Dies at 99 years old Marina Vilalta, the oldest active shepherdess in Catalonia

Girona"I was born among sheep and the sheep give me freedom". This is how Marina Vilalta, from Ripoll, summarized the spirit that had led her to be the longest-active shepherdess in Catalonia. Born into a very humble family in Solanguit (Ogassa), at the foot of the Taga, almost a century ago, in 1927, she passed away this Sunday night into Monday at 99 years old, as confirmed by her family. Until her final days, she continued to lead her flock of Guirra sheep in the village of Bruguera (Ribes de Freser), on the other side of the Taga, in sun, rain, or snow. In 2022, ARA interviewed her on a rainy autumn day while she was grazing, shortly after she received the Creu de Sant Jordi for being an "example of the importance of work in the rural world, and of the resilience of the people who dedicate themselves to it".

The recognition was also a way to pay tribute to the perseverance and a trade that is fading away nowadays. As a young woman, she did not learn to read or write, but at the same time, she became one of the architects of the preservation of the oral heritage of the Ripollès region, collected by the Càntut project. Attired with a wool hat, a walking stick, and a bag full of acorns, she led the flock with ease and patience at the same time. It no longer provided a living, but her family understood that it was her passion and that the house felt suffocating if she stayed there all day. Vilalta lived until the end in Cal Sibí, in Bruguera, with her son, her daughter-in-law, and her grandson. The sheep had a luxury stable right across the way, in a house that could have been dedicated to tourism, but it served other purposes.

Support for the farmers' revolt

About to turn 100, she had spent 94 years working as a shepherdess. She began taking the flock out at five years old, accompanying her father at the foot of Taga. She still took it out every afternoon, and in 2022 in Bruguera, following the Creu de Sant Jordi, a square was dedicated in her name. One of the first to write down her life was Salvador Vergés i Cubí, father of the Garrotxa deputy for Junts per Catalunya, Salvador Vergés i Tejero, who wanted to champion one of the trades that can still be done without electricity, and as a result, a call was made on Change.org to receive recognition from the Generalitat. In 2023, journalist Abraham Orriols also chronicled her life in the book A life in the mountains.

Vilalta hardly ever left Bruguera. She did not leave it even to collect the Creu de Sant Jordi. But at 96, she did travel to the Parliament to support the Farmers' Revolt, in the framework of a monograph on farming. That day, she received a long ovation. In her final years, Cal Sibí and her flock of sheep became a meeting place for young farmers eager to keep the trade alive and to learn from the wisdom she shared until the very end.