guiyada – cattle prod – aguijada

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guiyada: pronounced Ghee-YAH-dah. A pointed rod or stick used to herd cattle. In Asturias, cattle prods measure about 1.5 meters and are usally made of hazelnut (ablanos/ablaneiros) because of the tree’s straight shoots. Sometimes a nail was inserted at one end to jab at the cows. Word variants at guiada, guitsada, guia.

Usage examples:

Nolo tuvo amenando’l ganao cuna guiada. [Nolo hurried the cattle with his prod.]
Has semar la pataca cola guiada como te dixi. [You should plant the potatoes with the prod like I told you.]
N’Asturias, la xente n’aldea arimase a la guiyada pa charrar. [In Asturias, people in the countryside tend to lean on their prods to chat.]

Here is a picture of villagers in Heirias, County Eilao/Illano (West Asturias), stopping to chat in front of the local church as they lean on their cattle prods.



And here is Pepa Las Murias from County Grau/Grado in a TPA recording with ethnomusiciologist Xose Anton Ambas as she looks for a guiyada to fetch her cattle:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nn2CB5F7 ... re=related

The conversation as of 0:25:

Ambas: Entos que trabayas…au tienes las vacas?
Pepa: Las vacas tan p’ahí abaxu…
Ambas: Dame una guiyada que baxamos contigo hasta ehi baxo.
Pepa: Esti, mira, pon aquel…había que quita-y un pouco…
Ambas: Esi pa ti, yo firmo con esti bien.

P.S. Visit Jose Antonio Castro's blog for more details about the use of the guiyada in the Asturian countryside:

http://asturiesirredenta.blogspot.com/2 ... -guia.html