Monday, January 18, 2016. In Colombiathere is a town where they live alone 200 people from a single family; since only they marry between cousins and reproduce between them for two generations. Antioch, is the name of the town, and it is located in the middle of a vast vegetation; whose only access to get there is a narrow path of mud and dirt. The oldest marriage of this group of peasants and workers, who arrived 150 years ago in the village of AmaranthIt’s of Luis Vanegas-Galeano Y Alb of Jesus Galeano Henaoparents of 11 children and more than a dozen grandchildren.
Alba del Jesus, is 85 years old; and she still remembers the permission that she had asked the Bishop of Jericho to be able to marry through the curia of Bolivar City, a peaceful town in the southwest of Antioquia. Upon request, the Father imposed on them a penance of fifty Our Fathers, 20 Rosaries and six confessions. “There was nothing to do, we fell in love, it was frowned upon. It is that we were raised in the same village and we saw each other almost daily, that is why we ended up married; to be so close, so attached, but there was also something, an attraction”, Alba commented.
«Because even though I went to Medellin for a few months, I didn’t notice anyone else, and when I returned to the village we got engaged»exclaimed Del Jesús telling his fascinating story for the Colombian newspaper Time. Fifty years have passed since this controversial union, since March 2015; which was cause for celebration for more than one hundred relatives in the trail school, located at the bottom of the canyon; where there is a beautiful landscape full of fruit trees, which arise spontaneously, thanks to its rich spring weather.
One of the reasons why the Vanegas, Galeano and Henao they have married each other for so many years being cousins; It may be because of its almost inaccessible geographical point, which makes the town of Antioquia seem like a «ghost town». According to the leader of the sector’s communal council, Ana Maria Vanegas Galeanothe tradition began in the year 1890 in the neighboring municipality Jericho; where they got married Issac Galeano Y Eudoxia Vanegas. Isaac’s father named Joaquin Galeanowas the one who founded Amaranth.
Isaac had arrived with his three children from his previous marriage, and Eudoxia with four siblings; among them is Gregory, who had arrived married. From the famous union, seven children were born and Gregorio had nine more; among them are Primitivo and Gregorio Vanegas. Luis Aníbal commented that “The first cousins to marry were my father Gregorio and my mother Etelbina; later, three other guys did the same and I, to preserve the tradition, got tired of Alba”. For all the inhabitants of Antioquia, their family tree has become a total mess, being a daily topic in the town.