The Legend of The Rooster of Barcelos
The Legend of The Rooster of Barcelos
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IndexWhat is a legend?O Galo de BarcelosThe Legend of the
Rooster of BarcelosCultural ContextBarcelosPortugalThe PilgrimThe
JudgeFake ElementsChristianityWhat does it explain?It looks
differentThe Rooster in SpaceBibliography
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What is a legend?
A legend is a semi-true story, which has been passed on from
person-to-person and has an important meaning or symbolism for the
culture in which it originates. A legend usually includes an
element of truth, or is based on historic facts, but with 'mythical
qualities'. Legends usually involve heroic characters or fantastic
places and often encompass the spiritual beliefs of the culture in
which they originate.As an example we have the legend of
Atlantis
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O galo de Barcelos
The Galo de Barcelos is the unofficial national symbol of
Portugal.It symbolizes honesty, integrity, trust and honor.The
construction of the touristic image of the country, makes it the
strongest artistic expression of the Minho region. The image of the
Galo de Barcelos arises at this point, combined with a modern
Portugal, committed to its universalization, as a tourist
destination, and it is assumed, definitely, as a symbol of national
identity beyond the borders of the county that gave it its
name.4
The legend of the Rooster of
Barceloshttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XAeyzPpn7_s#t=60
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XAeyzPpn7_s#t=60Rooster =
Cock5
Cultural Context
Barcelos in the 16th century
Calvary
This legend is thought to have happened in the mid 16th century,
in the Kingdom of Portugal, more specifically in the small town of
Barcelos. There are two many references we can do to relate this
story to current information. Firstly, the reference to the route
of Santiago (as shown in the video) that is an important pilgrimage
route related to Christian beliefs. Secondly, the place where the
accused pilgrim would be hung which is a Calvary from the seventeen
hundreds (shown in the slide) that is part of the collection of the
Archaeological Museum, located in the Palace of the Counts of
Barcelos6
Barcelos
Palace of the Counts of Barcelos
Barcelos is a city and a municipality inBraga District, in the
north ofPortugal. The population is approximately 120400
citizens,in an area of 378.90km.With 61 parishes, it is the
municipality with the highest number of parishes in the country. It
is one of the growing municipalities in the country, and is well
known by its textile andadobeindustries.The city has old routes,
existing since the time of the Roman Empire, 2000 years ago. Its a
city that balances the modern living with tradition, having a lot
of regional and traditional food from the North, as well as
medieval architecture and one of the most important national
symbols, the rooster of Barcelos. Its also considered the
handicraft capital of Portugal.7
Portugal
As the rooster of Barcelos is more than a local symbol, but more
of a national symbol, heres a bit of Portugal:Portugal, officially
thePortuguese Republic, is a country in southwest Europe. The
country is named after its second largest city,Porto, whose name
derives from a combination ofLatin"Portus", and
theCelticplace-name"Cale".By 1139, Portugal established itself as
akingdomindependent fromLen.Following its heyday as a global
maritime power during the 15th and 16th centuries, Portugal lost
much of its wealth and status with the destruction of Lisbon in a
1755 earthquake, occupation during the Napoleonic Wars, and the
independence of Brazil, its wealthiest colony, in 1822. A 1910
revolution deposed the monarchy; for most of the next six decades,
repressive governments ran the country. In 1974, a left-wing
military coup installed broad democratic reforms. The following
year, Portugal granted independence to all of its African colonies.
Portugal is a founding member of NATO and entered the EC (now the
EU) in 1986.8
The Pilgrim
To talk about both of the most important characters, we cant
talk about them as specific persons but as a representation of what
is the pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela (Pilgrim) and about the
Portuguese justice in the 16th century (Judge).Firstly, the
pilgrim. Hes mentioned as going to Santiago de Compostela. That
specific is a Christian pilgrimage, where people walk to the city
to go see James the Greater, a Christian saint. For that, not only
we can see that it would be very unlikely for a pilgrim to steal,
but also his determination and belief that he would be saved by
Christ, because he had done nothing wrong.9
The Judge
An image of Christ
About the Judge, we have a character representing justice, more
specifically the Portuguese justice in the 16th century.The case
was handled by a judge, because even not being a very important
case, it was generating a lot of buzz.The case wasnt however being
handled with much justice, since the only thing the judge was
trying to do was to end all that mess. As he had absolute power (in
that decision) and the pilgrim was easy to blame (since no one
would protest) and it would solve a lot problems, the pilgrim was
unfairly condemned. This shows us the unfair trials a person would
have to sustain, since the Portuguese justice wasnt that fair, as
it was based on trust and easy solutions, specially in a small case
like this one.Also the punishments were very rudimentary, where
even in a small offense without major significance would be
sentenced to death (however that part is historically inaccurate
since only the king was able to condemn people to death by
hanging).10
Fake Elements
When it comes to this legend, we have as a very important fact
that the trial he had wasnt fair, but that it was a condition to
the happening of the legend.The fake element is, definitely, the
way the cock that came back to life magically.This element is
obviously the most important part of the tale, as it defines the
symbol coming out of it.However, I believe the story was very
altered from what actually happened. Probably, the judge just
regretted what he did, and changed his final decision, being the
actual story just a normal case that has been altered to perpetuate
the human magic of guilt, where the judges consciousness led him to
do the right thing.11
Christianity
With about 2.1 billion followers nowadays, Christianism is the
largest religion in the world. The religion began through the
teachings of Jesus of Nazareth, considered the savior of the human
race. The followers of Jesus are called "Christians and their holy
book is the Holy Bible.Jesus Christ was born in Bethlehem, Judea
(Palestine), about the year 6 BC. His moral teachings, as the love
of God and neighbor, made his life to become an example to be
followed. At 33, Jesus was crucified unjustly and rose on the third
day.
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What does it explain?
This legend, as many other in Portugal, is based on Christian
beliefs, explaining not the origin of the Christian belief in
Barcelos, but a miracle made by Christ. As the supposed story
happened in the 16th century, the Christian religion was already
well spread throughout the hole country, being this more of a
confirmation of the existence of God, Christ and Saints that are
capable of making miracles to perpetuate the values of Christians,
like truth and honesty.13
It looks different
Before ending this assignment I think that probably you already
know a lot about this tale, however in case you do more
investigation, dont forget that you might not only find different
ideas and thoughts but also different versions of the legend all
over the web, because the story has hundreds of years. The reason
why, between all of those versions I chose the one previously
presented to base my work was simply because it was a simple way
for you to really get the story.
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The Rooster in
Spacehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vAxSz3ZBpNI
URL - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vAxSz3ZBpNI15
Bibliographywww.youtube.comwww.cm-barcelos.ptwww.wikipedia.comwww.cia.govwww.portomission.commyths.e2bn.orgwww.americo.net
Toms Pinto, 9A, Conservatrio de Msica do PortoProjeto
desenvolvido no mbito do projeto ErasmusAno letivo 2014/2015
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