RIO DE ONOR
41° 56' 25" N; 6° 36' 59" W
Rio de Onor shares another unique feature with the Alentejo village of Marco — the village is crossed in half by the international border between Portugal and Spain, with both parts known by their inhabitants as "povo de superior" and "povo de bem". It is also, along with Terras de Miranda, Guadramil and Quintanilha, one of the Leonese-speaking territories in Portugal.
The Spanish portion of the territory, with 25 inhabitants, is officially called Rihonor de Castilla (despite being located in the historic region of León and not in Castile), and belongs to the municipality of Pedralva da Pradaria (province of Samora, Castile and León). . Its postal code is 4939. Until around 1850, the Spanish part constituted its own municipality, which was added to the current one after that date and until today.
It is common to see cattle crossing the border freely. Populations in both countries often own land on the opposite side of the border, working it as if it were on their side of the border. They also share a communal pasture, where a single herd of around 300 sheep and 100 goats is fed. The sharing of resources between the two locations manifests itself in different ways, such as in the case of water management. Waste water is treated on the Portuguese side, in exchange for offering the Spaniards drinkable water in the summer, when there are supply problems.
It is mainly made up of old two-story stone houses. Family life takes place upstairs, with livestock, grain and other products downstairs. It is crossed by the River Onor, a tributary of the River Sabor which rises in the Sierra de Culebra in Spain.
It was extinguished in 2013, within the scope of a national administrative reform to, together with Aveleda, form a new parish called União das Freguesias de Aveleda and Rio de Onor and has its headquarters in Aveleda.
Rio de Onor still exists as a community village. This regime presupposes a sharing and mutual aid of all inhabitants, namely in the following ways:
Sharing of community ovens;
Sharing of community agricultural land, where everyone must work;
Sharing a herd, pastured on community land.
In fact, this unique village assumes, in addition to its own government regime, its own and almost extinct dialect, belonging to the Asturo-Leonese group, similar to the Mirandese language.
Typically from Trás-os-Montes, the village has traditional houses made up of two floors: the families live on the top floor, the cattle, cereals and other products of the land live on the bottom floor.
José Saramago narrates his visit to Rio de Onor in "Journey to Portugal".
