El Desarme
El Desarme is a food festival, a one-meal event, celebrated in Oviedo on October 19th every year. That date is the (approximate) anniversary of the Battle of Oviedo during the First Carlist War.
The Carlist Wars
When King Ferdinand VII of Spain died in 1833, his widow, Queen Maria Cristina, became regent on behalf of their infant daughter Queen Isabella II. This splintered the country into two factions known as the Cristinos (or Isabelinos) and the Carlists. The Cristinos were the supporters of Queen Maria Cristina and her government, and were the party of the Liberals. The Carlists were the supporters of Infante Carlos of Spain, Count of Molina, a pretender to the throne and brother of the deceased Ferdinand VII. Three civil wars were fought between 1833 and 1876.[1] In each of them, Catholic absolutist Carlists attempted to take over the country from liberalizing (later Republican) forces, and failed.
Ideology of the Sides
While also being a (relatively) simple dynastic ware between two branches of the Bourbon royal family over control of Spain, the Carlist wars were a struggle between the enlightenment liberal drift towards parliamentary democracy, and traditionalist defense of unlimited royal and clerical power. In another way (an important way in parts of the north of Spain) it was a divide between rural traditionalists and urban upper-middle-class liberals.[2]
Battle of Oviedo on October 18, 1836
During the first Carlist War, the city of Oviedo declared itself in support of Isabel II - that is, opposed to the Carlists. Arms were distributed to groups of citizens recruited to maintain order against possible outbreaks or Carlist attacks.
On October 19, 1836, the column of the Carlist Sanz (Pablo Sanz y Baeza) entered Oviedo through the Camino de Castilla and the Puerta Nueva. After a brief battle in which several Oviedo defenders fell, the Carlists fled from the capital towards Gijón, which would be taken on the 22nd. The following day, the 19th, the triumph was celebrated with a menu consisting of chickpeas with cod. In time this would become a celebration of the victory of the Isabeline troops of Oviedo.
The History of Desarme Meal
After the publication of a recent study that explains the origin and evolution of the celebration, it is known that, in reality, the custom of eating chickpeas with cod comes from the end of the Carlist war (March 1876).[3] Then, to celebrate the ” peace “and the” disarmament “of the population a rancho (a type of workers or soldiers communal meal) was offered to the army, people, soldiers wounded in hospitals and enemies in jail. It was, therefore, a menu to celebrate peace and forget quarrels. At the end of the 19th century, the custom began in Oviedo of starting the tripe season on October 19 (compared to other places, which prefer the San Martín festival, coinciding with the slaughter). There the hotel and catering establishments offering a menu disarme chickpeas with cod and tripe, which will end up being eaten together. Later, arroz con leche would be added to make a three course menu turistico.
El Menu Desarme
While most restaurants in Oviedo serve this menu on the 19th, many Uvieín@s prefer to cook at home in more family surroundings. To celebrate this meal at home, the following recipes will create a traditional menu, endorsed by the Cofradía del Desarme.
Garbanzos con espinacas y bacalao
A popular stew of chickpeas, salt-preserved codfish, and spinach. Proper seafront food for a windy rainy month like October.
Tripe stew made with cow and pigs feet, cooked low and slow
A slight variation on the traditional Asturian version of rice pudding sees extra butter, and a splash of anise liquor added at the end of cooking.
- ↑ It is considered by many modern-day Carlists that there were four Carlist wars, the most recent being the Spanish Civil War of 1936-9. In that conflict the Traditionalist Communion (the main bastion of Carlism) was subsumed into the fascist FET y de las JONS party of the soon-to-be dictator Franco.
- ↑ I will not go into the incredibly complicated Basque (and lesser Catalan) position which was based primarily on siding with whoever was going to preserve the special fueros of the Basque provinces and maintain their unique Spain-but-not-Spain status.
- ↑ Casaprima Collera, Adolfo. Origen y evolución del Desarme (Fiesta gastronómica de Oviedo). 1st ed., 2016, http://www.cervantes.com/libro/9788493687847/origen-y-evolucion-del-desarme-fiesta-gastronomica-de-oviedo/.
