The Honorary Judges of the Couto Mixto, edition by edition

Every year, on the first weekend of July, the church of Santiago de Rubiás (Calvos de Randín) hosts the event at which the Association of Friends of the Couto Mixto names the Honorary Judges of the Couto Mixto, people and organisations that helped recover the memory of that medieval republic and its relationship with Portugal. The history of the territory is in The Couto Mixto; here the tradition of the appointment is gathered according to the chronicles published by the association itself.

The ritual

According to the chronicles, the event opens with a civic procession (in 2009, led by the Xinzo de Limia band and with firework rockets) in which the Men of Agreement, the new judges and the authorities parade, and the association’s members in the traditional black cape, with embroidery and the three red keys ^[5]. The locals make a floral offering before the statue of the last judge, Delfín Modesto Brandón ^[10][12]. Then the Men of Agreement, who keep the three keys, bring from the sacristy the Chest of Memory; the record is read and the honourees are given a key (a replica of the one that opens the chest), the staff of command of the Men of Agreement and a diploma ^[6][14]. At the end, the documents generated that year are placed in the chest and the anthem of the Couto Mixto is performed ^[14][15]. In 2025 the chronicle credits the lyrics of the anthem to Armando González and the music to the artist María do Ceo, and says the event ended with a communal meal with more than 200 participants ^[13].

The Men of Agreement cited in the 2023 chronicles are Cesáreo González Veloso, Sergio Álvarez Álvarez (of Meaus) and Perfecto Rodríguez Jardón, each representing the villages of Rubiás, Meaus and Santiago ^[11].

The editions

• 2002. Constantino García González (emeritus professor at the USC, father of the Atlas Lingüístico de Galicia), Xosé González Martínez (president of the Fundación Premios da Crítica Galicia and of the Fundación Lois Peña Novo) and Antonio López Martínez, mayor of Calvos de Randín, for promoting the Couto’s heritage. That year the manifesto "Falamos unha lingua milenaria" was presented in Santiago de Rubiás, with 149 people, 17 institutions and 9 members of the Royal Academy, and a cairn of stones with words contributed from all over the country was created ^[1].
• 2006. The page gives profiles of Carlos Varela García (senior prosecutor of Galicia, founder of the association), of a journalist who directed the Casa de Galicia in Madrid and of Sergio Álvarez Álvarez, a Man of Agreement born in Meaus. The chronicle recalls that the Couto’s original archive had been destroyed by Marshal Soult in March 1809 ^[2].
• 2007. The deputies Alberto Fidalgo Francisco and Laura Seara Sobrado, for their parliamentary initiatives on the Couto; Miguel Blanco Grande, priest of Santiago de Rubiás; and Máximo Salinas Valencia, teacher and author of O Couto Mixto. O seu contorno arraiano e os pobos promíscuos ^[3].
• 2008. Celso Delgado Arce (deputy in the Congress, for supporting the non-legislative motion on the Couto), the COREN Food Group (represented by Emilio Rial) and the Minister of the Presidency, Xosé Luís Méndez Romeu (represented by the provincial delegate) ^[4].
• 2009. Antonio Lourenço Fontes, Gonzalo Jar Couselo and Xesús Rodríguez Cruz ^[5].
• 2012. The piper Carlos Núñez, the Verín-Chaves Eurocity (represented by its mayors Juan Manuel Jiménez Morán and João Gonçalves Martins) and Xosé Antón Gómez Segade, professor at the USC ^[6].
• 2015. For the first time "vicars" of the Couto were named: a musical group of girls and boys from the concellos of the Couto Mixto, for gathering young people around traditional music ^[7].
• 2018. The presidents of the Portuguese freguesias of Souteliño, Cambedo and Lamadarcos, villages that the Treaty of Lisbon of 1864 left in Portugal in exchange for the Couto, which passed to Galicia ^[8].
• 2019. Xesús Ángel Díaz Estévez ("Suso Díaz"), author of the poetry book A utopía que diluíu o vento; the ethnographer and photographer Mercedes Vázquez; and the Câmara Municipal de Melgaço, with its president Manuel Batista Calçada Pombal. The chronicle says the Secretary General of Language Policy, Valentín García Gómez, has been an honorary judge since 2017 ^[9]. According to the Deputation, on 6 July 2019 at 13:30 the association Platea Lúa performed a didactic piece on the history of the Couto Mixto, within the Gerês-Xurés Dinámico project; the previous year the activity gathered more than 200 people in the churchyard ^[16].
• 2022. The jurist Consuelo Castro Rey (State Attorney General), the doctor Armando González (author of the anthem’s lyrics) and the filmmaker Diana Gonçalves, director of the documentary Mulleres na Raia ^[10].
• 2023. Mario García Gómez, deputy in the Parliament of Catalonia; Marcos Neves, professor at the Universidade Nova de Lisboa, representing Fernando Venâncio; and the film director Ángeles Huerta González ^[11].
• 2024. Felipe Lubián, mayor of Lubián (Zamora), for his effort to maintain border identity; Celso Ferreira Fernández, craftsman of corozas; and Helena Pousa Ortega, for her study of languages along the banks of the river Miño. The association also honoured its president, Luís García Mañá, with a plaque to be placed near the church ^[12].
• 2025. The Rural Women’s Association Raiñas da Picoña (received by its president, Cristina Salgado Estévez), the Val d’Aran Entity (represented by the tourism councillor Josep Canut) and the Social, Cultural and Sports Centre of Vilarelho da Raia (its president, Carlos Silva) ^[13].
• 2026. On 4 July 2026 the Rural Women’s Association A Raia, of Baltar; the photographer Xurxo Lobato; and the linguist and writer Marco Franco Neves were named. The association added Olalla Quintairós as a new "irmandiña" and its president, Xosé González Martínez, announced that recognition of the Couto Mixto as a historic enclave will be requested ^[14][15].

