When traveling to Santiago de Compostela in Galicia, the northern province of Spain, thoùghts of the world´s longest pilgrimage, the ´Camino de Santiago, touching the stone in the cathedral and admiring a lot of religious art and monuments, are foremost in most tourists´minds. However, the story of two local heroines, the Two Marias, which is not widely known outside the city itself, deserves mentioning and brings a touch of local color to the place.
Background of the Marias
Maruxa and Coralia Fandino were two of thirteen brothers and sisters, who formed the family of a poor shoemaker living in the Algalia de Arriba district of Santiago de Compostela. The mother was a seamstress and the sisters plied the same trade to help improve the family finances. However, they were also politically active and belonged to the anti Franco party of CNT of which their brother Manuel was a leading member.
Accused of harboring a criminal, the entire family and the women in particular, suffered persecution, harassment and all kinds of hardship which lead to even greater poverty. Not very much of the further fate of the family is known, except that the parents soon died, as well as all siblings, with the exception of Maruxa, Coralia and their youngest sister, Sarita.
Paseos in the Alameda
In the early fifties, the sisters continued to work as seamstresses. They had always been very fashion conscious and flirtatious and decided to make the best of their miserable situation and not to give in to despair and misery. They proceeded to design outrageous and - for the times - daring clothing and head dresses and to model them themselves. To that purpose, they went out, each and every day at 2pm, dressed in their latest creations, wildly made up with rice powdered faces, pink eye shadow, khol rimmed eyes and high heels and proceeded to walk the length of the Alameda for two hours.
They were in love with all the young students and flirted openly with each and every one, giving them advice and encouragement as well as the occasional poke in the ribs or pinch in the behind. They, in turn, replied with wit and charm to the ´piropos´which the young men shouted at them. At the same time, they had their own set of comments for stuck up upper class women who passed them and treated them with disdain.
The daily ´paseo´of the two Marias became a ritual to which everyone looked forward to as a rare form of entertainment in bleak post war times. The Marias were skilled seamstresses and did artful embroidery and many a trousseau of young Santiago girls was made by them.
Death and Homage of the Marias
Sarita, although the youngest, died early on, hence the Two Marias are more well known. Until well into their eighties, these two eccentrics continued their daily walk to the delight of the population. However, when Maruxa died, Coralia was heart broken and never went out again. She followed her sister a few months later and Santiago de Compostela had lost an attraction.
The two sisters were, in 1994, honored with a much photographed statue in the very Alameda and a famous Galician poet, Bernardino Grana dedicated an ode to them.
 |
