12- Identity: the
building blocks of
2. Literature
and philosophy
3. Art and
architecture
4. Performing
arts
5. Cinema
and fashion
6. Media and
communications
7. Food and drink 8. Living culture:
the details of
ii. Asturias
While Asturias has the same lush, lumpy interior
as Galicia, the coastline of secluded coves is less
tempestuous.Technically a principality, Asturias is a
plucky region, exuding the kind of self-confidence
that comes from being the only part of Spain to repel
the Moors.The region would later fight hard against
Franco in the Civil War. Such self-determination, coupled
with mountainous borders, has given Asturias various
cultural anomalies, the most striking being a clutch of
pre-Romanesque buildings unlike any in Europe. Like
the coal mining and steel industries that once
dominated the region’s economy, Asturias’ brown bears
cling nervously to survival. Pleasant fishing towns can
be found, but the industrial cities of Gijón and Oviedo
dominate urban life.Shared peaks
The Cantabrian
Mountains buffer
Asturias and Cantabria
from the mightymeseta,
unrolling its dusty carpet
less than 50km inland.
The sawtooth Picos de
Europa (arranged in
Spain’s second biggest
national park) are the
highlight of this dividing
range, straddling the
border between the two
regions. The small patch
of limestone peaks
proves consistently
popular with walkers,
climbers, bears and
wolves.
In autumn the Asturians
kick back with the
Amagüestu festival, a
fine excuse to sup large
quantities ofsidra, the
strong local cider, and
to go foraging in the
woods for chestnuts.
Lore abiding habits
Asturias’ Celtic
undertow pulls at
modern life with a clutch
of myths and legends.
The Nuberu is a kind of
weather god, sometimes
blamed for the vagaries
of the Atlantic climate,
Güestia a devil and Xana
a beautiful water nymph.