Tradition

The Vigo estuary was the scene in October 1702 of a great battle between the Spanish-French and Anglo-Dutch fleets, the latter winning the battle. The Spanish Silver Squadron was carrying enormous wealth transported from America. Some of the cargo had already been landed before the confrontation, while some was taken by the English and Dutch navies after the victory. However, some of the captured ships were sunk by their own crews and the legend of the fabulous treasure of Rande grew . The writer Jules Verne universalised it in his classic 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea. Captain Nemo visited the Vigo estuary with the Nautilus and showed this fortune under the sea to Professor Aronnax. Treasure hunters have unsuccessfully searched the estuary and its surroundings for these formidable riches.

Illa da Toxa , in O Grove, is one of the great thermal resorts of Europe and, according to a popular story echoed in 1899 by the writer Emilia Pardo Bazán, the present-day tourist centre arose as a result of the surprising cure of a donkey. "In El Grove, a small hamlet on the border coast, a villager owned a dappled donkey, so bald and covered with scabs and bruises that it was horrifying. His owner took pity on him, not wanting to kill him, and abandoned him on the island, and great was his astonishment to find, after some time, a healthy, fat and spotless donkey", he recounts. The man noticed that the donkey "was in the habit of wallowing in a certain muddy puddle, where a stream of boiling water would pour out". From then on, the therapeutic properties of the waters of A Toxa, rich in sodium, calcium and magnesium, became popular.

The imposing Sobroso castle , which stands in Mondariz on the slopes of Mount Landín, is home to legends related to Doña Urraca. The queen is said to have ordered the construction of a passageway that crossed the river Minho and reached Portugal, a tunnel that she used for her amorous and political escapades. After being besieged in the castle by the supporters of her son, the Count of Traba, and his half-sister Teresa, according to legend she managed to escape through a passageway.

The tradition of wearing a scallop shell in the hat and the sackcloth of the sackcloth during the pilgrimage to Santiago has its origins in a legend from Vigo. This tells how, during a wedding, the lords on horseback threw their lances into the air and galloped to catch them before they hit the ground. The groom, during the game, accidentally fell into the sea and disappeared, leaving only a trail of shimmering foam that was heading for a ship close to the shore. It was carrying the body of Saint James the Apostle. The groom and the horse came to the surface and both the knight and his mount were in perfect condition, covered in scallop shells.

The lands of Deza are surrounded by legends with Celtic mythological elements, later mixed with other religious elements during Christianity. Women turned into snakes, mouros who lived underground, secret passages, buried treasures, goats, incantations of people transformed into animals... Myths and supernatural tales abound, many of them related to the castros. In Lalín alone there are around thirty sites, and more than a hundred in the whole region. The Castro Deza centre is the ideal place to learn about the life, customs, gastronomy and legends of the castrexa culture.

Initiation routes, solar calendar, fertility symbols or funerary marks are some of the possible meanings of the labyrinths engraved on the stone in different parts of the province of Pontevedra, very similar to others located in countries such as Lapland or Finland. The magical labyrinth of Mogor (Marín) takes us into this mystery, in a spectacular setting on the coast of O Morrazo.

The castro of Santa Trega is a magical place that takes us back two millennia in time to the Galicia of our ancestors, but the whole hill is also surrounded by mysteries and legends. One of them revolves around the saint that gives it its name, who is said to have appeared to a shepherdess in the 14th century during a season of great drought. The young girl asked her that it would rain again and Santa Trega replied that the whole village should go up in procession and fast for three days. This was done and the rain returned shortly afterwards. In gratitude, the sanctuary was created, and since then the procession has taken place every year.

The Buraco do Inferno, in A Illa de Ons, is a mythical place from which, according to legend, the wailing of tormented souls in eternal fire can be heard during storms. A bull with golden horns guards this access to the world of the dead.

Legend also surrounds the island of Tambo (Poio). One of the stories is linked to the saint Trahamunda, a novice from the convent of San Martiño on this small island who was kidnapped by the Moors and taken to Córdoba. Trahamunda asked God to get out of there and to be found the following day in San Xoán de Poio. The miracle was worked immediately, according to this account. The island was also attacked by the mythical English corsair Francis Drake. Another legend says that in Tambo there was a moura which, at nightfall, summoned a bull. The bull transported the bodies of the dead there.

The patron saint of Tui is another of the characters whose history is intermingled with legend. Pedro González or Pedro Telmo was a humble friar, beatified in 1254 and designated in 1745 as patron saint of sailors. He is credited with the construction of numerous bridges, the most important in Ribadavia (Ourense) and A Ramallosa, the latter over the river Miñor, between Nigrán and Baiona. According to legend, while preaching before a crowd, he started a storm and split the clouds in two, moving them away from the banks and clearing the sky over the people gathered.

The popular story tells that in a pool located in the mountains of Domaio (Moaña), very close to the Rande strait, the wailing of a beautiful moura can still be heard. She is said to have disappeared in these waters after her father killed the peasant she had fallen in love with in the same place. The woman appears on the night of Saint John's Eve brushing her hair with a golden comb.

One of the legends of the Deza region related to the castros refers to the municipality of Agolada. It is said that in Castro Marcelín lived a queen called Marcela, who hid a treasure behind a stone door, together with different keys. In this municipality we also find the famous Pendellos de Agolada, an important commercial meeting place in Galicia two centuries ago. Visiting this historic site with a magical aura gives us a better understanding of rural life and the social characteristics of the 18th century. It is a space created for the ritual of exchange, buying and selling, chatting, bargaining, meeting, deceit and gain, handshakes and bags, and octopus á feira.

History and legend mingle in the Casa da Peste, located in the village of Godela, where it is said that people infected by the plague were held in captivity. This building in the municipality of Cerdedo-Cotobade dates from the 18th century - its lintel bears the inscription of 1721 - and today it is in a state of abandonment. One of the epidemics of the disease occurred in Galicia during the first decades of the aforementioned century, which makes the story plausible.

The Santa Compaña is one of the most popular myths of the Rías Baixas and Galicia. This nocturnal passion is made up of souls who walk barefoot in two filesiras and wrapped in shrouds. Each ghost carries a light, and only a light wind and waxen shawl indicate its presence. In front of them is a larger spectre, the Estadea. On occasions they carry a small scaffold on which they carry a relative of the person who witnesses the passage. This person does not take long to die. It may happen that the person accompanying the procession is obliged to follow it carrying a cross and a cauldron. The companion can pass it on to another person and remain free while the person receiving it must accompany the deceased.