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The Mirandese(mirandeses) are a Romance speaking ethnolinguistic group belonging to the Asturleonese branch, native to Tierra de Miranda, in northeastern Portugal.

History
The first instance of Latin presence in Iberia was with its conquering by the Romans, substituting the language of the region and the people(partially), for Latin and Romans respectively.

After the collapse of the Roman empire, Iberia was ruled by Germanic Post-Roman kingdoms, and Tierra de Miranda sat at the border between the Suebi and the Visigoths for much of the existence of both.

In the 8th century A.C., the Ummayads started raiding the coastal areas under Visigothic control, which years later led to the almost complete occupation of the Iberian peninsula by the Moors, leaving out the Asturians in the northwestern region (Not to be confused with the Modern Asturian people, sharing a name due to being native to the same region, in different places in time). The Asturians were the ethnic ancestors of all the Romance speaking peoples of the Iberian Peninsula. Including the Asturleonese.

The Reconquista originated the Kingdom of Leon, the only kingdom in history to have an Asturleonese language as its major language in its earlier phases(Old Asturleonese), but after the union with the Kingdom of Castile and the independence of Portugal, Old Asturleonese, at the time called Leonese(not to be confused with Modern Leonese, also sharing a name with its ancestor due to the region it’s spoken in), started falling in disuse, alongside other minority languages. In the specific case of the Mirandese, they were isolated from the other Asturleonese by the Luso-Hispanic border in the 12th century.

After that, Portugal kept having possession over Tierra de Miranda politically and kept influencing the Mirandese language until today.

Traditions
Despite the Portuguese influence on the Mirandese language, the traditions were mostly kept throughout the whole region. These include:

-The Dançadores

The Dançadores (commonly known as Pauliteiros by the Portuguese, and therefore in other places, despite it not being the traditional name), literally ‘The Dancers’, are a group of traditional Mirandese dancers that do their dances with sticks (therefore the Portuguese name Pauliteiros, ‘pau’ being stick in Portuguese but not in Mirandese), they have a unique clothing only worn for the occasion of dances. Some examples of Dançador dances are “Mirandun”, “Repassiado” and “Riu piu piu”.

-Mirandese Bagpipe



The Mirandese bagpipe, 'Gaita Mirandesa', is a bagpipe unique to Tierra de Miranda, sister to the Leonese and Asturian bagpipes. Despite being called “Gaita Transmontana” by foreigners, recalling to the Trás-os-Montes region in Portugal, that includes Miranda, this terminology is incorrect (see Gaita transmontana).

-Pendones



The Pendones are a medieval Leonese tradition (recalling to the kingdom of Leon) that is today only practiced in Miranda and (modern)Leon. There are various styles and shapes for Pendones but most of them are always red and green. They’re similar to flags, being hung on a pole and flown to the force of the wind, but way bigger than the average flag. They’re carried by people that usually walk together on a march, carrying the Pendones by the pole. They are usually used on said marcher during the time of April in both Miranda and Leon.

-Capa d’Hunras

The Capa d’Hunras, ‘Cloak of Honours’, is a cloak traditionally used by shepherds in colder times of year, but has since evolved to be used in important occasions in Tierra de Miranda, traditional holidays, religious celebrations and meetings with people of high status, like the president of Miranda de l Douro, Helena Barril.

Gastronomy
Mirandese traditional gastronomy makes much use of the ingredients of Tierra de Miranda, having a varied number of original dishes ranging from meat to vegetables to desserts. Such as:

-Bolha Doce The Bolha Doce ‘Sweet Ball’, known as “Bola Doce Mirandesa” ‘Mirandese sweet ball’ by other regions of Portugal, is a Mirandese dessert, it is cake-like, coated with sugar on top and usually with some sort of alcohol put into it, traditionally rum.

