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SOME GALICIAN POPULAR LEGENDS AND TRADITIONS
- A Coca of Redondela
- The Virgin of the Corpiño
- Corrubedo
- Ero of Armenteira
- Fairies or Donas
- Trasnoes and Goblins
- Werewolves
- The Mouroes
- The "Santa Compaña"
- Saint Andrew of Teixido
A COCA OF REDONDELA
Redondela is situated in the Province of Pontevedra. It has long been considered one of the main cities in the south of Galiza.
The celebration of the Corpus is an important folkloric day in Redondela where profane and religious aspects are combined. During this celebration the dance of the swords is spectacular as well as the dance of the "penlas", where girls dance standing on women's shoulders, strong women.
The day of the "coca" is possibly one of the most typical feasts, this is a monster or dragon which is carried by young people, at the head of the procession, along the streets of Redondela; these young people are called "centulos".
THE VIRGIN OF THE CORPIÑO
The sanctuary of Our Lady of the Corpiño is situated in the parish of Santa Eulalia de Losón (Lalín). The Virgin was and yet is the best defense against witchcraft and bad spells. In Galicia over the years these have been the most feared and the most difficult to cure evils. Legend tells us that in the 8th century a hermit who was greatly devoted to the Virgin, lived here. All the neighbours listened to his sermons in great admiration. One day, the hermit stopped preaching and as feared his body was found. The neighbours did not dare profane his body as it was intact, so they decided to bury him on the spot and erect a chapel in his honour which they called "O Corpiño". With the invasion of the moorish Spanish leader Almanzor, the Christians fled from these lands leaving behind the abandoned chapel to the mercy of the wilderness.
The story continues in the 12th century. Whilst shepherds were looking for a place to shelter amongst the ruins of the chapel, they were blinded by a supernatural light, in the centre of which appeared the Virgin and child with flowers. When the neighbours heard of this they went to the chapel where the Virgin appeared to them for the last time. As a sign of gratitude the people decided to erect a Sanctuary in her honour. The romería (a shrine festival) takes place on 23 and 24 June and people with all kinds of uncommon diseases come to be cured. Once mass is heard, the sick take part in rituals in the interior of the church, in order to drive out the evil from their bodies by shouting, moaning and even blaspheming. Members of their family or close friends help them by praying or shaking them to drive out the devil from their posessed bodies. When this happens the sick person rolls on the floor and froths at the mouth. It is then that the person helping him puts a roman coin into his mouth which will act as an amulet. Once this is over, it is thought that the sick person has been cured and then gratitude towards the Virgin is shown, as a miracle has been performed.
CORRUBEDO
Corrubedo is a beautiful town that belongs to the parish of Ribeira. It is situated at the tip of the Barbanza peninsula which has been isolated for many years. The natural reserve of Corrubedo is found in this parish which is famous for its dunes and the Carregal and Vixán lagoon.
Apart from being a place of extraordinary natural beauty, we must highlight its ecological richness and its great variety of flora and fauna, much of it endemic to this area.
The mythic town of Valverde, occupied by Spanish Moors who were driven out by Charlemagne, is submerged in the Carregal lagoon. It is also said that on a stone in the woods the hoof mark of Roldán's horse can be seen, when Roldán asked for an extra hour of daylight to overcome his enemy, at sunset. Years later, when a boat approached the coast and asked where the city of Valverde was they were told that it had disappeared so they hoisted their sails and left.
ERO OF ARMENTEIRA
The Monastery of Armenteira, one of the most symbolic Cistercian Monasteries of O Salnés is situated up in the Castrove hills (in the parish of Meis, Pontevedra).
In 12th century, the Galician nobleman Ero of Armenteira founded the monastery, leaving behind a courtesan life and devoting himself to meditation and prayer.
History tells us that Ero de Armenteira and his wife who had no descendants, had the same dream one night in which the Virgin appeared asking them to set up two Cistercian monasteries, one for men and the other for women. In this way they would be assured of spiritual descendants much more important than their earthly descendants.
