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Traditional shepherd’s hut in the town of Consuegra (Toledo). Photo: Julio César Valle Perulero.

Transhumance consists on changing place and home, from time to time, in the strict sense of the word. And in this itineration, transhumance and livestock form an inseparable pairing that has enabled the development of people for centuries. In this development, traditional knowledge has been essential for the maintenance of rural life linked to grazing and livestock farming for generations.

Closely related to the intangible cultural heritage, oral tradition tells us “Es la vida del pastor, la vida más arrastrada, que en el orbe de la tierra, por experiencia se halla” (“It is the life of the shepherd, the rudest life that can be found on earth, as experience shows”). Wretched, not only because of being compromised and tough, but also a nomadic and isolated life. Away from the people and the environment where, the shepherd has traditionally derived the necessary elements to build other “homes” outside his. Hence, the importance of the vernacular architecture which shelters shepherds and cattle from inclement weather and the scourges of nature, allowing them to move from north to south and from east to west.

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