La Rambla has been a space marked by diversity and surprise. Its centrality has constituted an irresistible focus of attraction, to which those who wanted to be seen presented themselves. The pioneer of photojournalism, Frederic Ballell, dedicated himself in the years 1907 and 1908 to photographing everything that deserved his attention, and thus achieved a formidable graphic documentation of the varied life and activity unfolded there.
The rope boy has gone to this unsurpassed meeting place to be hired. Are you very tired? Is he lazy? Do you adopt this attitude so as not to go unnoticed? What we do not know is whether it was favorable to him or the opposite.
The best recruitment point had been set up in the square formed at the junction of Rambla de les Flors and Rambla del Mig, also called Center or Capuchins. It is a point where the gentle slope disappears and a short flat terrain is formed; it also stands out because it does not have the generous trees that frame the entire promenade with authority and beauty.
It had earned the most diverse names, such as Cap de Creus, Rovell de l’Ou, but the one that took root the most was Pla de l’Os. There was some confusion about the reason. Some suspected that he alluded to the bone that some gypsy group occasionally displayed. There are photographs that show that show, such as Ballell himself.
The most plausible interpretation was the one that required the pronunciation of an open o. And it is that this constituted an allusion to the bone; in fact, it was the Bertran bone.
This popular name therefore referred to the sacral bone made up of five vertebrae and which, after suffering an inflammation, prevented the spine from bending. The origin was based on the folklorist Joan Amades, who assured that the herbalist Bertran had found herbs that, applied in the form of a poultice, effectively alleviated this pain.
The popular voice immediately related it to the fauna that was concentrated in that plan: rope-biters, shoemakers, chimney sweeps and others. Since they were not easily hired, many dead hours were spent there. And from the panorama it was more like they were lounging, as if they couldn’t or didn’t want to exercise, since their bones hurt.
