The brañas of Somiedo are unique in Spain, it is part of an ancient pastoral culture that still exists today.
The average brañas consists in a series of cabañas de teito (thatched huts) surrounded by enclosed hay meadows and springs. The constructions are closely related to early pre-roman settlements.
The brañas are used mainly in spring and autumn as in winter the livestock is herded down to the villages in the valley and in summer the cattle grazes the moutains pastures at higher altitudes.
It is also where can be found a different kind of huts called corros. They are still more primitive than the cabañas. They are circular structures of rough stones topped up with a false dome of stonte slabs called llabanas covered with tapinos (grass sods) to make it waterproof. They are always in pairs, one for the shepherd and one for the cows.
Nowadays, the last archaic corros are preserved in the brañas of Sausa, Murias, Llongas y La Mesa.
Currently, there are still 240 cabañas in fairly good conditions divided into 40 brañas. The best known brañas are La Pornacal and Mumian.
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