One of my favorite things about Spanish classes with Cristina Ramos at SevillaEle is our once-a-month walking tour of the city. Cristina loves history, and she loves her city, and for our last class of every month, she assigns each person in our small group something about the city to research. We write a few sentences (or, for some of the overachievers in our group, of which I am not one, a few paragraphs) about our assignment and then walk around the city and present our research at the appropriate location. It was during one of these monthly walking tours that I learned the meaning behind the motto of Sevilla: No8Do.
Now, this symbol is found everywhere – on flags, on magnets at kiosks, carved onto buildings, and stamped into manhole covers, but I’d never thought to learn the story behind it, and it’s a good one, involving bitter betrayals, fierce loyalty, and a little play on words.
Way back in the 13th century, King Alfonso X, also known as The Wise, lost his oldest son and heir, Ferdinand in the Battle of Écija. His second son, Sancho, claimed to be the new heir, rather than Ferdinand’s children, which is what King Alfonso preferred. Sancho had the support of the nobility, long a thorn in King Alfonso’s side, resulting in a terrible civil war that finally ended with King Alfonso’s capitulation in 1282 and acceptance of Sancho as the next heir to the throne. Only Sevilla, Murcia, and Badajoz remained loyal to him, and he died in Sevilla in 1284.
Of Sevilla, King Alfonso said, “She has not abandoned me!” and Sevilla has celebrated this loyalty for more than 700 years! But how does “She has not abandoned me,” become No8Do?
So, first of all, the “8” in the symbol is not actually the number 8, as you can see in the pictures. It’s just an easy way to represent it in type. No, in fact, the center symbol represents a skein of yarn, which is Spanish is una “madeja”, making the full symbol “no madeja do” which, if you squint a bit, and say it with an Andaluz accent, sounds like, “No me ha dejado.” She has not abandoned me.
Cool, right? And once you know, you really start to see it EVERYWHERE. Understanding the meaning behind this common symbol helps me feel more connected to this city I’ve chosen to call home.
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