[Gocamino] Ooooooops?

[blaroli at aol.com]

Hello you all,
Its been called to my attention that I may have mistranslated something  (Thanks Paul) iun an earlier message..
The group who took care of the donkey that was rescued from the Santiago alameda is called, in Galician, "Asociacion de Burros Farinheiros" (Association of ??????? Donkeys).
In Portuguese "farinha" means flour (made from Manioca in Brazil and from wheat in Portugal). "Farinheiro", consequently, would mean one that likes to eat farinha a lot, or one who works with farinha. Somehow these properties do not seem to apply to donkeys. 
The Portuguese I learned in Brasil is not as akin to Gallego as it appears that the Portuguese spoken in Portugal is. In Brasil there is something called "farofa" which Brasilians put over almost anything they eat. It is, esentially, spiced "farinha" which Brasilians sprinkle over everything, pretty much as Italians sprinkle cheese over pasta. One who piles up excessive "farofa" over his food is called a "farinheiro". But I just can't imagine a donkeys doing  such a thing.
Anyway, I've sent a message to Mary and Susana at the pilgrims' office in Santiago to properly translate the word for us, but at the moment they are in London doing something or another with the Saint James Confraternity there, so we'll have to wait to clarify the meaning of the word.
It appears that the Donkeys Association was irate at the intention of the Australian pilgrims to sell the donkey in Finisterre "as though it were a mere bycicle". Spain has very tough, and very protective, laws when it comes to animals, domestic or otherwise.  This has always puzzled me in view of the brutality of bullfights.
Maybe the severity of the animal protection laws is a way of compensating for the, to me, inexcusable barbarity of bullfights.
By the way, a perenially beloved small book in Spain, which is a prose poem, is called "Platero y Yo" (Platero and I); it is about a boy and his donkey and it is a veritable jewel.
Big hug!
Rosina 
  
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