|
#64305 - 03/25/04 08:36 PM
Madrid: City symbol -¿Strawberries on trees?
|
Junior Member
Registered: 03/22/04
Posts: 25
Loc: San Francisco area
|
When in Madrid, I read in some brochure that the emblem of the city was a bear mounting a strawberry tree. Here in California the only straw berries I have seen are on bushes that grow along the ground. Did I read wrongly or is there some other explanation.
|
Top
|
|
|
|
#64306 - 03/25/04 09:08 PM
Re: Madrid: City symbol -¿Strawberries on trees?
|
Executive Member
Registered: 05/06/00
Posts: 9080
Loc: Madrid, Spain (was Columbus, O...
|
Strawberries grow on the ground in Spain too, not on trees. I'm not sure how that translation got started but the berries in the berry tree with the bear leaning against is not a strawberry tree but a madroño tree and its fruit are the fruit of the madroño, not strawberries. I too have seen this translation as "The bear and the strawberry tree" many many times and it always vexes me. Saludos, MadridMan
_________________________
Visit BarcelonaMan.com for Barcelona information, Transportation, Lodging, & much MUCH more! Curious about what could POSSIBLY be inside the brain of MadridMan? Visit MadridMan's Madrid Blog
|
Top
|
|
|
|
#64307 - 03/26/04 01:33 AM
Re: Madrid: City symbol -¿Strawberries on trees?
|
Full Member
Registered: 02/04/04
Posts: 130
Loc: Seattle, WA USA
|
According to my Lonely Planet guide, the reason the madroño is called a "strawberry tree" in English is that the fruit of a madroño looks like a strawberry. Haven't seen the fruit of the madroño myself, so I guess I'll take their word for it.
|
Top
|
|
|
|
#64309 - 03/26/04 04:36 AM
Re: Madrid: City symbol -¿Strawberries on trees?
|
Full Member
Registered: 02/05/04
Posts: 74
Loc: Basel, Switzerland
|
arbutua uneda (Latin :Small tree I eat one (only)). Apparently there is some difference in opinion as to whether the fruit is nice tasting. http://www.scs.leeds.ac.uk/pfaf/straw_tree.html
_________________________
Where you see a crowd I see a flock. Like Books? Check out www.bookcrossing.com
|
Top
|
|
|
|
#64310 - 03/26/04 05:23 AM
Re: Madrid: City symbol -¿Strawberries on trees?
|
Executive Member
Registered: 05/06/00
Posts: 9080
Loc: Madrid, Spain (was Columbus, O...
|
Thanks for that photo, Miguelito. They don't look like any strawberries *I'VE* ever seen before. hehehe.. ;P I'm still vexed as to how this got started. Saludos, MadridMan
_________________________
Visit BarcelonaMan.com for Barcelona information, Transportation, Lodging, & much MUCH more! Curious about what could POSSIBLY be inside the brain of MadridMan? Visit MadridMan's Madrid Blog
|
Top
|
|
|
|
#64311 - 03/26/04 06:33 AM
Re: Madrid: City symbol -¿Strawberries on trees?
|
Junior Member
Registered: 03/18/04
Posts: 7
|
Madroño is a wild fruit, soft and yellow inside, covered with tiny red diamond sort of seed delicate sweet/acid taste.. sometime sold on the street in Andalucia..they sell them on sticks kebab style.
|
Top
|
|
|
|
#64312 - 03/26/04 08:46 AM
Re: Madrid: City symbol -¿Strawberries on trees?
|
Executive Member
Registered: 07/05/01
Posts: 1551
Loc: Madrid, Spain
|
I've tasted them and are very sweet. I've a madroño in my garden! I has nothing to do with a strawberry though. Fernando
|
Top
|
|
|
|
#64313 - 03/26/04 07:46 PM
Re: Madrid: City symbol -¿Strawberries on trees?
