REPRESENTACIONS DEL PESSEBRE VIVENT DE BRUNYOLA 2008-09
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Organize: |
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'Friends of Brunyola' |
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Pessebre adderido a : |
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The Municpality of Brunyola
is situated in the Comarca of La Selva (Catalonia), on
the eastern slopes of the mountain of Santa Bārbara,
where range of mountains known as Les Guilleries meets
the Girona plain. The name Brunyola, or Bruniola, seems to have originally been the name of the castle, whose estates, in 1116, stretched from the source of the River Onyar to the mountain of Gironella. The river rises on the buttresses of Santa Bārbara, passes through the centre of Girona and then flows into the River Ter. In 1280, the property of the Baron of Brunyola passes into the hands of the Church, being donated by Berenguer de Gornau to the cleric Guillem de Gonfredi. Upon the death of the latter, in 1293, the whole of his estate was bequeathed to the Almoina del Pa (Pia Almoina?) de la Seu (Girona Cathedral Alms Trust) and subsequently administered on its behalf by a Provost or Beadle. The Baronial Estate, the Castle and the Parish of Brunyola seem to have been treated as one and the same entity over time, since all three were represented by a single Provost or Beadle. The Parish Church stands on a site on one side of the village square where it is believed the Torre d'Homenatge (Tower of Homage) once stood. The church is thought to heve started life as the Castle Chapel, though it was subsequently modified. Very little information relating to the church survives, since all the original documents were destroyed bu fire during the 19th Century 'War of Spanish Independence'. The building itself, though very old, is not particularly remarkable either in terms of its architecture, nor its decoration. The only known date for the church is 1823, when it was restored - the French, during the war, had converted the building into quarters for their cavalry and removed all the original altar-pieces amd images. In 1955, with the active support of the people of the village, a new stone altar was constructed and a new alabaster altar-pieces was commissioned from the Girona sculptor, Josep Boada. |
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The Brunyola Pessebre Vivent (an
Open-air Representation of the Nativity Story) dates back
to 1981 when, at the initiative of the then Deacon, Josep
Maria Amich, the Rector of the Parish of Sant Fruitķs de
Brunyola, Father Enric Matas, together with a group of
young people, decided to celebrate Christmas in a novel
way. From that one-off performance grew what has now become the Pessebre Vivent de Brunyola. The Pessebre Vivent is organised by the 'Friends of Brunyola', a group with its own statutes which were officially recognised by the Generalitat de Catalunya on June 20th, 1986. The Association is made up of all those people who participate, or have participated, in any of the cultural, social or recreational activities organised to date, and those support the work of the group. |
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