Legends of Vilar de Barrio: xianas, Moors’ holes and the Lagoa de Antela

Vilar de Barrio has few written legends, but very different from one another: water beings, mysterious holes and a humorous tale that made its way into the Civil War.

The xianas of Arnuíde

On the path from Aldea de Abaixo to Cancillós, in Arnuíde, stands the Ponte Xidelas. There they speak of the xianas, very beautiful water fairies who appear at springs and rivers around the night of St John and guard treasure. Whoever sees them falls in love with them, but must pass tests before marrying them and enjoying the wealth ^[1].

The Moors’ holes of Bóveda

Near the Bóveda viewpoint, at the archaeological site, there are some hollow formations that people call "the Moors’ holes". They say a hen with twelve chicks went in through them, and that eleven came out in different places: the Torre de Sandiás, the city of Antioquía, Allariz… ^[3]. The legend plays with the same world of underground passages linking castles and towers in other legends of A Limia.

The Pozo dos Mouros of Rebordechao

The hiking route Rebordechao – chapel of San Mamede – Pozo dos Mouros lets one learn, according to the Fronteira Esquecida entry, "different legends" about the Moors and about the origin of the chapel of San Mamede; the entry does not tell them ^[2].

"The Lagoa de Antela is bigger!"

A neighbour of Vilar de Barrio used to cross the Lagoa de Antela by boat or with oxen. Mobilised on the Nationalist side in the Civil War, one night in Bilbao his regiment mistook the sound of the Cantabrian waves for the noise of the Republicans. Seeing the sea for the first time, his comrades were frightened and he told them: "This is nothing! The Lagoa de Antela is bigger!" ^[1].

An unconfirmed report

A comment by a user of the route app Komoot said that Manuel Blanco Romasanta, the 19th-century "werewolf", "lived here for a while" at Rebordechao, at the foot of the "Cadeira da Raíña". No documentary or folkloric source reviewed confirms it, so it is not given as fact.

Links

• Legends of A Limia
• Vilar de Barrio
• Antioquía, the drowned city
• Lagoa de Antela

Sources

1. Rafael José Adalid Rodríguez, «Contos, lendas e mitos da auga na Limia e pequenas achegas», Revista Galicia Encantada 16 (2020). https://galiciaencantada.com/lenda.asp?cat=11&id=2886
2. «Ruta de sendeirismo Rebordechao – capela de San Mamede – Pozo dos Mouros», Fronteira Esquecida Limia-Lima. https://fronteiraesquecida.eu/gl/fichas/ruta-de-sendeirismo-rebordechao-capela-de-san-mamede-pozo-dos-mouros/
3. «Miradoiro de Bóveda – área recreativa», Fronteira Esquecida Limia-Lima. https://fronteiraesquecida.eu/gl/fichas/miradoiro-de-boveda-area-recreativa/