O que um brasileiro deve saber sobre a Galiza e o galego

Por José Manuel Barbosa

Artigo dedicado para o amigo brasilego Paulo Soriano que leva a cabo a sua luta por dar a conhecer a Galiza aos brasileiros. Dele foi a tentativa infrutuosa de publicar este artigo num jornal do Brasil. Com muita amizade e muito agradecimento. Abraço, meu caro.

Galiza é o País dos galegos, mas a origem da palavra "galego" nada tem a ver com gente loira ou ruiva (1). Galego ou galega é a pessoa originária dum País milenar que está localizado na Península mal chamada Ibérica (2), no seu canto noroeste. Pertence politicamente à Espanha mas dir-se-ia que é o retalho que lhe falta a Portugal para chegar ao Mar Cantábrico, ou na sua zona mais ocidental, também chamado Mar Céltico.

As primeiras referências que alguém dá da Galiza são da época na que os historiadores gregos tentavam conhecer a Europa mais longínqua desde a sua perspetiva. Os nomes de Ophiusa (por ser país povoado por serpentes) (3), Oestrymnia (provavelmente por ser o País onde morriam os rios do Oeste) (4), Keltiké (pela personalidade étnica dos seus habitantes), Dragania (Terra dos dragões), ....foram nomes usados pelos cronistas clássicos, mas foi por volta do século II a.C quando no fragor das guerras lusitanas, os galegos entram na história ruidosamente. As tropas romanas chocam frontalmente na foz do Douro contra um povo que não aceita domínios imperiais. Dizem as crónicas romanas que o rio Douro passava vermelho do sangue de 60.000 soldados mortos em combate. Eram estes originários de Cale...ou Kale, hoje Vila Nova da Gaia ao Sul do Porto. Daí o céltico nome de “Kalleaikoi”, o seu gentílico, do que derivou a forma latina “Gallaeci” e daí galegos. Foi assim como a bravura duma tribo céltica da foz do Douro denominada assim, deu o nome a todos os “lusitanos” para o norte do Douro e também lhe deu o nome ao País: “Kallaikia” ou segundo a versão romana “Gallaecia”.

 O maldito romano que cometeu esse bastardo e sacrílego ato de violência era Decimus Junius Brutus, que recebeu dos seus e desde esse dia o sobrenome de “Gallaicus”, quer dizer, o Galego.

 Desde essa nefasta data da batalha do Douro de 139 a.C. até o 25 d.C em que os romanos completaram a conquista da velha Gallaecia no cerco do Monte Medúlio, passaram-se mais de século e três quartos para que os romanos pudessem dizer que esta terra era deles. Foi aí, finalmente, no Monte Medúlio onde homens, mulheres e crianças resistentes, decidiram morrer ingerindo a venenosa saiba de Teixo, uma árvore sagrada dos celtas, antes do que caírem escravos dos pervertidos romanos mediterrânicos. Ainda hoje é de difícil ubiquação esse Monte Medúlio, mas com probabilidade poderia estar nas Médulas de Carucedo, na atual comarca leonesa, embora de fala portuguesa, denominada O Berzo... ou talvez um bocado mais para o Norte, no hoje chamado Monte Cido na Comarca do Courel (5).

 A Galiza esteve quase quatro séculos dependendo de Roma. Não sem conflitos, mas finalmente com grandes achegas nos anos finais do Império. A chegada do cristianismo deu personagens como Prisciliano, a primeira vítima da repressão derivada da institucionalização da religião cristã, e de quem se diz que é realmente o sepulcro da Catedral de Compostela, não de Santiago o Maior, do qual se sabe com certeza que nunca esteve na Península Ibérica. Prisciliano, chefe duma ideia do cristianismo adaptado aos galaicos tentava sincretizar a primitiva religião galaica de raízes druídicas à nova filosofia originada na predicação de Jesus de Nazaré.

