Words of St John, the Couto Mixto, Celme and the tunnels: other legends and beliefs of A Limia

The Palabras de San Xoán retorneadas

The "words of St John" are a numerical charm, from 1 to 13, used to scare off the devil or witches when they physically appeared to carry off a person. The oldest version has an introduction: the devil appeared to a young man coming from the mill and said "if you do not tell me the words of St John I will take you with me". If the young man recited them without error, the devil vanished with a great explosion ^[1].

It is a form of oral literature widespread across Europe: Jewish, Latin and Eastern versions are known. The first Galician one was collected by Bernardo Barreiro in 1885, incomplete. The Galician versions add a number, 13, perhaps through Jewish influence, and in many cases replace the European "God" with the sun and the moon. Choosing St John as protagonist makes sense: St John’s night is the most important date of Galician tradition for scaring off devils and witches, and the summer solstice coincides with the sun worship that the words begin and end by naming ^[1].

Calleja compares three versions ^[1]:

No.	European	Typical Galician	Limia
1	God	The sun and the moon	The sun and the moon
2	The two tablets of Moses	The two tablets of Moses	"Taboíña do meu ser"
3	The three Patriarchs or the Trinity	The three Patriarchs	The three Patriarchs
4	Four Evangelists	Four Evangelists	Four Evangelists
5	The five wounds	The five wounds	The five wounds
6	Six candles or candelabra	Six candles	Six candles
7	Seven sacraments	The seven lamps	The seven lamps
8	Eight beatitudes	The eight gates of paradise	The eight gates of paradise
9	Nine choirs of angels	Nine choirs of angels	Nine choirs of angels
10	Ten commandments	Ten commandments	Ten commandments
11	Eleven thousand Virgins	Eleven thousand Virgins	Eleven thousand Virgins
12	Twelve Apostles	Twelve Apostles	Twelve Apostles
13	(does not exist)	The thirteen queens of the sun	The thirteen queens of the sun

In the Limia version the devil addresses a girl, whom he calls "my wife", and she replies "not yours, but God’s"; "taboíña do meu ser" is probably an oral corruption of "tablets of Moses". The charm begins "A la una el sol más claro que la luna" and ends, after each number, by repeating the formula "por onde Cristo vai e vén, a súa casa santa de Jerusalén" (where Christ comes and goes, his holy house of Jerusalem) ^[1]. It is also a memory exercise: it was recited many times so listeners would learn the words and test the memory of whoever said them, who risked ridicule if he failed ^[1].

The founding legend of the Couto Mixto

The Couto Mixto (Santiago de Rubiás and Rubiás dos Mistos, in Calvos de Randín, and Meaus, in Baltar) was a small historic "republic" between Galicia and Portugal. The legend says that a fugitive, pregnant queen of Portugal was taken in by the Couto’s neighbours when her labour pains began; in gratitude, when Portugal won the war, they were granted independence ^[2]. The bibliography cited by the source is L. M. García Mañá, Couto Mixto, unha república esquecida (Xerais, 2005) ^[2].

Celme castle and the nobles of Congostro

It is said that some noble families of Congostro, the village at the foot of Celme castle (Rairiz de Veiga), rose against royal power and used the castle’s stones for their houses. The viewpoint at Celme castle gives views over Congostro ^[3].

The man-eating moura cycle

According to Rafael Quintía Pereira (Análise estrutural e simbólica do mito da Moura, 2015), there are four Galician tales of a moura who eats a girl, and three are from A Limia: the Castro de Cerdeira (collected by Aparicio Casado), the monte Cantariña (Risco) and the Penedo da Moura of Trandeiras (Taboada Chivite). The structure repeats: the shepherd girl, the gift, the secret, the mother who forces a confession, the disappearance and the answer in verse from the depths of the earth or well. In A Limia there are variants at Treboal (Covelas), Monte do Castelo (Os Blancos), Moreira (Xinzo), Picos (Sandiás), Cantariñas (Laioso) and Trandeiras; the Castro de Cerdeira could not be identified ^[2]. See Moors of A Limia.

The tunnels between towers

In a 2010 comment, Víctor Pérez summed up the comarca’s imaginary: "What would A Limia be without the drowned cities, the tunnels linking the towers, the Raíña Loba…?" ^[4]. See The Torre do Castro, Xinzo de Limia and Vilar de Barrio.

Links

• Legends of A Limia
• Antioquía, the drowned city
• The Raíña Loba
• Calvos de Randín

Sources

1. Xosé Calleja López, «As palabras de San Xoán retorneadas», As tradicións da Limia, 01/03/2019. https://tradicionsdalimia.es/as-palabras-de-san-xoan-retorneadas/
2. «Couto Mixto, Santiago e Rubiás», Fronteira Esquecida Limia-Lima; «Tres contos de mouras e mouros», As tradicións da Limia, 12/05/2021. https://fronteiraesquecida.eu/gl/fichas/couto-mixto-santiago-e-rubias/
3. «Miradoiro do Castelo de Celme», Fronteira Esquecida Limia-Lima; cita C. Ramírez, «Celme, enclave casi portugués», La Voz de Galicia, 20/05/2011. https://fronteiraesquecida.eu/gl/fichas/miradoiro-do-castelo-de-celme/
4. Comentario de Víctor Pérez (2010) a «A traizón da torre de Sandiás», Galicia Encantada. https://galiciaencantada.com/lenda.asp?cat=12&id=1038