José María Rodríguez Ramos: “Paternity of the bottle party was shared and motherhood of my mother”
José María Rodríguez Ramos is the herald of the 18th Festa do Botelo and has a feeling of gratitude and also of pride to see that years have passed and the party is growing with time. As Councilor for Culture in 2001, he organized the first bottle party, an activity that, as an account, had shared paternity.
– How did the idea of holding a botelo party come about?
In the first legislature as mayor, Alfredo, asked me to think about organizing a gastronomic party. I got home and my mother, Elvira, told me “here is the saying of the sea, the grouper and of the boat, the bottle, so we could have a party”. And in addition to giving me the idea, like the good cook that she was, she specified that the bottle should only be filled with ribs because if we put bones from the head and tail, we would have problems controlling their quality and being able to cure them properly. With all this material I took it to a culture committee and there we started working with the support of the six components of that committee. That’s why I always say that fatherhood was shared and motherhood was my mother’s. The real idea is that it promised a lot but was also quite scary.
– Como foi esa primeira festa do botelo?
No 2001 celebramos a primeira comida con 400 persoas no pavillón vello como un experimento que saíu ben. Sempre agradecerei á Carnicería Biobra o seu esforzo para poder ter botelos para todos os asistentes. Non foi fácil porque antes non se gardaban tantos estómagos e de feito houbo que completar con 140 pigureiros porque non había máis materia prima. Ademais tamén houbo que buscar un pregoeiro que estivera á altura das circunstancias e se embarcara con nós no experimento, neste caso foi o actor valdeorrés, Paco Campos. .
– E agora ser pregoeiro , que sentimento lle xera?
Cando estás na vida pública e formas parte deste tipo de actividades sabes que nalgún momento pode tocarche este papel. Estou contento que me toque co botelo porque vino nacer e crecer e ademais fáísenos maior de idade este ano. Ademais todos estes anos sempre estiven vinculado a esta festa: vendendo as entradas, axudando na organización,etc.
-Como ves a festa do botelo na actualidade e no futuro?
Véxoa ben, a festa creceu ano a ano con festas en Coruña e Vigo, por exemplo, e aínda pode crecer máis. É unha festa de encontro de amigos e familia, moi divertida e forma parte do xeito de rematar as festas de Nadal.