 Ainda há mais alguns personagens como a Virgem Egéria, uma mulher, provavelmente priscilianista que viajou aos Santos Lugares e que nos trouxe umas narrações conhecidas com o nome “Itinerarium Egeriae”; o historiador Paulo Orósio, contemporâneo e colaborador de Santo Agostinho de Hipona; o também historiador Hidácio Lémico bispo de Chaves (Aquae Flaviae) e furibundo inimigo dos suevos; o Imperador Teodósio e a sua mulher Aelia Flácilla, fundamentais na queda de Roma junto com os seus filhos Arcádio e Honório que passaram a governar as duas partes nas que ficou dividido o Império uma vez ocidente vê a chegada dos povos germânicos....

 A Galiza recebe com relativa tranquilidade a queda de quem a dominou quase quatrocentos anos e vê aparecer pelas suas fronteiras os Suevos, povo procedente das florestas germânicas que se estabelecem no País com uma política de “trocar a espada pelo arado” segundo as palavras do seu rei e primeiro rei da Galiza, Hermerico, com o fim de partilhar destino com os nativos. A habilidade dos dirigentes suevos que visavam a integração como fórmula para a paz e a harmonia entre galegos e suevos é eficaz e acertada. Com isto a Galiza passa-se a constituir no primeiro reino independente de Roma em 411, o primeiro em acunhar moeda, o primeiro em dar-se uma legislação com organização territorial incluída que subsiste ainda a dia de hoje no noroeste peninsular, o primeiro reino cristão e católico da Europa... Era o chamado primeiro Gallaeciense Regnum que durou desde a sua fundação em 411 até 585 em que os visigodos, instalados no centro da Hispânia anexam Galiza.

 Vão ser 126 anos em que a quase totalidade da península e parte da atual França vão estar geridos desde Toledo mas cujos reis recebiam o título de “Rex Gallaecia, Spania et Gallia”. Só até que por volta dos começos do século VIII uma guerra dinástica e o pacto entre galegos e muçulmanos norteafricanos faz com que estes últimos entrem na Europa e ocupem o que na altura era denominado por eles de “Spanija”, “Al-Ishbam” ou “Al-Andalus”, um território que coincidia com a zona de domínio visigótico e limitada pelo norte com o Mondego, o Douro e o Ebro aproximadamente. Ao norte do Mondero e do Douro ficava a velha Galiza, numa situação de vazio de poder e dividida em múltiplos poderes locais mas também os vascões e os francos que marcavam a sua presença. Ao Sul, o Islão, representado pelo poder cordovês.

 A Galiza ficou longe do poder andalusi e numa situação de desgoverno sem poder unificado mas é desde um território da atual Astúrias, onde os pequenos régulos das Primórias organizaram e emprenderam a campanha de unificar o País novamente. Em poucas décadas a Galiza voltava a ser una e as marcas da região coninbriguense voltavam a ser fronteira como em época sueva entre a Galiza e o Al-Ishbam, Spanija ou Al-Andalus (6). Esta situação durou séculos, até que um rei chamado Afonso VI anexa aos muçulmanos o reino de Toledo. É aí quando a recém nascida Castela aliada do papado junto com os conflitos entre Compostela e Braga vão fazer que a territorialidade histórica da Galiza quebre definitivamente (7).

 Castela reafirmava-se como reino opositor à Galiza, e Portugal nascia quebrando assim uma unidade histórica que dificultava todo o projeto histórico galaico. Portugal apanhava um caminho em solitário e fechava a Galiza no seu canto noroeste fazendo-a pressa fácil duma Castela depredadora que contava com o apoio dos Papas de Roma à vez que ampliava o seu território e se fazia hegemónica até o ponto de se apropriareem do nome geográfico de Hispânia ou Espanha. A Galiza acaba, depois de vários séculos de conflitos e sangue, entrando na órbita de Castela que consegue finalizar o seu labor de “pacificação” nos finais do século XV, uma década antes de os castelhanos chegarem a América.

