Beware the Dark Lanes
If you ever visit Galicia and you decide to take a midnight stroll along a dimly lit lane that leads to a dark forest path, where the black shadows of the trees play hide and seek with the stars, take a small cross with you. And if you hear chants or a bell or smell wax, or if between the trees you see luminous shapes approach with someone bearing a cross in front of them, hide. If the person offers you the cross, simply say, "I already have one," and show him the one you are carrying. If one of the luminous shapes offers you a candle, do not accept it, but rather pray and start running. You will have been approached by the Santa Compaña . The Santa Compaña is a legend that is slowly dying out as the people who profess to have seen it become older and die. In the mountainous areas of Galicia and Asturias there are still people who claim to have seen it maybe thirty years ago, but the introduction of street lights have banished ghosts and legends. The Compaña (or Güestia o...