In the following video, you can see some of the celebrations of Entroido in several districts in the province of Ourense. Folións come out in force in the streets. Folións are dancing groups made up of all the neighbours in a town. People play massive drums called bombos, made traditionally by hand. The boteiro is a colourful masked figure with an enormous crown. They are meant to be the leader of the folión group. The boteiro does not speak, but directs the group with signals or with the bells that are strapped to his belt. Looking at their dancing and attire, it's hard not to imagine that there's some distant echo of pagan roots, but of course Christianity is plenty colourful and bizarre on its own.
The song that comes with the video is a traditional song compiled by Xabier Díaz, a Galician artist who collects and performs traditional Galician oral music. He is accompanied by the Adufeiras de Salitre, a group of women artists who play the adufe, a traditional hand square drum from Portugal and Galicia.
Os meus ollos, a chorar
fixeron covas no chan
cousa que os teus non fixeron
nin de seguro farán
My weeping eyes
Made hollows in the floor
Something that your eyes did not
Nor will they to be sure.
Inda agora aquí cheguei
máis cedo non puiden vir
Cheguei a tempo dabondo
Pr’as túas falas ouvir
I have still arrived here
Sooner I could not have come
I arrived quite in time
To hear your words
ouvir - the standard Galician is oír, but ouvir is still commonly used in natural Galician dialects, like in Portuguese.
Anque estou aquí cantando
triste está o meu corazón
que o teño máis amarelo
que a casca dun limón
Although I am here singing
Downtrodden is my heart
Which is yellower
Than the husk of a lemon
A despedida che dou
con rosas e caraveles
pois según vou entendendo
a despedida ti queres.
I give you my farewell
With roses and carnations
Since as I understand it
A farewell is what you want.
Heite de amar e mais hei
non me perdas o cariño
non che perderei a lei
I will love you and I will do,
Don't lose my affection
I will not lose your law.
Non non marches meu amor
Adiós ben da miña vida
sempre no meu corazón
Se algunha vez decidiras regresar
Tes a miña porta aberta
Unha fala e un cantar
No no, don't go my love.
Goodbye, love of my life.
Always in my heart.
If some day you decide to come back
My door will be open for you
And a language and a song [will be waiting for you].
Corazón de larga lei
Se tí vás tamén eu vou
Se tí quedas quedarei
Heart of long law.
If you go, I go too
And if you stay, I will too.
In the following video, you can see the Entroido celebrations in the town of Xinzo de Limia, also in the province of Ourense. Note also the presence of pantallas, who are demonic figures who were traditionally played by men. They carry animal bladders filled with air in their hands and hit people with them, and harass people who are not dressed up. If it is a man that they catch without a costume, they force him to take them to the nearest bar where he must pay a round of wine for them. I'm serious! The pantallas are named after the elegant demonic masks they wear, which are still hand-crafted. What I love about Galicia is that Entroido is still very much a local thing. Galicians do it for themselves, as they have done for centuries, and not primarily for tourists.
Galicia is such an interesting, rich place. I want to go back home and shout about it from the rooftops. Hey, look at this! And that! And this too!