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History of the Festa do Esquecemento

How the Festa do Esquecemento began in 2001, who drove it and how it grew edition after edition into Xinzo de Limia's great historical re-enactment.

The history of the Festa do Esquecemento (Festival of Oblivion) begins in 2001, when a group of people from Xinzo de Limia decided to turn the legend of the river Lethes into a festival of hillfort warriors and Romans [1]. It has been held every August since, with a single break for the pandemic [5]. This page complements the main Festa do Esquecemento page.

2001: the beginnings

According to the historian Edelmiro Martínez Cerredelo, the initiative came from Carlos Gómez Salgado, and in 2001 it gave rise to the Civitas Limicorum cultural association and the first Festa do Esquecemento, held on the banks of the river Limia [1]. The organising committee was made up of Carlos Gómez Salgado, Arsenio Martínez Paz and Martínez Cerredelo himself, who say they started with no resources and met some institutional and local opposition [1]. Martínez Cerredelo, a founding member, played Quintus Genicius, duumvir of the Civitas Limicorum, at the first festival [2].

That same year Gómez Salgado and Manuel Vázquez Pita wrote the play Limia, a historia do Lethes [3].

The aims were threefold: to recreate the legend, to bring life to local shops, bars and restaurants, and to keep summer visitors in A Limia for an extra week after 15 August [1][2]. Martínez Cerredelo maintains that it was the first Roman re-enactment festival in Galicia and that the association’s members later advised on the creation of Arde Lucus in Lugo [2].

A decade of consolidation

By the 2011 edition, according to the Galipedia, the programme already included an invocation of the goddesses Juno and Mae-Callaech, brawls in the macellum, gladiator fights, weddings, the sealing of a pact of hospitality with visiting groups, the crossing of the Lethes, the battle, a Roman circus and horse displays [4].

From the pandemic break to the silver jubilee

In 2022 the festival returned after the pandemic break, in its 21st edition [5]. In 2025 it celebrated its 25th anniversary, the Annus Argenteus, with a large Roman circus as its new attraction; that year, in mourning for the wildfires in the province of Ourense, the Sacred Fire was left unlit for the first time and the torch parade marched with torches dark [6]. The 2026 edition, the 26th, was the largest yet: more than 50 free activities, 54 groups, 13 foreign troops and 12 music groups [7].

Official recognition

The festival has been declared of local tourist interest [6]. The association is seeking the title of Festival of Galician Tourist Interest [8]. Martínez Cerredelo relates that a first application, backed by a report of his, was turned down because he had been part of the first festival’s organisers, and that in 2026 the Concello de Xinzo de Limia agreed to apply again [2].

For the historical background to the legend, see The myth of the Lethes.

Sources

  1. Edelmiro Martínez Cerredelo, "A lenda do río Lethes ou río do esquecemento. A 1ª festa en 2001", Historia de Xinzo, 05-08-2022. https://historiadexinzo.wordpress.com/2022/08/05/a-lenda-do-rio-lethes-ou-rio-do-esquecemento-a-1a-festa-en-2001/
  2. Edelmiro Martínez Cerredelo, "Informe histórico en que se fundamenta a orixe e motivo da celebración da Festa do Esquecemento na vila de Xinzo de Limia", Historia de Xinzo, 01-07-2026. https://historiadexinzo.wordpress.com/2026/07/01/informe-historico-en-que-se-fundamenta-a-orixe-e-motivo-da-celebracion-da-festa-do-esquecemento-na-vila-de-xinzo-de-limia/
  3. xinzodelimia.eu, "Carlos Gómez Salgado". Site offline; Wayback (22-01-2010): https://web.archive.org/web/20100122013957/http://www.xinzodelimia.eu:80/carlos_gomez.htm
  4. "Festa do Esquecemento", Galipedia (in Galician; CC BY-SA 4.0). https://gl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Festa_do_Esquecemento
  5. Vía Lethes, "Festa do Esquecemento 2022", 19-08-2022. https://vialethes.es/festa-esquecemento-2022-xinzo-limia-programa-completo
  6. Vía Lethes, "Festa do Esquecemento 2025, programa oficial", 20-08-2025. https://vialethes.es/festa-esquecemento-2025-xinzo-de-limia-programa-oficial
  7. Vía Lethes, "Festa do Esquecemento 2026, programa oficial", 21-08-2026. https://vialethes.es/festa-esquecemento-2026-xinzo-limia-programa-oficial
  8. A.C. Civitas Limicorum, "Acerca de". https://civitaslimicorum.com/acerca-de

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