THE CABILAS

In the village it is also called the Jewish quarter, Kabyle is a term of Berber origin meaning tribe of Bedouins or Berbers. It is used to designate the territory where these tribes are settled. Perhaps the name of the neighborhood has some relation to this meaning, but it is not possible to be sure. It was also used to designate the Berber tribes of North Africa who confronted Spanish troops during the Spanish protectorate of Morocco (1913-1956). The cabilas were the basis of the political-administrative organization at the territorial level and each of them was governed by a kaid.
It seems to be a neighborhood built very quickly, in the suburbs, a little apart from the population. The old chronicles tell how Villamesías did not have the houses arranged in the form of neighborhoods and streets, but were joined together in no apparent order. In this neighborhood is where the housing plots have a more or less regular size, a little below the average of the rest of the population.
The houses are squeezed together, generally offering little façade, but with a lot of depth. The rudimentary forms, at times present scenes that connect with the ancestors of the place.
There are hardly any neighbors left in this area, many of them emigrated years ago. Calle Nueva, Calle de la Cebada and Travesía Corta seem to be the central core of the neighborhood, although Calle Corta is where many of the neighborhood’s attractions come together.
There is a large house with a slender canopy on the front door that stands out from the others. with two floors and a large plot, suggests that it may once have been the main one in the district, in the grilles of one of its windows shows details of artistic virtuosity and great symbolism. It has a cross on two snakes, two palm leaves topping its sides. It represents a biblical allegory that connects the crucifixion of Christ with the ascension. According to the Old Testament, God commanded Moses to use a bronze snake on a pole as a means of healing for the snake-bitten Israelites. The serpent on the cross would symbolize the triumph over sin and death through faith in Christ. The palm of martyrdom, a Christian symbol representing the victory of the martyrs over death and sin. The palm was a symbol of victory in ancient times and was associated with Palm Sunday, when Jesus triumphantly entered Jerusalem.
In the rocks between the walls of the houses we find marks of the passage of men since ancient times: steps, holes of augers or wedges to break the stone. It seems to have also been the quarry from which the stone was extracted for the construction of these houses.
The modifications that the houses in the neighborhood have undergone can be seen in their walls. many entrances appear large and slender with no more than a large door. Other times windows and doors are boarded up or incomplete. As in the rest of the town, there are Roman tombstones on the walls of some houses, usually in the corners.
The patterns of many corners will call our attention for their archaic forms, their thick volumes and their beauty.