Castelao Guide, Meaning , Facts, Information and Description
Castelao, Alfonso Daniel (Rodriguez)Castelao is one of the main symbols of the Galician identity. As a politic, caricaturist and writer, his personality is ever remembered in Galicia
Castelao was born in Rianxo the 30th January 1886, although he lived his childhood and adolescence in Santa Rosa de Toay, La Pampa, Argentina.
The Castelao family come back to Rianxo in 1900 and Afonso-Daniel obtains his degree in Medicine by the University of Santiago in 1908. Next year he passes his Doctorate in Madrid, where he starts getting well known as a caricaturist, and settles down in Rianxo and joins the politic movement Accion Gallega.
As a caricaturist, Castelao has been a great artist despite being almost blind and feeling obliged to preponderate communication over aesthetics. Humble people uses to be the main characters in his stories, which are described in a genious humouristic way. But just after the Civil War and its cruelty and tragedy, Castelao will mainly turn to denounce the misery of Fascism.
In 1916 he moves to Pontevedra, where he joins the Irmandades da Fala and participates in the Asembleia Nazonalista de Lugo, signing a very important national declaration. In 1920 he is editor of the "Nos" magazine and travels through France, the Netherlands and Germany. In 1922 he writes the novel "Un Ollo de Vidro" and in 1924 he joins the Seminario de Estudos Galegos and found the Coral Polifonica de Pontevedra. Two years later he publishes "Cousas" and in 1929 he travels to Brittany to study its stone crosses and publish "As Cruces de Pedra na Bretaņa".
In 1930 he founds the Federacion Republicana Galega at Lestrove and participates in the meetings of the Partido Nacionalista Republicano Galego and in the assembly for the Federal State of Galicia. The next year he publishes "Nos" and is elected member of the Spanish Parliament for the Partido Galeguista, that had reached 16 deputies. In 1934 he publishes "Retrincos", "Os Dous de Sempre" and the last edition of "Cousas", and he enters the Real Academia Gallega when he gets exiled by the Spanish government to Castille until 1935.
Elected again member of the Parliament for the Partido Galeguista, the Civil War begins when Castelao is in Madrid giving the results of the referendum for a Galician self-government, that had been supported by a "Yes" for the 98% of the votes and in which Castelao had had a very important role. During the Spanish war he organises the Milicias Galegas, in which Enrique Lister fought, and follows the Spanish Republican government to Madrid, Barcelona and Valencia, where he publishes "Galicia Martir" and "Atila in Galicia".
In 1938 he is sent by the Spanish Republican government to Russia, the United States and Cuba in order to obtain support for the Republic. Back to New York he cruises to Buenos Aires, Argentina, where he performs for first time in 1941 the play "Os vellos non deben de namorarse", Castelao's tribute to the Galician theatre.
In 1944 he publishes the master work of the Galician politic theory "Sempre en Galiza" and becomes the first president of the Consello de Galiza, the Government of Galicia in the exile. In 1945 he founds together with Catalons and Basques the magazine Galeuzca, a reminiscence of the politic alliance of 1933, and one year later he becomes Minister of the Spanish Republican government in the exile, for which he has to live in Paris.
Back to Buenos Aires in 1947 and sick of a lung cancer, he publishes "As Cruces de Pedra na Galiza" and dies on 7th January 1950. Very important people from all over the world came to the La Chacarita cemitery in Buenos Aires to to say salute Castelao, and the Argentinian senate and the City of Buenos Aires Council erected monuments to honour him. Since then, most of Castelao's work has been translated and published in several languages, from Hungarian to Italian, from French to Russian, from English to Chinese...
After the death of Spanish dictator Franco, Castelao rests in Galicia, at the Panteon de Galegos Ilustres.
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