El Tablero revives traditional trades with the start of its 27th Harvest Fair

 

The 27th Zafra Fair in El Pueblo began this Friday with a theatrical tour through different public stages of the town, dedicated to remembering, through talking statues, some of the most relevant traditional trades that contributed to forging the civic, social and cultural identity of its population.

 

In this second edition, the initiative promoted by the Department of Culture, headed by Deputy Mayor Elena Álamo Vega and coordinated by Councilor Esther Delgado Sánchez, began behind the Church of the Holy Trinity, with the first figure being a female sharecropper representing all the women, such as Juanita Estupiñan, who worked in the fields or in tomato packing companies before the tourist development of the municipality.

 

 

 

In the performance, which was attended by Mayor Marco Aurelio Pérez, the anonymous sharecropper recalled the tireless work of those women who, from a very young age, worked from sunrise to sunset and who also combined this hard labor with being caregivers and homemakers. Radio dramas like 'Simplemente María', Sunday walks and film screenings, and the daily nightly program of musical dedications, 'La Ronda', contributed to their relaxation.

 

Another traditional trade commemorated near the Plaza was that of the baker, a profession practiced with wood-fired ovens after the town lights went out by memorable figures such as Mariquita Santana and the Romano family, among others. “We loaded the donkey for bread deliveries and usually sold on credit, noting down the payments in our ledger, and we even gave away flour for the carnival sweets,” said the talking statue that gave voice to Pablito Ramírez, who recalled as an anecdote the time Mercedes 'the Baker' dressed as a man for a festival to participate in the traditional bicycle ribbon race.

 

 

The heroic midwives

 

After crossing Avenida de Las Américas, currently undergoing renovation and improvement as an open-air commercial area, the fifty or so participants in this historical tour stopped in front of the house of Juanita Trujillo Melián (1908-1996), one of the best-known midwives in El Tablero, along with Pepita Vega and Antoñita Pérez. They helped bring so many lives into the world in that unpaved town, which was experiencing a boom in births thanks to their indispensable hands. “It was heroic work, back when there were no hospitals,” recalled the talking statue. “Husbands or older sons would come looking for us, terrified, at any hour, and we were the ones who calmed them down. We used skillful techniques during childbirth, passed down from generation to generation, from mothers to daughters and granddaughters,” she remembered. “Our reward was always the first cry of the babies, and then watching them grow and leave the nest,” the statue affirmed.

 

The last of the professions commemorated in this edition was that of the old teachers, and it took place at the entrance to the former Ram classrooms in Pepe el Barbero Square. The reenactment narrated that El Tablero had no school until the residents, at a meeting in 1925, requested the establishment of an educational space, which was set up a year later in what became known as the 'mill house'. The teachers came from Tunte, and the desks and chairs were brought on the backs of camels. In that building, where a recent and modern three-story structure now stands, the first masses, baptisms, first communions, and confirmations were also celebrated, and even the occasional wedding. Later, with the increase in the child and youth population, classes were even held in rented garages.

 

These tours exploring the history, trades, and people who contributed to the development of El Tablero as a community are based on live, individual and group interviews with elderly residents who possess extensive knowledge of the subject matter because they participated directly in its development. In this second edition, the guide and facilitator connecting the various participants was 'Clara,' a chambermaid. “Great towns are built by great people,” she stated before the tour began.