Queimada
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- For the film by Gillo Pontecorvo, see Burn!.
Queimada is an alcoholic beverage of Galician tradition.
Queimada has origins in the Pagan festivals of Galicia. It is a punch made from Galician aguardiente (Orujo Gallego) - a spirit distilled from wine and flavoured with herbs or coffee, plus sugar, lemon peel, coffee beans and cinnamon.
Traditionally while preparing the punch a spell or incantation is recited, so that special powers are conferred to the queimada and those drinking it. Then the queimada is set alight, and slowly burns as more brandy is added.
Alonso del Real mentions the origins of queimada. Mention of queimada is found in Celtic, Roman, Visigothic, and Arabic literature. There is also evidence of the queimada tradition in the eleventh or twelfth century, around the time of the construction of Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela.
[edit] Tradition
The finality of the preparation ritual is to distance the bad spirits that, according with the tradition, lie in wait for men and women to try to curse them. All occasions are good for a queimada: a party, familiar meetings or gatherings of friends. After dinner, in the darkness of night (one of the best times for it), the people who take part in it gather around the container where it is prepared, ideally without lights, to cheer up the hearts and to be better friends. One of them ends the process of making the queimada while reciting the spell holding up the burning liquid in a ladle and pouring it slowly back into the container.
[edit] Spell
| In Galician language | In English |
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Mouchos, curuxas, sapos e bruxas. Demos, trasgos e diaños, espíritos das neboadas veigas. Corvos, píntegas e meigas: feitizos das menciñeiras. Podres cañotas furadas, fogar dos vermes e alimañas. Lume das Santas Compañas, mal de ollo, negros meigallos, cheiro dos mortos, tronos e raios. Ouveo do can, pregón da morte; fuciño do sátiro e pé do coello. Pecadora lingua da mala muller casada cun home vello. Averno de Satán e Belcebú, lume dos cadáveres ardentes, corpos mutilados dos indecentes, peidos dos infernais cus, muxido da mar embravecida. Barriga inútil da muller solteira, falar dos gatos que andan á xaneira, guedella porca da cabra mal parida. Con este fol levantarei as chamas deste lume que asemella ao do Inferno, e fuxirán as bruxas a cabalo das súas vasoiras, índose bañar na praia das areas gordas. ¡Oíde, oíde! os ruxidos que dan as que non poden deixar de queimarse no augardente quedando así purificadas. E cando este beberaxe baixe polas nosas gorxas, quedaremos libres dos males da nosa alma e de todo embruxamento. Forzas do ar, terra, mar e lume, a vós fago esta chamada: se é verdade que tendes máis poder que a humana xente, eiquí e agora, facede que os espíritos dos amigos que están fóra, participen con nós desta Queimada. |
Owls, white-owls, toads and witches. Demons, goblins and devils, spirits of the misty vales. Crows, salamanders and mages, charms of the medics. Rotten pierced canes, home of worms and vermins. Wisps of the Holy Company, evil eye, black witchcraft, scent of the dead, thunders and lightnings. Howl of the dog, omen the death, maws of the satyr and foot of the rabbit. Sinful tongue of the bad woman married to an old man. Satan and Beelzebub's Inferno, fire of the burning corpses, mutilated bodies of the indecent ones, farts of the arses of doom, bellow of the enraged sea. Useless belly of the unmarried woman, speech of the cats in heat, dirty turf of the wicked born goat. With this bellows I will pump the flames of this fire which looks like from Hell, and witches will flee, straddling their brooms, going to bathe in the beach of the thick sands. Hear! Hear the roars of those that cannot stop burning in the firewater, getting so that purified. And when this beberage goes down our throats, we will get free of the evil of our soul and of any charm. Forces of air, earth, sea and fire, to you I make this call: if it's truth that you have more power than human people, here and now, make the spirits of the friends who are outside, take part with us in this Queimada. |