On account of this dream Ero decided to convert his palace into a monastery and later his chapel into a hermitage, retiring to live life as a hermit.
A beautiful legend around the founder of the Monastery has been handed down to us. It tells how Ero whilst praying on one of his daily walks through the woods, sits down under a tree and enchanted by the singing of the birds, falls into a trance which lasts 300 years. He realises what has happened and introduces himself to the monks as the abbot Ero. They ask him to run the Monastery again, but he turns down their offer.
Soon afterwards he died without anybody knowing where he was buried and today the location of his tomb still remains unknown.
FAIRIES OR DONAS
They are sometimes defined as women with super-natural powers, virgins and generous women. There is a difference made between the good and bad fairies. The latter harming humans. However, the most appropriate definition for fairy is the one which implies the term fate, spell, or evil corroborated by the fact that in legends about fantastic women these are defined as "donas" (maidens), "mouras", "damas" (dames) and usually never under their names of fairies.
When they are referred to as "donas" they are known to have a woman's appearance although they are not of human nature. They appear on prehistoric monuments causing no harm and in some cases it can intercede in order to achieve certain benefits. The origin of fairies can be many ranging from a paternal curse to jealousy, witchcraft or arrogance. Birth being the most appropriate moment for its creation, not its length of life or its continuity. Although in Galician folklore, the bad fairy in the negative sense of the word is most commonly referred to. There are also positive or good fairies which are a symbol of good luck in life.
TRASNOES AND GOBLINS
Among the most fantastic beings in Galicia, the trasnoes appear as domestic spirits or beings without a determined shape as they could even adopt the form of an animal. They are not evil beings, as they have also been heard of helping in the chores of the house, but this does not stop them from making fun of the people living in that house. Its mischief consists in hiding things, creating nightmares or any other type of mischief, even changing home so as to continue accompanying the family moving house. It must not be confused with the "tardo" (goblin) which is a country spirit and which does take the form of an animal.
WEREWOLVES
According to a very extended Galician belief the "lobishomes" or werewolves are humans, who due to a curse and for being the seventh or ninth child born from a descendancy of all males or females can bear the misfortune of suffering from a transformation of a wolf at a certain age, not only in appearance but also in attitude.
For this not to happen to the child affected by the "fada" (witch) the older brother or sister must act as godfather or godmother. The transformation from human to lobishome takes place at night in deserted spots. No one can really agree on which nights this metamorphosis happens: some claim it can happen every night, others mention Wednesdays, yet others Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Fridays. From this moment he would be re-transform himself back to human form without recalling his or her time as a wolf. The curse must be fulfilled for a certain period of time which can cover from seven years to a lifetime; no one can avoid it even with death as the curse would then be transmitted to the spirit. There are many ways to free oneself from this curse in country tales, such as ones skin during the transformation, injuring the person with a blessed silver bullet, or even by making him bleed especially by using the spine of a branch of holly, blessed during Palm Sunday.
Werewolf legends are deep rooted in Galicia with similarities found in Germanic legends, perhaps due to the Nordic presence in Galicia, especially during the Swabian reign.
THE "MOUROES"
This is a term used in popular mythology to define those mythical beings that with human appearance, although different to country folk lived in prehistoric times and those to whom we attribute the construction of ancient monuments such as dolmens, castroes, Roman bridges...
They lived in castroes and in them they hid their riches, such as treasures. Any old historical traces where no other explanation can be given are assigned to them among village folk. There are many tales that show us that although they are magical beings posessing magical powers they also have human necessities as in participating in the sacrificing of pigs among neighbours, going to fairs and markets or employing a midwife to help them in the birth of their kings.
In these tales of the "mouros" a real life situation was reflected in the self-sufficient Galician culture with a country society, and at the same time, was also dependant of the non-country folk (priests, warriors...), who were forced to be looked after. This superiority of non-country folk society is symbolised in the form of the "mouros" as non-Christians, with supernatural powers and distinguishing them from the country folk way of life.