This is the case of “A Santa”, a polychrome wood sculpture with which Asorey participated in 1926 in the National Exhibition of Fine Arts in Madrid and was the object at that time of strong discussions for its original nature. The creator was inspired by the women of the Galician rural world to break the aesthetic canons and get away from the feminine ideal of the time, something that earned him much applause, but also criticism. The realism of the nude represented by Asorey, with the marks of hard agricultural work very present and elements such as the yoke that also invited a deeper reflection on the meaning of the work, were some of the reasons for a controversy that was spread by the press of the time. The division of opinions faced those who emphasized their realism and daring and described Asorey as an artist of exceptional faculties, with whom disqualified the aesthetic sense of the work.

Although it was not “A Santa” but a sculpture of San Francisco that allowed Asorey to get the first medal of that exhibition, the controversial piece aroused interest on the other side of the Atlantic. It was acquired by the House of Galicia of Montevideo and embarked from Vigo to America in 1951, continent in which it has remained until the present time. Now, almost 70 years after its departure, the transgressive sculpture is going to come back to Galicia and will do so thanks to an agreement reached by the Consellería de Cultura e Turismo and the House of Galicia of the Uruguayan capital.

“A Santa” will be one of the main pieces of “Galicia, a story of the world”, the first great exhibitions programmed by the Xunta on the occasion of Xacobeo 2021. This exhibition, curated by the journalist and disseminator Manuel Gago and who also has the advice of the historian Pilar Cagiao Vila and the collaboration of the Consello da Cultura Galega and the Secretaría Xeral de Emigración, will allow to contemplate in the Gaiás Center Museum more than 300 creations of great symbolic importance for Galicia. It will be inaugurated on November 14th and can be visited until April 12th, 2020.

AMAL Euro-Arab Film Week

October 22th to 26th. Santiago de Compostela

Amal, is an Arabic word that can be translated as hope and that gives its name to the Euro-Arab film festival that has been held in Compostela for 17 years. A bridge between cultures that will be laid again this week.

More information here

Pixies in concert

October 26th. A Coruña

One of the most important bands in the history of indie-rock, the Pixies, visits Galicia this week to offer a concert in A Coruña. The group led by Frank Black will perform in the Coliseo some of his best-known songs alongside the songs from his latest album.

More information here

Astronomy for children

October 21th. Áxel Casal Library

The activities of the Month of Astronomy organized by the Ramón María Aller Astronomical Observatory of the USC and the Ánxel Casal Public Library with the sponsorship of the Xunta through the O Teu Xacobeo program invite the childs to observe the sky. On Monday 21th a children’s workshop will be held for children between 7 and 10 years old.

More information here

Opera in Vigo

October 27th. Vigo

The opera returns to Vigo this Sunday with the representation of “Il barbiere di Siviglia” by Rossini, in the framework of the Lyric Outono program. The Vigo 430 Symphony Orchestra will put the musical accompaniment to the cast headed by Carlos Daza and Laura Verrecchia.

More informationhere

FIOT

Until the end of October. Carballo

The International Theater Autumn Festival faces its penultimate week of performances with two new premieres: “El electo”, with Manu Barqueiro and Antonio Mourelos (Friday 25th and Saturday 26th), and “Hamlet”, with Jorge Cruz, Susana Nunes, Ramón de Los Santos and Tiago Viegas (Sunday 27th).

More information here

Música en Camiño

October 26th and 27th. Portas and Santiago de Compostela

The cycle organized by the Rede de Universidades da Eurorregación Galicia-Norte de Portugal (CEER) takes music this weekend to two other spaces related to the Camino. The Briallos hostel, in Portas (Saturday 26th), and the University Church, in Santiago de Compostela (Sunday 27th).

More information here

San Froilán Rally

October 25th to 27th. Lugo

The engines will roar this weekend in Lugo with the celebration of the San Froilán Rally, a veteran event that already has 41 editions. Participants must travel a total of 379 kilometers, of which 91 will correspond to 8 timed sections.

More information here

“Swan Lake”

October 22th, 23th, 24th and 26th. Vigo, Pontevedra, Santiago de Compostela and A Coruña

The Russian National Ballet brings to Galicia a ballet classic, “Swan Lake”, with music by Piotr Tchaikovsky, libretto by Vladimir Beghitchev and Vasili Geletzer, and choreography by Marius Petipa.

More information here

Romaría da Barca

September 15th. Muxia

Tradition dictates that the Romaría da Barca is celebrated on the second Sunday of September, unless it will be on 8thdat. In that case the central day of the celebrations is delayed until Sunday 15th. This will happen this year, although as usual in the previous days many pilgrims will walk to Muxía as a sign of devotion to the Virxe. The religious section of this festival declared of national tourist interest will also be accompanied by ancestral rites related to the stones situated close to the sanctuary and to which miraculous properties are attributed, and by a wide musical offer.

More information here

Festa de Xesús O Nazareno

September 14th to 17th. A Pobra do Caramiñal

Also known as the Festa das Mortallas this celebration of tourist interest is the most popular in the municipality of A Pobra and has crossed borders through by the procession that is celebrated during its central day. Every third Sunday of September, thousands of people come to the town to accompany the saint in procession and contemplate the empty coffins that are taken in the procession as an offering by some people who were entrusted to the Nazarene to save their lives. It is a tradition that started in the fifteenth century.

More information here

WOS Festival

September 11th to 15th. Santiago de Compostela

Different locations in the Galician capital (two museums, two theaters, a church, the City of Culture and the SGAE Foundation, among other spaces) open their doors again to the WOS Festival x SON Estrella Galicia. The event, born 6 years ago, will combine music with other disciplines such as cinema, and will also open spaces for debate.

