Asturian-American Migration Forum

I found two letters written to my grandfather in the 1960's. He and his brother had requested birth certificates through a relative in Riosa. They were raised in the pueblo of Felguera, which I believe is now part of Riosa.

The relative writes about all the changes that have occured since my grandfather left in about 1918. He mentions the "horreos, y lascasllejas."
Are these granaries and barns?

-Joni

Hello. I suppose that when you write "lascasllejas" actually is a mispelling for "las callejas". I suppose too that your grandfather wrote as usual in more or less Spanish, but with some traces of Asturian. If your grandfather was a Spaniard from another region Spanish speaker, for example Madrid city, Valladolid or so, a "calleja" means a little street in an urban center, city, town, etc. But in this case, although your relative wrote in Spanish, done the bilingual situation and the physical reality of many little villages and hamlets in Asturies, what your grandfather was referring was a little way for people and charriots, a "caleya", a different reality of urban Spanish "calleja". The more accurate translation in English will be "lane", in this case a country lane. Here you can see what a "caleya" is:

http://nomadas.abc.es/foto-galeria/caleya-7/




With reference to "hórreo", you are right: this is a typical elevated barn, very common in Galicia and Asturies, although with a very distinctive typology in each of both. Here a very common model of Asturian hórreo:

http://www.lahueria.es/hueria/fotos/pueblos/riu1.jpg



Regards.

[Art: Thanks, Carlos! I added the images to the message, too.]

Carlos, thanks for the information. It made things much clearer for me.

Bob

Thank you for the information Carlos!

This may have been a typo made by my grandfather's cousin. My grandfather and his family were Asturianos born and raised near Riosa. They had private tutors and he was well educated. My grandfather came to America in 1918, and this letter was in regards to his birth certificate sent from Oviedo. His cousin was telling him of changes to the places he knew of.

Thanks again,
Joni