Todo este percurso histórico não teria importância para um brasileiro se não acrescentássemos que naquela Kalláikia céltica, ocupada por uma Roma agressiva, nasceu uma língua mescla da originária língua dos Kalláikoi com o latim trazido do Lácio pelos comerciantes e soldados romanos. Foi no primeiro reino da Europa livre de romanos onde se gestou e configurou com o nome dado por alguns cientístas (8) de Galaico, um romanço que segundo alguns autores tinha duas variantes: o galaico oriental ou asturo-leonês, e o galaico ocidental ou galego-português. O primeiro gerou o castelhano na sua parte mais oriental em contato com o basco mas o segundo foi a língua romance mais importante da Europa medieval do ponto de vista literário (junto com o ocitânico), usado e cultivado tanto na Galiza, como em Portugal, Leão ou a própria Castela. A ruptura do Reino da Galiza e o surgimento dum novo reino, o de Portugal, fez com que a nossa língua pudesse ter uma expressão culta no único reino que ficou livre de Castela dentro da península hispânica e pudesse ser levada a América num ato colonial, nos séculos XVI, XVII, XVIII e XIX, fazendo com que o atual Brasil a tomasse como a sua própria língua. É esta língua, galega em origem, crioulo latino-céltico nascido na velha Kalláikia céltica a língua do Brasil atual, quinta língua mais falada do mundo, com um porvir que já desejariam para si outros países com importantes doses de poder e com um futuro promissor que não têm outras línguas extensas ou poderosas politicamente. Assim, e finalmente, podemos dizer que as raízes mais fundas do Brasil estão naquele País enevoado do canto norocidental da Hespéria que resistiu Roma quase dous séculos, que uma vez dentro de Roma deu inteletuais e pensadores de importância internacional e atemporal, que criou o primeiro Reino medieval da Europa, que safou do domínio toledano trazendo e patuando com os muçulmanos e em soma, que criou a língua mais harmónica e musical do ocidente medieval. Esse País é a Galiza e essa língua é o galego, conhecido internacionalmente com o nome de Português.

Referências:

(1)    Ainda que parece ser que aqui há mais percentagem de loiros do que no resto da Península Ibérica. Talvez algo tenha a ver o facto de serem nomeados de “galegos” ou galegas” a gente loira no Brasil...

(2)    Pois não só de Iberos de origem norteafricano está formada a Península Hispânica ou Hespérica.

(3)    Ophiusa faz referência a um País onde havia serpentes mas talvez e segundo alguns historiadores, um animal totêmico próprio da região ocidental peninsular. O culto à ofiolatria está totalmente documentado na Galiza histórica desde a noite dos tempos e ainda hoje há restos.

(4)    Oestrymnia pode-se descompor em “Oest-“ (oriente, oeste) e “Ymnia” (ou Immia que significa na língua proto-celtica “rio” ou “país de rios”). Portanto, "o Pais dos rios do Oeste".

(5)    A palavra “cido” provém do CAEDERE latino que significa matar, donde CAEDO significa “exterminar”, “imolar” e CAEDE-IS significa “matança”, “carnificina”.

(6)    A região coninbriguense mudou várias vezes da Galiza para Al-Andalus. Em total dez, mas sempre gerida por um poder político moçárabe, quer dizer, de religião cristã embora fosse dependente às vezes de Córdova.

(7)    A unidade de todo o Gallaeciense Regnum ficou por vezes partida mas sempre provisoriamente já que recuperava a sua territorialidade completa graças aos aconteceres políticos da época. 

(8)   Os cientístas em questão são Carvalho Calero ou Rodrigues Lapa. Da mesma forma, Eugén Coseriu denomina a essa língua com o nome de “galaico-astur”.

Galician Washerwoman

By David Outeiro

I remember the first time they told me about an encounter with her ...

