ciadoncha; ¡cuántos recuerdos - Webpages at SCU - Santa Clara ...

The invention of the tractor marked the beginning of the mechanization of
agriculture. I could say that when Ciadoncha reached this stage in life, I found two
groups of people with different sentiments and memories. One group remembered the
times before the tractor with a lot of nostalgia and another group was definitely happy
with all that the mechanization of agriculture brought with it.
The group that longs for past times is the one who greatly values the coexistence
that existed amongst the neighbors in those times. They said that needing one another
made them kinder and less preoccupied with the “what will they say?”, with how they
dressed and of appearances. One participant gave me this example: “Before, we would
go to church on Sundays without noticing what dress, what pendants, what shoes so-in-so
had on. Today, if you do not go well dressed you feel bad.” It is clear that it is not the
hard work that they long for, but the coexistence.
On the other hand, the group that said that they are better off today is the one who
remembers the hard work with certain bitterness. They said that working the way that
they did was inhumane. They do not know how the people were able to put up with so
much. When I asked one participant from this group what she remembered about the
work in the field, she answered, “I don’t even want to remember that. Don’t compare the
way we live now with those times”.
The fields in Ciadoncha continue being worked on. For some time, there were
more families working on their own lands, but with time and with their children
inheriting the lands, the lands have become smaller and they have to have others work on
them. Today there are adults who dedicate themselves to working on their lands and on
the lands of others. Of all of them, only one lives in the town. And per my conversation
with him and his wife, I fear that it’s not for very long. They are seriously thinking of
moving to Burgos for their children’s education. With embarrassment, they say that they
do not see much of a future for their children in the town. The say, “the agriculture, with
time, will remain only to those who have a lot of land. We small producers will have to
figure out something else to do in another place”.
But there was a time in which the mechanization and coexistence that the field
work offered was enjoyed. These were during the times that there were still large areas
of land that had not been divided.
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