Links

• The Couto Mixto
• History of A Limia
• Calvos de Randín
• Santiago de Rubiás

Sources

1. Galeguizar Galicia, «Xuíces Honorarios 2002». https://galeguizargalicia.gal/xuices_honorarios/xuices-honorarios-2002/
2. Galeguizar Galicia, «Xuíces Honorarios 2006». https://galeguizargalicia.gal/xuices_honorarios/xuices-honorarios-2006/
3. Galeguizar Galicia, «Xuíces Honorarios 2007». https://galeguizargalicia.gal/xuices_honorarios/xuices-honorarios-2007/
4. Galeguizar Galicia, «Xuíces Honorarios 2008». https://galeguizargalicia.gal/xuices_honorarios/xuices-honorarios-2008/
5. Galeguizar Galicia, «Xuíces Honorarios 2009». https://galeguizargalicia.gal/xuices_honorarios/xuices-honorarios-2009/
6. Galeguizar Galicia, «Xuíces Honorarios 2012». https://galeguizargalicia.gal/xuices_honorarios/xuices-honorarios-2012/
7. Galeguizar Galicia, «Xuíces Honorarios 2015». https://galeguizargalicia.gal/xuices_honorarios/xuices-honorarios-2015/
8. Galeguizar Galicia, «Xuíces Honorarios 2018». https://galeguizargalicia.gal/xuices_honorarios/xuices-honorarios-2018/
9. Galeguizar Galicia, «Xuíces Honorarios 2019». https://galeguizargalicia.gal/xuices_honorarios/xuices-honorarios-2019/
10. Galeguizar Galicia, «Xuíces Honorarios 2022». https://galeguizargalicia.gal/xuices_honorarios/xuices-honorarios-2022/
11. Galeguizar Galicia, «Xuíces Honorarios 2023». https://galeguizargalicia.gal/xuices_honorarios/xuices-honorarios-2023/
12. Galeguizar Galicia, «Xuíces Honorarios 2024». https://galeguizargalicia.gal/xuices_honorarios/xuices-honorarios-2024/
13. Galeguizar Galicia, «Xuíces Honorarios 2025». https://galeguizargalicia.gal/xuices_honorarios/xuices-honorarios-2024-2/
14. Galeguizar Galicia, «Xuíces Honorarios 2026». https://galeguizargalicia.gal/xuices_honorarios/xuices-e-xuizas-honorarios-do-couto-mixto-2026/
15. La Voz de Galicia (reproducida por Galeguizar Galicia), «O Couto Mixto nomea os seus novos xuíces honorarios nun acto que reivindica o seu legado histórico e transfronteirizo». https://galeguizargalicia.gal/la-voz-de-galicia-o-couto-mixto-nomea-os-seus-novos-xuices-honorarios-nun-acto-que-reivindica-o-seu-legado-historico-e-transfronteirizo/
16. Deputación de Ourense, «A Deputación colabora na promoción do Couto Mixto a través da representación dunha obra teatral sobre a súa historia» (3-07-2019). https://www.depourense.gal/index.php/actualidade/4281-a-deputacion-colabora-na-promocion-do-couto-mixto-a-traves-da-representacion-dunha-obra-teatral-sobre-a-sua-historia