Galicia Tourist Guide 2018

Rapa das Bestas in Sabucedo. A Estrada

That flocks of wild horses continue to live in the mountains today re- flects Galicia's ancestral past. Every summer these creatures' manes and tails are cut and they are dewormed . Although they roam free through the hillside, they actually have owners. During this festival, any foals that were born are marked . This job, which has become an ata- vistic tradition in various Galician towns, is a body-to-body struggle be- tweenman and horse where no sort of instrument is used to overcome them. The animals are then led down from the mountains by several peo- ple to the curros , or complexes in Rapa das bestas

The anthropological and media interest that this festival arouses each year draws a large number of spectators, who come to the curros to watch this true ethnographic per- formance . Afterwards, the horses are returned to the mountain to total freedom . The final portion of the festival is when the aloitadores and their assistants get to feast on Galician delicacies , such as empanadas, boiled octopus, and wine, all while being serenaded to traditional music played on the bagpipes and tam- bourines. Would you dare to pass up such an authentic opportunity as this one?

neighbouring towns where they are treated. Places like Viveiro , Oia, Cedeira and Mondoñedo celebrate this tradition, though Sabucedo , in Pontevedra, is perhaps the town that best preserves this unique Spanish ritual . The aloi- tadores , that is, those responsible for restraining the horses, are the true heroes in this practice into which several youths are inducted each year. One of the more peculiar aspects of this tradition is that some of the hors- es pertain to San Lorenzo, the saint to which local people pray during mass prior to setting out to round up the animals.

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