2023-10-16 15:16:04
The Pont de Major neighborhood of Girona already has its first giant gang. A group of families have promoted the creation of a giant, the Butler of the Bridge. Designed by the sculptor Nuxu Perpignan and inspired by a legend, the gigantic one is a young girl in a black dress and white apron accompanied by all the imagery that recalls the story it accompanies. It takes into account two real facts: that in the rectory of the church of La Pietat – now next to the Civic Center – there had been butlers. And that in the back square, now between the library and the dispensary, there had been a large tree that gave its name to Plaça de l’Om. The gigantic one will be presented this Sunday and on November 5th it will participate in the parade of the Fairs of Sant Narcís.
The idea of creating a giant gang began to take shape during last year’s fiesta major in the Pont Major neighborhood. “After forging ties with the Neighborhood Association to help organize the party, Josep Maria Castenyer, president of the association, met me because he was interested in the history of the neighborhood and told me the legend” , he says Albert Collauthor of the text of the legend of La Majordoma de la Plaça de l’Om and member of the gang.
“During the party, a little jokingly and a little seriously, Albert launched the proposal to make a gigantic one and from there the idea began to take shape and families joined in,” adds Maria Garriga , another member of the gang.
The recovery of a legend
This is how the legend explains that many, many years ago in Pont Major there lived a butler in the rectory who washed clothes with such energy that the whole neighborhood was filled with soap bubbles, arousing smiles and games from young and old. His chickens were very happy with the clean smell of the clothes and climbed on the clotheslines while they were basking in the sun.
After a cold and rainy winter, he did so much laundry that he ran out of pegs and thread to hang the clothes. He improvised with branches, but between the weight and the chickens climbing on top, one of the poles ended up falling.
Out of anger, the butler drove the stake that had fallen to the ground with all the strength she could. The surprise came when, the next morning, not only had the stake not fallen, but it had turned into a fat and brave man. In this way, the giantess of the Pont Major gang leads to the left hand the big basket where he used to carry the clean clothes. It is a basket where you can also carry one of your chickens. In his right hand, he carries the clothesline that he dropped. And it’s all accompanied by soap bubbles from when he was energetically doing the laundry, as well as a dozen easels in the shape of little chickens that will lead children to the sound of music.
A new butler
According to the new giant group, the giant group thus contributes to expanding the legends surrounding butlers in Girona. While the one on the Pont is very young, on the Archaeological Promenade – under the Cornèlia tower – a sculpture by Josep Bosch Puy remember the legend of the butler of Sant Narcís.
“This was a woman who, although over 100 years old, had a haughty appearance, with skin so tender it looked like buttermilk. She was enormously fat, ostentatiously conceited, and an unrepentant gossip, with the gift of a swagger and as a cook and who mastered the sciences of others and plants”, reads the text of the cultural activist from Girona Josep Tarréswho created the character.
20 years of the Civic Centre
The gigantic group of the Pont Major will officially present the new gigantona this Sunday, in an event that is part of the 20th anniversary of the neighborhood civic center. There will be a parade with the Charanga Bufatramuntana and a free vermouth.
In addition, the giantess will also participate, with the rest of Girona’s popular imagery, in the Plantada de gegants and the Sant Narcís Festivals parade. It is also planned to present it to the different educational centers in the neighborhood: the Pont nursery school, the Carme Auguet school, the FEDAC Pont Major and the Narcís Xifra Institute.
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