Galicians, the Underworld People

The epic book of The Invasions of Ireland (Lebor Gabala) says that we, the people of Galicia, are the Underworld People because was supposed that we can come back from dead, especially to avenge an offense or a wrong doing to us.

Still nowadays there is a ceremony in a Coruña’s village that fakes the burial of people alive and they come back from dead. A full long, long procession of coffins with people inside along the village until the cemetery… When they leave the “grave”, they raise the middle finger in the grave’s direction and say “Catch me if you can”.  And then starts the popular streets party with Celt music (bagpipes), wine, fish, pork food and dancing all day.

I don’t know… But I have been dead about three times. Skydiving accident, car accident few months before moving to the UK (I did wake up when I was being stored in the fridge in the Hospital) and 5 years ago in other car accident (6 weeks in coma in Maidstone Hospital).

We are of Celt origin and we keep the Celt traditions in all senses but I think that all was a self created legend to scare the enemies and, judging by the historic facts, it seems to be working right. In Galicia we used to have the habit of not surrender to get caught alive and treated as slaves so, when in a siege without hope, we used to poison the food and water, set the compound/town on fire, to throw into the fire animals, children and women and then the man did jump on it. In this way the invaders couldn’t get prisoners and could not survive.

This was what we did in Vigo against the French (28.03.1809).After writing with blood in the walls “We will be back to kill you” we did the stated above. So the French in two weeks did start dying with starvation, thirst, pests and diseases due to the rotten bodies and poison. The popular army from Orense took just hours to recover the town some weeks later. The French couldn’t stand on their feet less to fight. Not one went alive to tell the story… We do not leave any one alive ever, not even the rats… We clean our arse with the white flags. The best enemy is the dead enemy.

And this did happen before along the history of Celt northern Spain. In a place called Numancia they did the same against the Romans (133 b.c.) and the same in a place called Sagunto against Anibal (219 b.c.).

And Celts and not Celts… It seems that was a tradition in all Spain. In Tarifa the case was even more dramatic later in time against the Arabs (1295). They caught the solo son’s chief (Guzmán El Bueno) defending the town and they took him in front of the town’s walls shouting to the chief that if he did not surrender they would cut the son’s throat just on the spot. The chief throw down his knife shouting “Just in case that you have not a knife”. But he didn’t surrender and, in this case, the Arabs couldn’t take the town.