Zeledon, more than one
- The Celedonio Alzola of Zalduondo or the Celedonio Iturrate of Bitoriano; both can be the source of inspiration for the symbol of the festivities of Vitoria-Gasteiz: men, farmers and partying fans.
The only thing that is clear is that it does not exist. Celedon is a myth, a symbol that melts every year on the fourth of August in the Gorka Ortiz de Urbina of flesh and blood. There are numerous versions of the origin of the myth.
The most popular is the story of the Zalduondo farmer: Assisted by Celedonio Alzola García de Andoin. He was born in 1796 and died in 1866. It is said that he moved to Zapata Street in Vitoria-Gasteiz at the age of twenty-one; since he was a mason he built his house "with window and balcony", as the song says. Everything has been collected around Alzola, who became famous in the city for being a barbecue, who was a hard-working and very honest man...
In keeping with this legend, since 1971, on the Sunday before the festivities in Vitoria-Gasteiz, Zalduondo celebrates Zeledón Day with the opening of the fountain that was carved by the Tolosa artist Juan Lope de Andoategi. Instead of extracting water, wine is extracted from the local fountain, and it is customary to make a snack on that day in Torrelar.
A plaque can also be seen in the house where Zeledon was supposedly born.
In his book Legends and traditions of Kuartango, the priest and ethnographer Carlos Ortiz de Zarate collected the biography of another Celedon named Celedonio Iturralde, which could be the inspiration for the myth of the festivities in Vitoria.
Celedonio Iturralde was born in Armentia Bitoriano in 1810. He was a very happy man, and he liked to go to bars. I. I. I... He became a lieutenant colonel in Karlistada (1833-1840), during which time he was nicknamed Zeledon. In addition, according to a legend, among the Carlists, CeledÛn had made a new house using the password during the war.
When the Carlists lost it, Iturralde exiled to France; however, he returned to Álava, in 1843, married a lady from Catadiano and built a new house in Andagon, where there was an old tower house "without windows or balconies". According to the legends, Zeledon of Cuartango lived a troubled life: he was a cattle or a charcoal man in Gibijo, he also participated in the third Carlist, he had to be exiled again... and died in 1889.
It is not clear who inspired, in 1957, the group of friends who created the character of Zeledon; they can be Celedonio Alzona or Celedonio Iturralde, or some other Celedon of Álava. What is clear is that since then a doll with an open umbrella descends from a rope and the festivities in Vitoria begin with the cries of a man of flesh and blood.
This news has been published by Alea.eus and we have brought it to LUZ thanks to the license CC-by-sa.
