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HISTORY
Galicia owes its name to the Roman Legions, who called it this for the similarities of customs
of the inhabitants of Galia. Traditional tribes of celts, romans, britons, sueves, visigods, muslims, irish and french used
to live in Galicia and play an important role in the modern traditions and customs of the land.
Galicia has had its fair share of invasions – the Celts around 600BC, the Romans around 50AD, the Visigoths
around 400AD, the Normans during the Middle Ages and the French in 1808. The region was also visited from time to time by
Francis Drake in the 16th century. Interestingly, though, the region was largely unaffected by the occupation of Spain by
the Moors from the 8th century onwards. True, the Arabs ransacked Santiago de Compostela in 977 but they didn’t hang
around much after that, perhaps finding the mountains and the winter rains too much to bear. The Celtic influence is most
prominent in Galicia and it has been described as Ireland but with sun
PEOPLE & CULTURE
Galicia has a culture which is both unique and distinct from that of the rest of Spain and the core of this difference
is centred upon Galicia’s perceived identity as a “Celtic”, rather than a “Latino” or “Hispanic”,
sub nation.
| Remains of Celtic Dwellings |
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| A Guarda |
LANGUAGE
Despite the fact that every Galician you are ever likely to encounter will speak regular Spanish ("Castellano"), the native
tongue of this region is "Gallego" (also spelt "Galego").
Although banned during General Franco’s dictatorship of Spain, the tongue of "Gallego" is both widely spoken and
taught in schools throughout Galicia. More than 80% of the people speak Galician well, though nearly all of them will also
speak Castellano and may even chose to use it most of the time. Galician is known as Galego in the local language and Gallego
in Castellano. Galego is one of the five Iberian languages into which Latin transmuted itself. The other four are Spanish
(Castellano), Catalan, Asturian and Portuguese. In addition, there is, of course, Basque, which bears no relation to any of
these or to Latin. It is said that Portuguese developed from Galego, the original language having spread south before it was
standardised in Lisbon. Even now, the people of Galicia and north Portugal can understand each other reasonably well.
Galician and Portuguese are in the theory the very same language, but they are in practice a bit different. Centuries
of mutual isolament and artificial differences have been caused by the Spanish frontier, creating two different cultures:
more Latin the Portuguese, more Atlantic the Galician.
History of the Galician Language
Galician today
The Galician Language
More information on the Galician Language
THE FLAG
| The official Galician flag |
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| with the Coat of Arms in the center |
The Holy Grail (or chalice in which Christ's blood was collected after the crucifixion) appeared documented
as the arms and banner of the kings of Galicia in the Segar Armorial, compiled in England circa 1282. This early representation
features the arms of the kings of Galyce as three golden Grails over an azure field, organised in a similar manner
as to the arms of the kings of Sweden.
It must have been during the 14th century that the Galician arms changed from
three to just one golden Grail; that is the way it appears on the Bergshammar Armorial (Sweden, 1436) or on the Gymnich Armorial
(Flanders, 1445). In Galicia there still remains many Royal Grails carved on public buildings from the 15th and 16th centuries:
the old Royal Hospital of Santiago (nowadays the Hostal Reyes Católicos), the Betanzos city hall, the fortress-walls
of Corunna, the organ in the Cathedral of Lugo, the church of Noia, the manor house of the clan Moscoso in Laxe, etc... During
the 15th century the field of the flag started to introduce decoration with varied icons such as angels or crosses.
The
crosses displayed around the Holy Grail were added to the flag from the 15th century as a simple way of decorating the empty
space around the Grail. Originally, the number of crosses was 6 (three on each side of the Chalice) plus a seventh one over
the Holy Grail. Those 6 crosses have sometimes been changed to stars (symbolising the 6 Galician Churches of Lugo, Iria, Britonia,
Tui, Ourense and Astorga) or shells (Coat of Arms of Corunna). Some authors have suggested that the 7 crosses displayed in
the flag may have been created to symbolise the 7 major cities of Galicia. That is incorrect. The historical evolution of
the flag makes clear that the crosses were just born in a random number to decorate the empty space around the Grail.
The
official design of the Galician Coat of Arms was established in 1972 by the Royal Academy of Galicia, based on the most common
designs of the Arms of Galicia found during the last century, on which the golden Holy Grail is surrounded by seven silver
crosses over a blue field. It was also the Royal Academy of Galicia which in the early 1980 asked the Galician Executive (Xunta
de Galicia) to incorporate the former flag of the Kingdom of Galicia to the modern national flag.
The result of that suggestion was the Stage Flag. The State Flag features the Galician Coat of Arms
over the common civil flag, and is the the official flag that must be displayed in all institutional events of the national
and local governments in Galicia.
| Arms of the Kingdom of Galicia |
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| 1612 |
| Military banner of the "Regimiento Galicia" |
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| serving for the Spanish Army, 1715 |
Some Galician history, geography and fiction
- It was from the port town of La Coruña that the Spanish Armada departed during the attempted invasion of England
in 1588. In 1589, a combination of the attack by Sir Francis Drake's fleet and confused navigation, resulted in the almost
total destruction of the Armada. Many of the ships did in fact survive the English onslaught, but were lost or destroyed as
they headed unintentionally hundreds of miles off course into the North sea. Drake did of course take credit.
- Galicia's most popular regional wines are Albariño and Ribeiro.
| Albariño Wine |
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The Hymn of Galicia is "Os Pinos" (The Pine Trees).
Galicia has five cathedrals, the most famous of which is in Santiago de Compostela.
Galicia has many rivers, most of them quite small, and is known throughout the rest of Spain as "the land of a
thousand rivers".
The famous Spanish crooner, Julio Iglesias, although born in Madrid, is in fact of Galician heritage and this
has been reflected in some of his recordings including, "A Song to Galicia" and "Homesickness". In the USA and UK he is perhaps
best known for his duet with country music star Willie Nelson ("to all the girls I've loved before").
| Julio Iglesias |
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| Spanish singer |
There are only seven cities in Galicia with a population of more than 50.000 people.
The autonomous government of Galicia (established in April 1981) is called the "Xunta de Galicia". The Galician
flag has in fact only existed since the 17th century, the original flag of Galicia was similar to that of Portugal. The coat
of arms in the center of the flag is required for all state functions.
Argentina's capitol city, Buenos Aires, has the largest single city population of Galicians anywhere in the world.
The Galicians consider themselves Celts and varying stories exist as to how this colonisation occured.
Despite his efforts to destroy the concepts of regional identity, language and culture, General Franco was in
fact from Galicia and spoke Gallego. His reasons for regional intolerance were, in his mind, justified by the strengthening
of nationalism as a whole and the removal of segregation across the country. He is not however well thought of in Galicia.
| Francisco Franco |
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| dictator of Spain from 1939 until 1975 |
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