Somewhere in La Mancha, the spring sang

Abstract

With the COVID-19 global pandemic, lockdown was mandatory in many countries. People locked themselves up in their homes without being able to set foot on the street. Like a rear window to the world, the only entertainment available to people was to look outside from their balconies. Society gazed at that forgotten side of life that still continued with its usual path in a time unconnected to human activity: nature. During those months in lockdown, the scenery changed. Many animals dared without fear to enter the cities that displayed no traffic or pedestrians, some endangered species, because of climate change, reproduced faster, plant life grew abundantly in settings that until then did not have any vegetation, the percentage of carbon dioxide decreased to unimaginable figures… Because of this, with this change in the environment, many people sensitive to this change began to write to reflect on the scenery. Ecocriticism saw an overwhelming abundance of new pieces of writing that made an account of how the indigenous environment had changed in the absence of the human blueprint. This article shows a compilation of literary reflections from three villages in the Spanish province of Albacete (Castilla-La Mancha). These accounts read about the rural setting, sometimes forgotten to our politicians. Nevertheless, the beauty of their villagers, their scenery, their traditions, make us recall our grandparents’ habits. In this article, the towns of Liétor, Tobarra, and Casas de Lázaro show us that the so-called “empty Spain” it is not as empty as it is believed. Because some places of La Mancha, spring still sings.