|
Executive Member
Registered: 03/03/01
Posts: 373
Loc: Tucson, Arizona
|
Grulla, we have the very same tree here in the Southwest, but I've never seen any fruit on them. Berries are scarce as hen's teeth around here and the animals get to the fruit long before we get up the mountain! The bark of the madroño is very red, so it looks like a giant manzanita.
|
Top
|
|
|
|
#64314 - 03/27/04 05:07 PM
Re: Madrid: City symbol -¿Strawberries on trees?
|
Junior Member
Registered: 03/22/04
Posts: 25
Loc: San Francisco area
|
Well, the Grulla will just have to fly back to Espana to eat the fruit of the modrono tree. How do you folks get the tilde (~) over some of your letters. Do you have spanish keyboards ?
|
Top
|
|
|
|
#64315 - 03/27/04 08:40 PM
Re: Madrid: City symbol -¿Strawberries on trees?
|
Executive Member
Registered: 07/05/01
Posts: 1551
Loc: Madrid, Spain
|
My keyboard has a spanish configuration, with the ñ on it as any other letter. So far, it is similar to an english keyboard, but some keys are in different positions.
You may search the board for some posts in which you will find how to post spanish-specific symbols with your english keyboard.
Other distinct symbols: ¿¡ªº€ÑñçǨ´
Fernando
|
Top
|
|
|
|
#64316 - 03/28/04 10:57 PM
Re: Madrid: City symbol -¿Strawberries on trees?
|
Full Member
Registered: 02/04/04
Posts: 130
Loc: Seattle, WA USA
|
Grulla - Go to the non-Spain topics. I just posted the same question and got some great answers. This should be the link: international alphabet (typing) I have tried both the alt-shift codes, and adding the Spanish language option on XP. Both work great. Now I just have to get better at remembering where accents do go and don't go (sometimes I am overly generous with accents :o )
|
Top
|
|
|
|
#64317 - 03/29/04 08:07 AM
Re: Madrid: City symbol -¿Strawberries on trees?
|
Full Member
Registered: 01/18/03
Posts: 230
Loc: D.C.
|
I believe the Madrono is the same as the Arbutus in the US. From the picture of the fruit, this may also be the paw-paw (does anyone remember the old song, "Picking up paw-paw, putin' 'em in my pocket"?).
|
Top
|
|
|
|
#64319 - 04/03/04 06:31 PM
Re: Madrid: City symbol -¿Strawberries on trees?
|
Full Member
Registered: 02/04/04
Posts: 130
Loc: Seattle, WA USA
|
Madrileños please correct any inaccuracies... Here is Lonely Planet´s explanation )somewhat paraphrased: The city symbol is a she-bear nuzzling a madroño, bordered by a frame bearing seven 5-point stars and topped by a crown. When Alfonso VI took Madrid in 1085 the town was symbolically seen as the first in the long line of conquests that would take Christians south. Thus madrid became an example of things to come, or a north point. Another popular explanation for the stars is that Madrid, like Rome, was built on seven hills. As it happens, a group of seven stars that lies close to the north star in the northern hemisphere is Ursa Minor, or small she-bear.
The fact that in medieval times bears roamed the El Pardo area just north of Madrid adds a more prosaic (and more likely) spin to the explanation. The madroño was also once common around Madrid. The bears have long since gone but the madroño can be seen in Puerta del Sol.
The crown has to do with Carlos I allowing Madrid to use the symbol of the crown after curing a fever using madroño leaves.
The five points of the stars represent the five provinces that surround the Comunidad de Madrid: Segovia, Ávila, Toledo, Cuenca, and Guadalajara.
::Phew:: that was a lot of typing! I really don´t get all of my information about Spain from Lonely Planet, but it does happen to be a handy reference that at the moment is right next to my computer
|
Top
|
|
|
|
|
0 registered (),
1675
Guests and
10
Spiders online. |
Key:
Admin,
Global Mod,
Mod
|
|
|