The legend of the rooster (galo) from Barcelos (a small city east of Braga) is so old that there are nearly as many variations as there are dialects in Portugual.It goes something like this:
A Galician pilgrim who was passing through town on a pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela was accused of committing a serious crime: possibly theft, perhaps murder.
Protesting his innocence in the face of execution, he demanded to see the magistrate who had pronounced his sentence.
His request granted, the Galician was taken to the house of the magistrate, who was entertaining guests.
Pointing to a roast chicken (a staple on any Portuguese banquet table), he shouted, “As sure as I am innocent that cock will crow if I am hanged!”
Here the story varies. Some versions say the cock crowed immediately and the man was released. Other versions say guests derided the accused while the party continued and the man was sent to the gallows, but the judge ordered that the cock not be touched.
By the time the man was to be hanged, evening had fallen and the judge was in his house.
Suddenly, to everyone’s amazement, the roasted rooster transformed and began to crow.
The Galician was saved just in time, and released.
According to the legend, the pilgrim came back later to Barcelos to carve the Cruzeiro do Senhor do Galo (Cross of the Lord Cock).
Nowadays we can see the Cross of the Cock in the Archaelogical Museum of Barcelos.
The Portuguese and Spanish get along a little better, but the Galo de Barcelos has become one of the most instantly recognized cultural symbols of the Portuguese. No Portuguese home is without at least one galo somewhere: embroidered on a table cloth, tattooed on a kid’s back, painted on something ceramic.
Graça Pinheiro - 4 th Year - B
