Esther M. Zimmer Lederberg
Morisco buñelero baker (shoes)
The music is Morisco music, found on Iberian Garden, Vol. 1 by
Altramar. The piece is Muwashshah: Mā li-l-muwallah, 1113-1198.
This music takes place at the beautiful gardens along the Guadalquiver, near Cordoba.
This is during the "convivencia" under Alfonso X (El Sabio - The Wise), the time
before Granda fell: when Christians, Moslems and Jews lived at peace with each
other. Muwashshah are songs in poetic form, with instrumental interludes in the
form of Ibn Bājja (Avempace): 1470-1520. This is Morisco art.
What defined a person as a Morisco included prayer, religious
practice, language, dress, occupation, and physical characteristics
(dark complexion, or being circumsized). Thus the occupation of
buñelero (one that bakes or sells buns) was frequently
associated with being a Morisco. The occupation of buñelero
was associated with Moriscos most likely by the popular theatrical
piece "Fontovéjune" by Lope de Vega. It became a crime
to bake or eat buñeleros as buñeleros were so strongly
associated with Moriscos that it identified Moriscos in the minds of
the Catholic Holy Inquisition and could lead to imprisonment, tortures,
etc.
When the Moriscos of Al-Andalus were expelled from Spain, the sad history
of another holocaust took place (did not "begin" at this time, as the
another holocaust known as the Apujarra rebellions predated the expulsion).
During the expulsion holocaust, Morisco property was stolen, women raped,
men murdered, men, women and morisquillos (children) were sold into slavery.
People were separated, and dispersed. Many Moriscos and Mudéjars
that survived the expulsion, if lucky, ended up in North African cities.
Difficulties absorbing these populations of Moriscos (considered impure in
their Islamic "Spanish" practices and incorrect language) were further
murdered, raped, robbed, and enslaved). The remnants of these victims made
their way to North African cities such as Sally, Fez, Tlemcen, even the
Canary Islands (La Palma, Tenerife, Las Palmas, Fuerte-venture, Lanzarote,
La Gomera, El Hierro) 1, 2, and
then from the Canaries, to the Nueva España. With more luck, (aided
by bribery) these remnants might hope to hide their Morisco past from Nueva
España representatives (buying Limpieza de Sangre) of the Spanish
Holy Inquisition's racial/religious hatred of Islamic peoples, Jews and
Lutherans, and start new, constructive lives.
Moriscos and Mudéjars that managed to survive the expulsion retained
both thier Islamic and Spanish culture. Remnants of these cultural influences
included foods. In accordance with what is known as the "Columbian Exchange",
some of these foods made their way back to the Canary Islands, North Africa,
and Iberia. 3
Some of the foods included buñeleros, bizcochitas, albóndigas,
berenjena rellenas, callos, empanadas, zalabia asados, etc.:
Description
Name: Canary Islands
Name: al-Andalus (Spain)
Name: Arabic or Berber
pureed almond (marzipan-like)
alfajor
alajú, alfaxur
al-hasuú, alajú
meatballs with sauce
albóndiga en salsa
al-bóndiga
al-bunduq, al-bundiqa
baked casserole of grains, and vegetables
cazuela, puchero canarioc
berza gaditana, cocido, puchero
fatteh, moji
bread pudding with nuts, fruit and cream
budín de pan sabor canario
pudin a la española, sopa de pan
jūdhāb/asyūtiyyah
chile and savory spice paste with ground nuts or oilseeds (sesame)
mojo
harisa, harissa
muhamara
dried jerked meat, rehydrated with vegetables
carne mechuca
cecina de vaca
naqaddad, yuqaddad
stew of tripe with garbanzo or hominy
callos
qalias, qallos
qalyas
white fish marinated in citric juice
escabeche
(e)sicbaj
sikbāj
bread soup with almonds (or tomatoes) with garlic and cucumber
gazpacho (almond, not tomato)
gazpacho blanco, maimones
tharid, mukarrarah
fritter in honey or bitter orange sauce
zulubia, buñuelo
zlebia, zulubia
zalabia
In the Spanish New World, Moriscos, Mudéjars,
Conversos (Jews), Lutherans, even white slaves from the former Genoese Black Sea
empire, any free formerly Black slaves, often located themselves in obscure,
distant places in Nueva España, places such new territories north of the
Chichimec line such as Alta California, New Mexico, New Philippines, New
Navarra, New Vizcaya, etc. To make connections to a past that these (mostly)
Moriscos and Conversos wanted hidden to prevent further religious victimization,
they changed their surnames. Coded surnames based upon the names of animals,
plants (flowers or trees). Thus some names were of plants and animals, but honorable,
used to hide background. Other names might be of animals but were not honorable such
as mule (mulatto), coyote, etc.:
Aguilar (Eagle)
Alicante (Snake that preys upon rodents [rats])
de la Garza (of the Heron)
de León (Lion)
Cabrera (Goat)
Castañeda (Chestnut)
Granada (Pomegranate)
Manzanares (Apple orchards)
Mora (Blackberry)
Olivo (Olive)
Olivera (Olive)
Palma (Palm)
Robles (Oak trees)
Romero (Rosemary)
Rosa (Rose)
Uvedo (A mushroom [fungus])
1
Nabhan, Gary; MacDonald, Norman "The Canary Islands Connection"
in AramcoWorld, July August 2019, pp. 6-13
2
Moriscos and Jews (called "chuetas") also ened up in the Baleric Islands such as
Majorica, and then transfered to North Africa, and most likely to the New World.
Braustein, Bàruch; "The Chuetas of Mallorca: Conversos and the
Inquisition of Mallorca"
3
Crosby, Alfred W. (2003). "The Columbian Exchange: Biological and
Cultural Consequences of 1492"
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