Cristina Garcia Married| Salamanca, Apr 17 (EFE).- Salamanca has packed the banks of the Tormes River on a massive Monday of Waters where the most traditional scenes of the hornazo snack have coexisted with the massive university party in the open air.
Since one in the afternoon, a multitude of people, especially young people, have begun to file into that area, loaded with bags full of the traditional hornazo and other food, as well as large bottles filled with wine and other beverages.
Water Monday in the capital and also in the province
On Water Monday, a tradition rooted throughout the province and declared a Festival of Tourist Interest in Castilla y León, the people of Salamanca go out to the parks next to the Tormes River and to the countryside to snack on the typical hornazo, always eight days after Easter Sunday. .
In the capital, students tend to be in the majority, while families tend to gather more on the outskirts or in the numerous municipalities that celebrate their pilgrimages and festivals on Water Monday as well.
Around the Roman Bridge in the capital there are also different areas: a quieter one, for those who want to spend an afternoon snacking in the sun sitting on their blankets with friends and family, and another more festive one where the atmosphere is more like that of a youth bottle.
reunion day
Among the blankets that have taken place since one o’clock in the quiet area next to the Roman Bridge, the table of Isabel and her sister stood out, very well dressed with numerous refrigerators and some plates of sausages already started.
“We come every year, except in the pandemic. We love it, my sister lives in Ávila and I in Zamora, but we are from here and we meet again here ”, Isabel explained to Efe, before showing half of the great hornazo that she has prepared in her house.
Not far from them, Rebeca (from Mexico), María José (Costa Rica) and her friend from Peru were enjoying the splendid day, who were waiting for the rest of their classmates, especially “the one who brings the horn”, each blanket is a small island with its music and its conversations.
“This is the third time I have experienced it and this year I have opted for the quiet zone. On the other side of the bridge it is out of control, everything gets out of control very quickly”, recounted Rebeca, for whom the hornazo is delicious “but it is a bit dry”. “I would remove some of the dough, and I have brought my Valentina”, she has pointed out in reference to the typical Mexican hot sauce.
Hornazo Monday, tortilla and empanada
The traditional hornazo lives its big day on Water Monday, when its production is multiplied by ten and is omnipresent in all the outdoor snacks that characterize this day that Salamanca people who live outside the province miss so much, as they have gone expressing in social networks from the first hour.
The hornazo is an icon of Salamanca gastronomy that could be described as a wheat flour empanada, with hard dough, filled with typical products from the slaughter of pigs (marinated loin, ham and chorizo), and in some preparations also with egg.
It is a forceful preparation that is too much for some people, like Marina, Mónica and her friend, from Andorra, who have wanted to comply with the tradition but half way: they will eat next to the Tormes, but a ham and cheese empanada.
The women’s Ribert players have served as salmantinas with the traditional hornazo, but also “with red wine, don’t miss it”, and tortillas,” Pilar told Efe.
Some young people do not choose between a quiet snack and a party, they do one thing first and then the other. “We come every year, we are here until nine and then we go out to the clubs for a while,” Celia and Nuria say. EFE