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Articles "DIA DE SANT MEDER": OFF ON THE WRONG FOOT IN THE SIERRA Ryan Giles University ofNorth Carolina-Chapel Hill The Libro de buen amor instructs its readers not to take anydiing for granted with warnings like "entiende bien mis dichos e piensa la sentencia" (st. 46a).1 One such dicho specifies die March 3 feast of St. Emeterius as the starting point for Archpriest's long walk through the Guadarrama, where he is confronted by four serranas before arriving at the sanctuary ofSanta Maria del Vado. Louise O. Vasvári has shown that diis pilgrimage draws on die same folkloric tradition as die "cantares de caminantes" in its use ofwalking images like "mostrate he el camino" or "meterte he por camino" as euphemisms for the sex act (sts. 965b, 980b).2 Specifying a March 3 setting for the Archpriest's mountain adventures seems unnecessary, however, as die whole mondi is later shown to unleash devils who incite depravity in "omnes, aves e bestias" (sts. 1281-1285). This has lead to suggestions that the feast itself offers "some kind ofclue" (Stephen D. Kirby 155).:i Jan M. Ziolkowski is the only critic, to my knowledge, who has dedicated a full-lengdi study to saints in invocations and oaths in a wide range of medieval literature . He finds diat these kinds of references often work by calling to 1 All citations are from the edition ofG. B. Gybbon-Monypeiiny. - For these cantares, see Paula Olinger. Striking examples oftopographic eroticism can also be found in the early sixteenth-century "Carajicomedia": "mucho tiempo estovo que no pudo passai se su puerto ... hasta que un devoto frayle ... hizo una senda, y despues acá, el camino se ha muy ensanchado" (Cancionero de obras de !nula 151). 3 The other saint's feast explicitly mentioned in the Libro uses the rogation day procession for St. Mark as an ironic backdrop for the conquest ofa nun (st. 1321). This rogation was thought to prevent outbreaks ofplague brought down as punislmient for the "orgy ofgames and pleasures" that had marked the end ofLent—in particular, a form of plague called "inguinaria" because it "produced a swelling in the groin" (Jacobus de Voragine 278). St. Mark was also associated with cuckoldry. as James F. Burke has shown ("La cuestión" 290). La corónica 33.1 (Fall, 2004): 165-79 166Ryan GilesLa coránica 33.1, 2004 mind attributes of a saint that somehow correspond with, and build on, images, themes and situations in die text (188). The present study seeks to shed light on diis facet ofdie Archpriest's satire by examining how die feast of St. Emeterius evokes a popular context for the ironic use of ambulatory imagery in the Guadarrama. The serranas section of die Libro has probably attracted more attention from readers dian any odier. In his early monograph, Thomas R. Hart understood it as an allegorical reenactment of everyman's journey into the wasteland of sin. Kirby has since pointed out that hardship in die sierra corresponds to the mortifications suffered by pilgrims in the Liber SanciiJacobi.—diese would include, bad weather, getting lost, hunger, diirst and die abuse oftoll collectors or wild women living on the margins of civilization. As Kirby notes, such punishment was considered to be a form of penance that worked in favor of the pilgrim's spirit at the expense ofhis body. Odier readers have studied the role of seasonal festivities in the sierra. For example, Burke shows how that die Archpriest's pilgrimage blends folkloric and biblical imagery marking the passage from Lent to Easter ("Juan Ruiz, the Serranas"). His work sets the stage for critics like Luis Jenaro MacLennan, who demonstrates how the second serrana's name, "Gadea", alludes to die practice of male-female role reversal on St. Agatha's day. These findings suggest diat die feast of St. Emeterius referred to at the opening of the serrana section could provide another example of how popular religious expressions operate in die text: El mes era de marco, día de Sant Meder: pasada de Loçoya, fui camino prender; de nieve e de granizo non ove do me asconder; quien busca lo que non pierde lo...

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