GALICIA
Galicia is a Celtic region of north-west Spain, with its own regional parliament, the Galician Council, or 'Xunta de Galicia".
This
Atlantic corner of North-west Spain, known as "the land of the 1000 rivers",
has a mountainous inland area, and a rugged coastline of cliffs, lagoons, beautiful
beaches and small islands. The landscape is dotted with ancient dolmen, hill forts,
and stone crosses and chapels. The native name for the land is Galiza, and the
people are Galegos. An ancient Celtic mother goddess named Cailleach, who's name
in Latin was 'Calaicia', is probably where the name Galicia originated, with the
Romans calling the land Gallaecia, and the people the Gallaeci. The Galician language
is one of the four official languages of Spain, spoken by most of the inhabitants
of the region. The folklore of the area shows its Celtic origins, and the traditional
musical instrument is the 'Gaita', or bagpipe. The Region's capital city is Santiago
de Compostela, and it's four provinces are A Coruna, Lugo, Ourense and Pontevedra,
with a population of almost 3 million.
The ancient people of Galiza left a stone legacy of thousands of Dolmen (three standing stones with a huge slab across the top, forming burial chambers), or 'Mamoas'. The Celtic tribes had heavily settled the area by the 5th century B.C., and lived in 'Castroes', circular fortified settlements of several buildings surrounded by a defensive ditch, normally situated on hilltops. Ancient Irish manuscripts, the 'Book of Invasions' say that after 5 groups of invaders settled in Ireland, the next arrival was by the Milesians, who's Celtic descendants were the Gaelic Irish. These people are said to have come from Galiza. Mile, the founder of that race, was married to Scota ( who may have given her name to the later Irish settlers of Scotland), and their son, Breogan , became Galicia's ancient hero. He is said to have built the oldest lighthouse in the Atlantic world at Brigantia (now A Coruna), later rebuilt by the Romans. Breagon and his sons, known as the Milesians, sailed to Ireland from here.
The Romans occupied the land for its rich mining, and left town walls and bridges that remain to this day. The Swabians ruled the land for 170 years, calling it Suevia, until overrun by Visigoths, who in 711 A.D. had their larger Spanish kingdom invaded and taken by Islamic warriors, who left Galiza largely untouched. Long after the arrival of the Christian Church, the discovery, in the Middle Ages, of the tomb of the Apostle Santiago (St.James), started the pilgrimages of thousands to the cathedral of the new town of Santiago de Compostela, and resulted in the famous 'Way of Santiago', or 'Way of St.James', with its numerous monasteries, churches, and chapels. The country was ruled by the King of Galiza and Leon, a neighbouring region, until Ferdinand 3rd, King of Castille absorbed it into his expanding kingdom.
Several hundred years later the Galician culture and language was only alive in the poorer people of the land, until a 19th century revival, which intensified into the next century. Various Nationalist parties arose in the 1920s-30s, and the Spanish parliament approved the Autonomy Statute for Galicia in 1937, but it did not come into force because of the Spanish Civil War, and Galicia finally became an Autonomous Community in 1981.
The Galician flag dates from about the 17th century, and is a white field with a diagonal blue band, featuring the coat of arms in the centre. The arms is a blue shield topped by a crown, with a yellow goblet surrounded by seven white crosses. The background was to be the national civil flag, once used by the Navy.