It was one of the first afternoons of the autumn of 2011. I had the idea of visiting the hill fort of Pena Rubia, where an altar devoted to the goddess Návia appeared. Drove my Terrano as usually because that day, like so many others, I would have to go to an area where only four-wheel drive vehicles could reach and so I came to the vicinity of the Minho River, which in those days had little water. I used a road that went through a beautiful Oak forest, crossed to the other shore and soon I was able to clearly see the hill fort, even before seeing the sign that indicated that I was entering in it. At the entrance of the ancient Celtic city there was a granary with a Celtic cross and a rooster by its side. Near the hórreo (old granary) there was an elderly man sitting, looking at me; my intuition led me to make a stop and so I parked my car. I sat on the bench where he was and we started talking, he told me of a concern that I shared, the fact that many weeks have passed without rain, a situation that had left everything dry. We continued to talk and he told me that at the time he was the owner of the hill fort but he seemed to know nothing about the altar to Návia ... or of any stone with engraved letters, since I used those same words to ask him the question. The man told me about a mamoa (megalithic funeral monument) that I was looking for me and he signaled the top of a mountain. When the time came for me to go, it was already a bit late and I still had to climb to the top so I said goodbye telling him that I would come to see him again.

It didn’t take me long to go back there and I was so lucky that I found the man again in that same place, the slope that leads to the hill fort. I went to talk to him again, to greet him and the conversation lasted for a long time. I asked him about the legends of the area, but he said he didn´t know any. But, there was a moment when he told me: ".... but yes, there are some tales." I listened carefully and he told me of the people of Pena Rubia that had listened to the trasno (goblin); he also told me about a "curse" affecting a man that removed stones from the hill fort without "gift from the church"; he told me about those searching for treasures in the maounds of the area. I had the perception that what the man was telling me were not legends to him, it was a reality that was transmitted in order to be told in front of the fireplace ... When the conversation was drifting into different things, thanks to the increased trust; he ended up telling me of an encounter with a mysterious and powerful woman. He was telling the story of a man settled in that area that was walking through one of the paths of those hills. For once, he witnessed something strange: a woman appeared in the middle of the way sitting while sppining. The man could not pass what so he said to the woman in a sort of rude manner: "Step away or I will move you away!?” The woman refused to get out of the way, stood up and began fighting with the man. While they were fighting they started rolling down the slope to the river. The man realized that he would probably lose as he realized that this was a supernatural woman and so he began "making crosses." By making the crosses, the man managed to free himself from her. Angrily she replied that: "If you had not “made crosses”, I would have killed you." This was a woman who spun (the fate of men), a powerful warrior who led the men to the Beyond by crossing the river! ...

A pagan woman who only Christianity (crosses) could stop ... although she was still there! She was Návia Corona! Morrigan!, The warrior goddess and augur of death!. That man did not know the altar, but it seems that someone in the same place where the tomb appeared encountered the same goddess!

We will continue to complete our puzzle ...
There is a beautiful romance gathered in Cerdedo in the year 1904 by Vítor Said Armesto of an old beggar called Luzia Domingues. The romance that became a music by "Fuxan os ventos" talks about of a mythological figure, “ a Lavandeira”( the laundress)... it says:

In Galician mythology, the Lavandeira is a female spirit, a supernatural woman who belongs to the other side, to the other world. This apparition manifests itself at the edge of rivers or even in washhouses. It is a fearsome-looking woman, old and wrinkled according to what some say. Emits horrible voices, laments and screams ... while washing bloody clothes. This is the clothing of those who will die soon; the Lavandeira brings augurs or omens of death, so her warning is feared. When she is found, this apparition can ask for help washing the clothes to those who find her. In case of accepting the petition the unfortunate should drain the clothes by twisting them the opposite direction to the one she chooses, if they do it in the same direction their deaths will be sure and she will eventually lead them to the  other world, the Beyond.

