linguistic and
onomastic data, and in The
similarity of some aspects of the culture and the geography of Galicia
with that of the Celtic countries in Ireland, Brittany and Britain.
The similarities include Legends
and Traditions,
Decorative and popular arts and music. It Also included the green hilly
landscape or
the ubiquity of Iron Age hill-forts, Neolithic megaliths and Bronze Age cup and ring marks.
During the late 19th and
early 20th century this revival permeated Galician society.
In 1916 Os Pinos,
a poem by Eduardo Pondal, was chosen as the lyrics for the
new Galician hymn. One
of the strophes of the poem says: Galicians, be strong
/ ready to great deeds / align your breast / for a glorious end / sons of the noble Celts
/ strong and traveler / fight for the fate / of the homeland of Breogán.
The Celtic past became an
integral part of the self-perceived Galician identity, as
a result of that, an important
number of cultural association and sport clubs received names related
to the Celts, among them Celta de Vigo, Céltiga FC, or Fillos de Breogán. From the 70's a series of Celtic
music and cultural festivals were also popularized, being the most notable the Festival
Internacional do Mundo Celta de Ortigueira, at the same
time that Galician folk
musical bands and interpreters became usual participants in Celtic
festivals elsewhere, as in the Interceltic festival of
Lorient, where Galicia sent its first delegation already in 1976.
A final relationship that could be made is with the People of Galician Origin,
an there it is interesting to remark that both Former and Actual Presidents of Cuba Fidel Castro and Raúl Castro, also Former President of Argentina Raúl Alfonsín,
and of course, the Former
President of Uruguay, and the recently Elected one from the 2015 - 2020
Period, Dr.
Tabaré Vázquez.
Now, regarding the desing of the Special Cancelation:
Besides the legends that states about the 135th Anniversary,
and the Logotype
of the "Centro Gallego de
Montevideo" Club, what I think is the best achieved part
of the design is the use of the Shell
of Saint James as the background for the Logotype of the Club.
This Shell of Saint James,
besides being the Animal
called Scallop,
a common name that is primarily applied to any one of numerous species
of Saltwater Clams
or Marine Bivalve
Mollusks in the taxonomic Family Pectinidae, The Scallops, it is
also the Traditional
Emblem of
James, son of Zebedee, one of the Twelve Apostles of Jesus,
and traditionally considered the first apostle to be martyred, son of Zebedee and Salome, and brother of John the Apostle,
also called James the
Greater or
James the Great to distinguish him from James, son of
Alphaeus and James the Just. James the Greater is The patron saint of Spain.
The Shell of Saint James,
is also a popular emblem of Pilgrims
on the Way of Saint James
to the apostle's shrine at Santiago
de Compostela in Galicia,
and by extension an emblem of the
Way of Saint James itself.
The Camino de Santiago,
also known by the English names Way
of St. James, St.
James's Way, St.
James's Path, St.
James's Trail, Route
of Santiago de Compostela, and Road to Santiago, is
the name of any of the pilgrimage routes (most commonly the Camino
Francés or French route) to the shrine of the Apostle St. James the Great
in the Cathedral of
Santiago de Compostela in Galicia, where
tradition has it that the remains of the saint are buried. Many take up
this route as a Form of
spiritual path or retreat, for their Spiritual growth.
Legend holds that St.
James's remains were carried by boat from Jerusalem to northern Spain
where he was buried on
what is now the city of Santiago de Compostela. (The name
Santiago is the local Galician evolution of Vulgar Latin Sanctu Iacobu,
"Saint James".)
The Way can take one of
dozens of pilgrimage routes to Santiago de Compostela.
Traditionally, as with most pilgrimages, the Way of Saint James began
at one's home and ended at the pilgrimage site. However a few of the
routes are considered main ones. During
the Middle Ages, the route was highly travelled. However, the Black Death, the Protestant
Reformation and political unrest in 16th century Europe led to its
decline. By the 1980s, only a few pilgrims per year
arrived in Santiago. Later,
the route attracted a growing number of modern-day pilgrims from around
the globe. The route was declared the first European
Cultural Route by the Council of Europe in October 1987; it was also named one of UNESCO's World
Heritage Sites.
Now, going to the Logotype
of the "Centro Gallego de
Montevideo" Club, it is clearly composed by two elements.
The first is a kind of Shield
very similar to the Coat
of Arms of Galicia, in this case with the Letter 'G' instead
of the Calice,
however still Surrounded
by the seven Crosses that represents the seven
historic provinces of Galicia: A Coruña, Santiago, Betanzos, Mondoñedo, Lugo, Ourense, Tui. The second
element is the Cross of
Saint James, also called the Santiago cross or
the "Cruz Espada",
that is a charge in the form of a cross. It combines a Cross fitchy (the
lower limb is pointed, as if to be driven into the ground) with either
a cross fleury
(the arms end in fleurs-de-lys) or a cross moline (the
ends of the arms are forked and rounded).
Most notably, a Red
Cross of Saint James with flourished arms, surmounted with an escallop,
that match exactly the pattern of the cancelation, was the Emblem of the military
Order of Santiago.
Finally, in a more symbolic way:
The ideas that remain in my mind after doing this analysis on this
release, are the ones of Humanity,
Solidarity, Integration without loosing
Identity, the Whole
world as all humans home. This kind of Clubs are great
institutions for both Keep
the Culture alive, and also to Made it known, a
group not to be isolated from outside, on the contrary to integrate to other cultures in
order to make a richer world.