-Tabafeia

The Tabafeia ‘Garlic Sausage’ is a sort of Mirandese garlic sausage exclusive to Miranda, it’s merely named garlic sausage because the Mirandese term is different from the Portuguese term “Alheira”, so when Portuguese speakers refer to Tabafeia, they call it “Alheira Mirandesa” ‘Mirandese Garlic Sausage’.

-Puosta Mirandesa

The Puosta Mirandesa is a sort of meat dish, usually veal meat, that is eaten with other ingredients and is a full meal. Veal meat is common all throughout the Iberian Peninsula, so this is not the most unique of Mirandese dishes.

-Anchidos

The Anchidos are common in that specific region of Iberia, with some unique touches in each subregion. It’s a sort of meat dish similar to the Tabafeia.

Language






The Mirandese are known for their unique language, the Mirandese language, a language of the Asturleonese family (by some considered a dialect of an “Asturleonese language”), no longer spoken in all of Tierra de Miranda, being preserved only in its eastern regions, in Miranda de l Douro and Bumioso. The language has around 10 thousand speakers, native and non-native, and is very conservative in terms of phonology and vocabulary. As is common in the Asturleonese languages, it is quite an unstable language, having numerous terms for the same concept or object throughout the ~35 villages it is spoken in, but still similar (ex. The word for Fire being Fuogo/ˈfwo.ɣu/, Fugo/ˈfu.ɣu/ or Fuou/ˈfwo.u/ in different parts of the territory). The language is still mutually intelligible among its speakers and most variations are in terms of pronunciation more than anything else. It is divided in three dialects, Central, Sendinese and Raiano. Central being the standard dialect, Sendinese only being spoken in one village, Sendin, with various pronunciation quirks, and Raiano being spoken in 5 villages, being the most unstable and variable dialect.

Geographic Distribution


The Mirandese are native to the Tierra de Miranda, a geographical region in Eastern Trás-os-Montes, in Portugal. It is composed of the municipalities of Miranda de l Douro, Bumioso, Mogadouro, part of Bragança(Bergáncia in Mirandese), in the zone of Outeiro and two other villages and the northern part of Freixo de Espada à Cinta. The Mirandese language was spoken in this whole region and likely beyond(see Riunorese Leonese), but throughout history it has been reduced to Miranda de l Douro and three villages in Bumioso. As previously mentioned, despite the oppression of the language, the culture and traditions are maintained in the entire region.

Notable People
Due to Miranda’s small size and population, most of Miranda’s “famous individuals” appear (or appeared) in almost all events, these include:


 * Paulo Meirinhos (born 1972), musician (member of the mirandese band ‘Galandum Galundaina’), music teacher and luthier.


 * Helena Barril (born 1969), politician, president of Miranda do Douro


 * Amadeu Ferreira (1950-2015), writer, lawyer and teacher, most notable for his writing career. After the recognition of Mirandese in the late 90’s, Amadeu kicked off its popularity by translating famous Portuguese and non-Portuguese books such as Os Lusíadas, some books of the Asterix series, and gospels of the New Testament. Amadeu even wrote some original books, like ‘Ditos Dezideiros’, in Mirandese.


 * António Maria Mourinho (1917-1996), ethnographer, ethnologist and archeologist. Though, he is mostly not known in Miranda for any of his professions, yet for his actions for the sake of the Mirandese language, such as writing ‘Nuossa Alma i Nuossa Tierra’, poem about the Mirandese language. He also helped to elaborate the ‘Cumbençon Ourtográfica de la Lhéngua Mirandesa’ (Orthographic Convention of the Mirandese Language), which was the convention that determined the official Mirandese writing system. He also contributed to the foundation of the museum of Tierra de Miranda.


 * José Leite de Vasconcelos (1858-1941), linguist, philologist, ethnographer and archeologist. Despite not being born in Miranda, Vasconcelos is known for being the first individual to actually write in Mirandese. Up until then, Mirandese was a purely spoken language, never written. This granted him fame and popularity across Miranda.