More information here

Espazos Sonoros

September 14th. Tui

The Espazos Sonoros cycle visits the town of Tui on Saturday with a double proposal. In the morning, there will be a route on both banks of the Miño River to learn about the organist tradition of the border between Galicia and Portugal: Viana do Castelo, the monastery of San Martiño de Tibaes and Tui. In the afternoon, in the cathedral of Tui will act the austrian organist Michael Schöch.

More information here

Festa da Guadalupe

Since Friday 13th. Rianxo

The festive atmosphere will take the town of Rianxo for ten days to honor its patron, the Virxe da Guadalupe. This weekend they will be celebrate some of the highlights of the program, such as the Rock in Rian festival: Saturday 14th, with the participation of Reincidentes, Dios ke te Crew, Festicultores, Ebri Knight, Mekánika Rolling Band and La Duendeneta. On Sunday 15th it will be the turn of the maritime procession.

More information here

Festival Cantos na Maré

September 13th to 15th. Pontevedra

For more than a decade, the Festival Cantos na Maré has been building musical bridges between the Lusophone world from the city of Lérez. The Cape Verdean artist Mayra Andrade, the pianist Clara Peya, the Portuguese singer Maria Joao and the group Enredadas, formed by Uxía, Carmen París, Martirio and Ugia Pedreira, are the first confirmations of the poster of this edition.

More information here

XiriaPop

September 13th and 14th. Carballo

What started two decades ago as a celebration party for the local handball team has become, over time, an almost cult musical event that runs away from the conventional proposal. This year Billy Bremner’s Rockfiles, The Surfin Burritos, La Granja, Basanta, Gūtara KYŌ, La Secta and Superser will be on stage.

More information here

FeneRock

September 13th to 15th. Fene

King Sapo, Ruxe Ruxe and Sôber are some of the groups that will put the music to the new edition of the Festival Fene Rock. The concerts will be on Friday 13th and Saturday 14th at night, and Sunday 15 at noon.

More information here

Romería dos Milagres de Caión

September 8th. Caión (A Laracha)

As every September 8th, the sanctuary dos Milagres de Caión, in the municipality of A Laracha, A Coruña, becomes an attraction for hundreds of people. The pilgrims will not only be able to attend the masses that will be celebrated throughout the day, but they will also be able to approach the fountain located in the access to the sanctuary and check the healing properties attributed to its waters.

More information here.

Sinsal Festival 

September 7th and 8th. Vigo

In June it was the island of San Simón that opened its doors to celebrate the Sinsal festival. Now it is the turn of the Museo do Mar de Galicia which, for the second consecutive year, joins this original proposal that also serves to value maritime heritage. To attend the concerts on Saturday 7th (from 7:00 p.m. to 1:30 a.m.) it is necessary to purchase tickets, but the session on Sunday 8th (12:30) will be open access until the capacity is reached.

More information here.

Feira Franca in Pontevedra

September 6th and 7th. Pontevedra

Pontevedra says goodbye to the summer with its traditional Feira Franca, a celebration that is inspired by the times of King Henry IV. Throughout the weekend artisans, merchants, ladies and gentlemen will take the streets of the monumental area to receive thousands of people and commemorate that tax-free market established in the mid-fifteenth century.

More information here.

Festival de la Luz

September 6th to 8th. Boimorto

Three days of live music for a solidarity purpose. That is the essence of the Festival de la Luz, which for this edition has brought together some of the most prominent artists of the state scene. Celtas Cortos and Egon Soda (Friday 6), Luz Casal, Cepeda and Delaporte (Saturday 7) and Rayden, Orquesta Mondragón, Mikel Erentxun and Amparanoia (Sunday 8) are just a small sample of the musical offer of this festival whose collection will be distributed between the Anxiños and Asanog associations.

More information here.

Festa da Queima das Fachas de Castelo

September 7th. Taboada

Huge wooden stakes covered with vegetable strips are the protagonists of a tradition that dates back to the “castreña” era and that in the parish of Santa María de Castelo has lasted until today. This Saturday the neighbors will return to take the Facades to the top of an old castro to set it on fire and thus give the starting signal to the parties of the place.

More information here.

Romaría da Virxe da Franqueira

September 8th. A Cañiza

Months after the celebration of the Romería de las Pascualillas, devotion and tradition return to gather a crowd in the Sanctuary of Santa María da Franqueira on the occasion of the Pilgrimage of September, or the Nativity of the Virgin. In this case, the most unique elements of the celebration are the procession, since the image of the Virgin is transported in a car drawn by decked oxen; the traditional dances and the recreation of the fight between a Christian and a Moor that appears collected in a parchment of the 17th century.

More information here.

Darbo Ancestral Dances

September 8th. Cangas

Danza and Contradanza de Darbo will close this Sunday the annual cycle of the ancestral dances of Cangas, that also includes the dances of Aldán (January 20) and Hío (August 16). In the case of Darbo, this ethnographic manifestation dates back at least to the 16th century and is danced at two different moments of a day of pilgrimage in honor of the patron saint of the parish.

More information here.

Ameixa Rock

September 6th to 8th. O Carril (Vilagarcía)

The parish of O Carril will be filled with music this weekend to celebrate the seventh edition of Ameixa Rock. It will be three days of music and promotion of marine culture. The soundtrack on this occasion will be in charge of Malasömbra, TNT Band, N.E.O., Terbutalina, The Velvet Crab, Perfect Strangers, La Duendeneta and Dj Barbitúrico.

More information here.