History of Europe

How is the lockdown going? Well, like whores in Lent

The Union of Actors yesterday called a 48-hour "cultural blackout" on social networks after the decision of the Ministry of Culture not to adopt specific measures to alleviate the crisis in the sector and, honestly, I do not think it is the time to the #ApagonCultural initiative or any other with negative connotations, it's time to clench your teeth and put your shoulders to the wheel, push everyone in the same direction and applaud at 8 o'clock. But hey, it's just the opinion of a simple letter board. What was I going to. The first thing that came to mind is the popular saying «like whores in Lent «.

The expression “like whores in Lent » or «hungry as a whore in Lent “has its origin in Salamanca during Lent, the 40 days prior to Holy Week, a period in which the Church prescribed fasting and abstinence to its faithful, the renunciation of meat, both in a gastronomic and sexual sense. It was the worst time for prostitutes, because they had to seclude themselves in the Casas de la Mancebía, in Salamanca located on the other side of the Tormes. The so-called Padre Putas, who had to guard them during this time, would pick them up with his boat and take them to the other side of the river, where they would remain locked up until the Monday following Easter. That Monday, the university students put on their best clothes and went to the riverbank to receive them. Over time, this tradition was called Lunes de Aguas , and today is still a holiday that the people of Salamanca celebrate in the countryside, usually on the banks of the Tormes. Conclusion, that the whores in Lent went hungry not because they fasted, that some perhaps did too, but because they spent more than 40 days without being able to work and, therefore, without getting paid. Like most of us who are confined to our homes these days.

In fact, the University of Salamanca, the second oldest in Spain, behind that of Palencia, has been the cradle of several of the most popular sayings and proverbs.

The right to kick yourself ” and “heat the seat ”. Students from wealthy classes occupied the best places, always seated, and those from humbler classes, many of them servants of the previous ones, were forced to stand in the last rows. These, in the cold winters of Salamanca, used to arrive earlier to class to warm the benches of their masters by sitting on them ("heat the seat «). It was already said “student without money, as a servant of a rich student goes to Salamanca ”. When the gentlemen arrived and they had to go to the chicken coop, the only way to get warm was to hit the ground to warm their feet and move around. Therefore, they asked the rectorate to grant them "the right to kick" a few minutes before the start of classes to warm up. And they granted it.

Being in chapel ”. The day before the exams, the students used to spend it in the chapel of Santa Bárbara asking her intercession to pass.

Exit through the front door ”. Wrongly attributed to bullfighting, it refers to the fact that the students who passed went out through the main door, the big one, while those who failed went out through the back door, the one with the cars.

Roll (or prepare) the gear ”. Of Bártolo, famous Italian jurisconsult and professor at the universities of Bologna, Pisa, Padua and Perugia during the fourteenth century, whose books were in common use in the universities. Law students in Salamanca turned to him and quoted him permanently, even carrying his works written in folios and loose sheets, everywhere. The expression "liar los ártulos" was related to the fact of preparing and tying the books and notes to go to class or leave it.

And, curiously, the best known saying of all, that of Quod natura non dat, Salmantica non præstat (What nature does not give, Salamanca does not lend), which is taken for granted to be the official motto of the university, it really is not. The official is Omnium scientiarum princeps Salmantica docet (The principles of all sciences are taught at the University of Salamanca).

Sources:Phrases from the University of Salamanca, Lunes de Aguas