Pilgrims in Villafranca Montes de Oca, Second Part: the hermitage of Nª Sª de Oca.

Sometimes, there are wishes that can not be fulfilled at the time that one would like. As a rule, no trip is perfect; above all, if the time is counted and also a previously planned route, which does not admit deviations, not even when the circumstances place in the vicinity that place that we would like to visit. Many times there remains, as I say, that feeling of emptiness that always accompanies an unfulfilled desire; that, generally, we denominate like staying with the desire of.

I remember, and I say it as background for the introduction of this little story, that I was twice with the desire to stop in Villafranca and visit this interesting natural sanctuary, where stands the hermitage of Nª Sª de Oca. On both occasions, incredible as it may seem, I passed by the vicinity, and due to the circumstances mentioned above, it was not possible for me to stop.

In the first one, it happened twice: on the way back from a short but intense holiday trip to a special area of the province of Burgos -Las Merindades- interesting and above all beautiful, where I was fortunate to have access to traditionally important places, such as the Mena Valley and its churches of San Lorenzo de Vallejo, Santa María de Siones and San Pedro de El Vigo; the Valle de Losa, with its inexplicable and at the same time esoteric - I say good - church of San Pantaleón, and the remains of what once was the imposing monastery of San Pedro de Tejada, without detracting from some other places of no less special relevance.

The second occasion, was presented during the return of a holiday trip of Holy Week to Navarra, once left behind the emblematic town of Torres del Río, with its octagonal church of the Holy Sepulcher, and part of the province of La Rioja , descending towards Burgos through the port of La Pedraja. Or rather, to go introducing us in the mysterious and argótico, because the subject deserves it: of the stone of the jars; that is to say, of the geese, in clear references to the brotherhoods of medieval builders.

The hermitage of Nª Sª de Oca, is located in a small natural place, at the same foot of the port of the Pedraja, and to the side of the river that also takes its name: Oca. The mysterious references are, then, evident, and it is not necessary to discard, by its characteristics, that it rises in the vicinity of what was once a place of pagan cult, druidic for more signs, conveniently Christianized: the forest, the river, the source or the well - I leave one that does not appear in the famous game of the oca? - are, in general, elements to take into account for this assessment.

In addition, it is not the only sanctuary with similar characteristics that the pilgrim can find in this impressive province of Burgos. In this regard, it occurs to me, although I will speak of him later, to mention another not less famous sanctuary, located at about twenty kilometers from Briviesca: that of Santa Casilda, in whose legend, the pagan connotations are more than obvious. Evident, likewise, is the detail that of the old Romanesque factory of the hermitage practically nothing remains; even so, it does not have to be strange to us, either, to verify the existence of some interesting element that, although more modern, of course, is akin to the Tradition.

So, if we stop for a moment to observe the shape of the entrance to the sanctuary, we will soon realize that it perfectly represents a pentagon. Or as it would be defined by Professor Fernando Ruiz de la Puerta -defined in Toledo and specialist in medieval magic and esotericism, among other matters- as the foot of a druid. It does not stop being paradoxical, then, that the pilgrim who crosses the threshold to see a Virgin of evident black connotations, does it, at the same time, passing under an ancestral symbol, known by the ancient Celts and used by the druids .

But make no mistake, because, within the multitude of meanings associated with it (1), the pentagon is also a symbol of health that, in a way, would complement in some way, that miraculous fame that usually accompanies some Solomonic virgins - for references to Solomon, the Song of Songs and the color - which proliferate, especially in two European countries: France and Spain. However, let no one lay their hands on their heads; it is only a personal opinion, which may or may not be shared.

On the other hand, I have always insisted on the importance of the place itself, above the temple or the symbol that adorns or represents it. The importance of the sanctuary of Nª Sª de Oca, is probably located some two hundred meters further on, once crossed the old stone bridge that rises over the waters, quiet at this point, of the Oca river. There, in a small meadow flanked by the grove of a small grove also, a wooden fence holds a stone cairn with a cross, which sanctifies a source that surely must have been the habitat of nymphs and fauns millennia ago.

It is the source of San Indalecio. Next to it, and forming a four leaf clover, a small pool collects the clear water that flows from the fountain, distributing it through a sink, so that it joins the river a few meters away, contributing, in a symbolic way, to sacralize the waters of a river, the Oca, as I said, already in itself significantly symbolic.
I do not rule out the existence, in that precise place, of a megalithic complex in the past.

But, of course, I can attest to the rest and tranquility that both the site and the magic that surrounds it, provide the pilgrim, as well as the visitor who one day ventures there.

Notes:

(1) Among them, that of segregation: unfortunately, during the Middle Ages, with this symbol was identified the miser and also the Jew, in the same way as the Navarrese agote was forced to reveal his racial condition with a paw of goose.

NOTICE: originally posted on my blog MEMORIES OF A PILGRIM. Both the text and the photographs are my exclusive intellectual property. The original entry, where you can check the authorship of juancar347, can be found at the following address: https://jc347.blogspot.com/2011/11/peregrinos-en-villafranca-montes-de-oca_22.html

@juancar347

@talentclub

@tximeleta