Another concept that I think is powerfully expressed in this Release,
is the one of Path,
of Growth,
of Movement to a better
State. This is mainly seen in the Massive Migration of Galicians,
also in the Creation of
Galicians Clubs like the one that is commemorated in this
issue, and finally in choosing the Shell of Saint James
as part of the Cancelation design, reinforcing the same idea with
another Path
related with Galician
People too, however, this time with Galicia as the
Destination, and Cristiansim
Religion as the main motive, or at least as a Path of Spiritual Growth.
Stamps selection:
The stamps selected were:
A stamp released on
August
30th of 2004 about the
125
Years of "Centro Gallego de Montevideo", and a stamp
issued on
September 24th
of
1998 commemorating the
200th
Anniversary of the First Overseas Mail between Montevideo and La
Coruña.
The reason for selecting these stamps was:
quite different for each one, however it is clear that both are heavily
related with the
Galicia
Region.
For the first,
the
Selection Reason is trivial.
The existence, and availability, of a Stamp commerating another
anniversary of which is being honoured by a special cancelation
release, make this stamp always the first choice in these kind of
selections, because
the
Topic is identical.
Then, for the second stamp, as the
Galician People, or
Galicia Region,
it not a Topic with many stamps, I think I was fortunate that at least
there was one actually available for postage, so I choose this stamp
that commemorates the
Bicentenary
of the First Overseas
Mail between
Montevideo and La Coruña, being
La Coruña, still
sometimes known as
Corunna
in English, and archaically as
The
Groyne, a city and municipality of
Galicia,
Spain.
The second-largest city in the
autonomous community and seventeenth overall in the
country.
The city is the
provincial capital of the province of the same name,
having also served as
political
capital of the Kingdom of Galicia from
the 16th to the 19th centuries, and as a regional
administrative centre
between 1833 and 1982, before being replaced by Santiago de Compostela.
Besides that it was the only one available, another merit of the stamp
selected, was that includes a nice
popular Topic, that is
Ships,
or the more precise ones:
Sailing Ships and
Post Ships, and also
Post
History Topic
.
The selection of this stamps, add the following
topics:
The first, besides reinforcing
"Centro
Gallego de Montevideo" Topic, and adding the
125th Anniversary
Topic, it also, by it design, reinforces
Buildings and
Architecture,
showing the facade of the Downtown Headquarter of the Club, that was
previously mentioned, and adds
Typical
Clothing, and
Typical
Dance and
Music,
as it shows a couple dressed for dancing surely
Muiñeira, a
Traditional Dance and
Musical Genre of
Galicia,
distinguished mainly by the tempo of 6/8, played expressive and lively,
although some variants are performed in other time signatures. There
are also variant types of muiñeira which remain in the tempo of 6/8 but
which displace the accent in different ways.
The second one, besides adding the already mentioned ones:
Sailing Ships,
Post Ships,
Post History, and
the
City of "La Coruña",
one could dive deep a bit more in the
History of the Post,
and add that the
Ship
shown in the selected stamp is a
Frigate
named
"La Princesa",
in english
"The Princess"
"La Princesa" on
her
First trip to
Montevideo,
Sailed from
La Coruña on
15th December of 1767.
On
June 18th of
1768 left Montevideo back to
La Coruña and
anchored with all
happiness in this
Galician
port on
September 24th of 1768. Meanwhile, other frigates named:
"La Diana",
"La Diligencia",
"La Nueva Cantabria",
"El Patagón",
and
"El Tucumán",
had sailed from La Coruña
with the same mission, that was to
Establish an Overseas Mail
Service between Homeland Spain and his Colonies in Southamerica:
Montevideo,
Buenos Aires,
Paraguay (today
Bolivia), other
occupations on what is now
Argentina
and
Chile,
and even the
Viceroyalty
of Perú.
The type of
Ship,
The Frigate, is
any of several types of
Warship,
the term having been used for ships of various sizes and roles over the
last few centuries, however, in particular in the 18th century, the
term was used for
any
warship built for speed and maneuverability.
The
Classic Sailing
Frigate, well-known today for its role in the Napoleonic
wars,
can be traced back
to French developments in the second quarter of the 18th century.
The French-built Médée of
1740 is often regarded as the first example of this type.
These ships were square-rigged and carried all their main guns on a
single continuous upper deck. The lower deck, known as the "gun deck",
now carried no armament, and functioned as a "berth deck" where the
crew lived, and was in fact placed below the waterline of the new
frigates.
Another examples of this
Frigates represented in stamps could be seen in the
previous release about
Bicentenary
of the Naval Battle of Buceo .
Finally, this second stamp selected also adds the Topics:
Philatelic Exhibition
or
Argentinian
Philatelic Exhibitions, that could be included in a wider
Philately, and in a
specific one about
ESPAMER
'98, an exhibition that was held from August 20th to 28th,
on
Buenos Aires,
the
capital and
largest city of
Argentina, and the
second-largest metropolitan area in South America, that is
located on the western shore of
the estuary of the Río de la Plata,
on the continent's southeastern
coast.
Regarding this
ESPAMER
'98 relationship, in what seems to be the
Logotype of this
Philatelic Exhibition,
a
Building
is included, however, I am not able to realize which one is it.
Probably it should be
The Buenos Aires Central Post and
Communications Office, a
Public building and
Landmark in the
San Nicolás district of
Buenos Aires,
because it was there where the
Philatelic
Exhibition was held, however the design in the stamps is
quite different from the pictures I saw of this
Argentinian Building.
If you consider that there are another topics in
this
stamp, that were not spot in this review, you are encouraged to telling
me about them, so please do not hesitate to post a comment. I would
appreciate your help very much.