 On the island of Ons, on the cost of Ogrobe, stories are told of a man who dared to come close to the Lavandeira, more than one in this case, because he found three women washing their clothes one night. He got closer out of curiosity and asked them what they were doing washing their clothes at those hours. One of them stood up and picking the man by his clothes threw him effortlessly into the thorny bushes. Fear paralyzed him in such a way that he stayed there all night until the neighbors got him out of there in the morning. In Ireland there is "the Washer-Woman at the ford" (Lavandeira do vão) or the Banshee (Women of the Sidh). The Banshees like our Lavandeiras are an augur of death. They also wash their clothes full of blood producing the same laments and screams. They may appear as young, beautiful women, like a dame or as a fearsome old lady, a curious triple aspect of the goddess similar to the apparition on the Island of Ons. She can also appear in the form of a viaraz raven, stoat, hare or weasel. The banshees have the particularity of being linked to some important families. When someone from the family is about to die, the Banshee associated with the clan starts crying. The apparition of several banshees at the same time indicates the death of someone important or sacred.In Scotland is known as the Bean Nighe or Nigheadaireachd. They also appear washing clothes in rivers or lakes of those who will die. They have some curious particularity, sometimes they appear with palmed feet like aquatic birds. In Celtic beliefs, such birds are related to messengers from the Beyond. Perhaps because of the nature of birds and the fact that they live in an aquatic environment, they are in the threshold of the Beyond. If someone can breastfeed from her chest, that person will become her adopted son and can make a wish, such as knowing the name of those who will die. The writer Dorothy K. Haynes tells a story of an encounter with one of these women that happened to a girl named Mary. One day the young girl was returning to her home when she heard a noise in the river. She thought she would find her mother washing clothes but instead she found a woman with a harsh face with small palm feet like a duck. Carefully Mary tried to get closer but the woman hit her. Because of that, Mary's legs were paralyzed and she could not walk having to stand still in the path. Her mother managed to find here after an agonizing search and took her home. The story has a tragic end with the death of Mary. The Bean Nighe ... was washing the clothes of that same girl.

In Wales she is known by the name of Cyhyraeth (ghost or skeleton). It is an augur of death that emits a voice that sounds three times, a triple warning that is pronounced with less intensity each time. Here we can also find reference to the fact of having to wash the clothes in the opposite direction to the one of the person who can find her. In doing so you are granted 3 wishes.
In the Armorican Brittany she is know under the name of Tunnerez noz. Like other similar apparitions, she washes in the river the clothes of those who will die, waiting for someone to fall into the trap so that they can be taken to the Beyond.
As we can see, these apparitions have identical or very similar characteristics in the Celtic lands of Galicia, Scotland, Wales, Ireland and Brittany.
But now it is time to unveil the identity of the ancient Lavandeiras. According to the sagas of the Celtic warrior, the hero Cúchulainn, Badb presented itself to him before the last battle of the warrior as an augur of death. Cúchulainn will face his last battle, when it’s said;
"Not far away from the castro (of Emain Macha) they found a beautiful damsel, well proportioned, in front of Áth in Foraire in the chaira of Emain that was moaning and complaining at the same time while crushing and washing red remains of chunks of meat of wounds on the side of a ford. "
The druid Cathbad interpreted this as an omen and told Cuchulain that the woman is Ingin Baidbhi, daughter Badb, and that the washing and yelling are augurs of his death:
"-Small dog-says Cathbad. Do you know what the girl is doing? She is washing your clothes. Her cries and screams while washing your clothes are her way of expressing your death when you face Medb's army. Take my advice and go back.
-Dear master ... I deeply appreciate your advice, but you know, like I know, that my end is near and I'll go down fighting. Do not to make me avoid it, because if I join this battle or not, my death fighting will be near anyway.”
There is another saga that speaks of King Cormac and where Badb also appears bringing augurs of death. The following quote is from the saga "Togail Bruidne Da Choca":
"... Cormac Connloingeas, son of Conchobar mac Nessa, king of Ulster, is on his way from Connacht to Ulster to be crowned after the death of his father and like Cúchulainn, fate forces him to break during the trip several geissa (taboos) that the druid Cathbad had told him when he was born. When he and his 300 followers arrive at the River Shannon, they find a red woman on the side of a red ford, washing her chariot of war, the seats and the harnesses. When she lowered her hand, the river water turned red. But when she lifted her hand over the top of the water, not a drop remained in the river, since all the water was raised allowing them to cross the river without getting the feet wet ".There is a story of war much more recent, which took place in Scotland. In the "Cáithréim Thoirdhealbhsigh" we can find the Battle of Dystert O'Dea that took place on May 3, 1318 where Badb appears:
"Richard de Clare, the chief of the Normans, was heading to what he believed would be an easy victory over the O'Deas Dystert. When he and his army were ready to cross the River Fergus, they saw on a ford of the river a horrible Badb washing the armors and luxurious covers that had red blood falling that dyed the waters of the river. De Clare asked an Irish interpreter to ask the woman to whom these armors and clothing belonged. She replied "they were armor, robes and other garments from Clare himself, his children and the rest of his followers, many of which would die soon." The woman identified herself as “In Dodárbrónach- the dark of the waters" . De Clare then gave order to ignore the woman, saying that she had come to benefit the Clan Turlough stopping the expedition against them. Finally the prophecy would be fulfilled and De Clare and his men were defeated and killed ... "

