Santiago Syndrome

Psychiatrist, Jesús de la Gárdara, has studied 38 cases of "Santiago Syndrome" in the last 7 years. All the sufferers have 3 characteristics in common: they are affected by strong mystic feelings, fatigue from so much walking, and they have a history of psychiatric conditions.

70% of those who suffer from this syndrome which strikes while walking to Santiago are males. The average age of the sufferer is 40.

Symptoms include: psychiatric episodes, delirium and intense emotional disorders of a manic nature accompanied by paranoia.

The victims spent 10 days in a psychiatric unit in Burgos and only 4 of them continued with the walk. The rest went home.

Translated form an article in La Voz de Galicia, 27 Sep. 2007

The Hercules Legend

As most people know, Hercules, son of Zeus, was a nasty character who killed his wife and children and was punished by the oracle of Delphi. King Eurystheus set Hercules the task of tracking down Gerion.

Hercules used the same boat for his journey that the Sun had used on his travels. However, the Sun did not want to hand over the boat but decided it was for the best after a salvo of arrows from Hercules. On his voyage he had to threaten the Ocean who tried to sink his boat.

According to one version of the legend, Hercules came ashore in Galicia. After killing Eurition and his dog on Ons Island, where Gerion had taken refuge, the son of Zeus set out again in pursuit of the giant. Gerion arrived first at Punta Hermina. He raised his boat on his shoulders and climbed to a clifftop where he hid under the vessel to rest. But Hercules was smart and guessed his hideout.

The two giants had a fight to the death which lasted three days and three nights. Hercules decapitated his enemy and buried his head in the ground. This image appears in Coruña’s coat of arms with the skull and crossbones of Gerion. Hercules lit a bonfire as a sacrifice to Zeus. The bonfire was the original “lighthouse”, which would later become the Tower of Hercules. Legend claims that Hercules built the tower himself using the same stones he used for Gerion’s tomb.

In thanks, King Eurystheus ordered resettlement of the zone. One theory is that the city was called Cruña after the city’s first female inhabitant.

More Stats! Emigrants This Time

Over 325,000 Galicians living abroad have the right to vote in next month’s Spanish general election. Did you know that there has been so much emigration from Galicia to Argentina over the years that Spanish immigrants in general are known as Gallegos?

Below are the ten countries with the highest number of Galician emigrants:

Argentina (116, 682)
Venezuela (33,109)
Switzerland (29,253)
Brazil (29,156)
Uruguay (28,438)
France (16,057)
Germany (13,356)
UK (10,033)
USA (9,397)
Cuba (9,516)

Source – La Opinion 29th Jan. 2008

Cheers

As you may have noticed, there are no shortage of cafes, bars and restaurants in Spain. A report published at the end of last year, tells us that Cyprus is the only EU country with more bars per head of population. Galicia is the Spanish region with the third highest number of bars per person, with a bar for every 165.1 people. But Galicia’s neighbours have even more choice. Asturias has a bar for every 163.9 inhabitants and Castilla y León comes in second (164.9). However, the larger region of Andalusia has the most bars (35,981).

In culinary terms, Catalonia has the highest number of restaurants (11,564, although this figure also includes cafes) and for your fill of caffeine, the Valencian community has plenty of choice, with 2,324 cafes.

Source – Mercasa and INE. Info published in the Galician language daily, De lunes a venres.

Changing Times

Emmigration is a recurring theme in Galician history but nowadays more people are moving in. Immigration into Galicia has increased by ten percent in a year. Most incomers are South Americans: Brazil (8,309), Columbia (8,091), Argentina (6,390), Uruguay (4,449) and Venezuela (3,860). However, the largest single nationality group are the Portuguese (14,352). Other significant numbers of immigrants into Galicia came from Morocco and Romania. In contrast to many other parts of Spain, more French than British incomers arrived to enjoy Galician life. Although only 2.97% of the total Galician population is foreign, the immigrant population is almost double the figure of just five years ago. The figure is around 9% in Spain as a whole. Extremadura is the only autonomous community with less immigrants than Galicia.

From a report in La Voz de Galicia, 18th Jan. 2008

Fraga on Franco

"Figures of the calibre of Franco can't be judged until a certain amount of time has passed." Thirty odd years clearly isn't long enough for Manuel Fraga, Franco's former Minister for Information and Tourism and president of the Xunta (Galician Govt.) until as recently as 2005.

Shelling Out

The Galicians love of seafood goes overboard during the Christmas period. Demand is always high for the much-prized percebe or goose barnacle (pictured). This festive season, Galicians were prepared to pay up to 330 Euros per kilo for them. A more typical price was 150 Euros for 1200g for the quality Roncudo type although they could be bought for as little as €20 per kilo if you were prepared to accept the frozen version from the North Sea.

Average prices for small crabs were 40 Euros per kilo for local produce and €12.50 for frozen ones from Ireland. Larger crabs cost €60 for the local goodies and those brought from Scotland were available frozen for just over 20 Euros.

Lobsters were more pricey – around €180 per kilo fresh although you could get them for less than €30 if you were prepared to rough it with the frozen ones imported from Cuba.