What's with Portugal and
Barcelos and the cock? You may ask...
In Lisbon, since November 6th
of this year, you can see a huge cock near the Tejo river.
I don't know what you're thinking but I referring to
the animal, the one that sings every morning, the husband of the chicken, cócórócó…
From our artist Joana Vasconcelos - the one who showed
the world her art, in the 2005 Venice Biennale, through The Bride (A Noiva), a 20 ft. high chandelier made of over
25,000 OB tampons – emerged in Ribeira das Naus (let’s translate as Brook of Ships) Pop Galo (Pop Cock) a giant rooster made of tiles and led’s lights (…artists
right?)
But why this animal?
It’s a Portuguese symbol. Specially in Barcelos (a
city in the north of our country). And we love it!
But why?
To answer your question I have to tell you another
story! How wonderful!
Once upon a time in Barcelos…
Several crimes where occurring in this town (it was a
small town that time) and a Spanish man was wrongly accused of them.
No one believed him when he said he was just passing
by in his pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela, and the judge sentenced him to death by
hanging.
Desperate, he asked to have a final word to the judge.
Even though the judge was about to start his dinner, a wonderful rooster, he
accepted the presence of the Spanish man.
Being such a religious man, he had faith the judge
would change his mind.
But he didn’t.
Then, in despair, he just screamed his
last words:
“I
am innocent. It is so certain that I am innocent, as it is certain that this
cock crows when I am hanged”
You can imagine what happen in the story…
The Spanish man was about be hanged when the rooster
crowed and the judge stopped the hanging.
The man was released and, the year after, he came back
to the town to build the Monumento do Senhor do Galo (something like: the monument of the lord of the rooster)
in honor to the Virgem Maria e Santiago (Virgin Mary and Santiago).
And now, because of a spanish man, we have a cock as a
symbol of our country…
Nevertheless, the statue is beautiful and you should see
it specially after December 1st, when all Lisbon is ornamented with Christmas
lights.
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| Old Postcard - Monumento do Senhor do Galo |
 | |
| This is our famous rooster, from Barcelos |
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| And this is the our huge cock. We like it big! |
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