The "Cáithréim Thoirdhealbhsigh" also speaks of the appearance of the Badb in the battle of Corcomroe Abbey, North Clare, on August 15, 1317.
The Irish king is visited by Aoibheall, a Badb. Quoting Manuel Alberro in " Diosas celtas"(Celtic godesses):
"In a XII century description of the Battle of Clontarf (1014) that ended the war with the Vikings and their power in Ireland, Aoibheall appeared to Brian Ború, Supreme King of Ireland, the night before the battle, and predicted that he would die in this battle, and that the first of his children that he would see in the morning of the battle would be his successor and the next king.”
We said before that Badb presents itself in the form of a laundress (Lavandeira) woman but, as its name suggests, it is also a viaraz raven. In the Galician beliefs the raven is a beast of ill omen, because it’s a messenger of the Beyond that can announce death. There is also the belief in the "bird of death", which presents itself during the night, complaining, speaking with a mournful voice or singing. The owl can also give this warning .Says Taín Bo Cuailnge:
"The Morrigan assumed the form of bird on a vertical rock that was in Temair Cuailnge. And he said (the Dom Cuailnge);
(...)Ravens over the bloody bodies, plains full of dead warriors, heroic warriors slaughtered by dust, endless war, cattle trampling, battles in Cuailnge the ominous laments of Badb in the twilight of the battlefield, dead children, dead husbands, dead comrades, death! death! "
The goddess also appears to Cúchulainn on one occasion in the form of a raven, saying the warrior:-The appearance of a bird in this place is very bad omen!
We also know that the death of Cúchulainn comes (after the apparition of the Lavandeira) when a raven lies on top of him.

The goddess of death appeared before the hero over the course of his life with a positive purpose on one occasion:
"The Morrigan, at the time of Cúchulainn, was accustomed to interfere in the affairs of Ireland, instigating wars and fighting’s. She was the one that raised Cúchulainn on one occasion, when he was very young, over his bed and when he was about to give in to the magic spell used against him. "
As we can observe, Morrigan (Great Queen), Badb (viaraz raven) and Macha (A chaira) are three "grim" manifestations of the same goddess. A goddess that does not participate directly in the war but interferes with the end results with her magic in the shape of a viaraz raven. The one that brings augurs of death and usually appears in the form of a Lavandeira (laundress). A goddess closely linked with death and therefore with transformation, rebirth, and the end of a cycle. Her connection to waterways is clear, because in the Celtic world they represent a threshold, a boundary that allows us to make a transition to the Beyond.We see the obviousness of being a common divinity in Celtic religions. So, the Lavandeira also appears in Galicia, as the result of a common origin. In my opinion, this is the identity of Návia that in an altar is accompanied by the epithet Corona, ie, female leader of an army. That's why there are also rivers with her name, because that was a place of transit to the Beyond where the goddess could appear. In the next articles we will speak of many more evidences.
In Gaul she appears with the name of Cathubodva Bodua and may be the same Nantosvelta which has been represented in association with the viaraz raven.
Millenniums and centuries went by and today in Galicia, the Morrigan, the Great Queen continues to be present.

 

Note: There is confusion about the association of Badb with the corvids. The crow (Corvus corax) and the viaraz raven (Corvus corone) are not the same species. In my opinion, Badb is associated with Lugh and to the Corvus corone and Lugh to the Corvus corax, of larger size.