Origin, history an antiquity
of the “Entroido de Cobres”
ORIGIN OF THE “ENTROIDO DE COBRES”
The starting point of what is now known as the Entroido de Cobres, but was also known as the Antroido dos Cobres, whose main characters are the madamas and the galáns, is not clearly defined. However, thanks to the work of Xosé Anxo Rosales González, published in Cadernos da Sociedade Antropolóxica Galega[1], we know that the madamas and galáns used to be found along the entire Vigo estuary, across the municipalities of Cangas (Darbo and Nerga), Moaña (Meira and Domaio), Vilaboa (San Adrián de Cobres, Santa Cristina de Cobres and San Martiño de Vilaboa), Pontevedra (A Canicouva) and Redondela (Cabeiro and Cedeira). However, this tradition has only survived to date, almost uninterruptedly, in the Cobres parishes in the municipality of Vilaboa.
Uninterruptedly but with changes. We will now describe what the Entroido used to be like in Vilaboa based on the testimonies of older locals[2] , as well as on the work published by Anxo Rosales1 in Cadernos da Sociedade Antropolóxica Galega in 2014.
[1] As Madamas e o Sacrificio do Galo. O Entruido no Concello de Vilaboa do Morrazo. Xosé Anxo Rosales González. Cadernos da Sociedade Antropolóxica Galega. Issue 1 – Year 2014.
[2] Documentary “Madamas e galáns: Historia do Entroido de Cobres” produced by AB ORIGINE Antropoloxía and promoted by the Cobres Cultural Association.


The Entroido or Antroido was organized in Vilaboa by os mozos or cofrades, young bachelors over the age of 15. They were the ones in charge of forming the society and recruiting the different components of the Carnival bando.
The Carnival bando was a procession that danced through the parishes. It was usually composed of three or four couples of madamas and galáns, several couples called los y las de blanco, “the ones in white”, who wore a similar attire to that of the madamas and galáns, but without a hat, and the villagers, who would wear the traditional Galician dresses. There could also be some women wearing a different type of attire, who were called “gypsies”. All these people were single.
Once the members of the society who would go to the dance had gathered, the men would go and ask the parents of the girls they wanted as partners to let them go with them. This was a ritual. Many couples who went together to the Entroido ended up getting married, so this courtship was very important.
The various types of costumes worn by the dancers of the Entroido reflect social classes, because only the wealthiest households could provide the attire for a madama, as its necklaces and beads were all made of gold. It is also worth mentioning that, in the middle of the 20th century, when the first photographs of the Entroido began to appear, the hats of the galáns were much smaller, adorned only with ribbons and a few flowers. It was only later that the men’s hats became more elaborate, and, although smaller and lighter, more similar to the women’s hats.






The dancers were accompanied by a group of musicians playing bagpipes and other instruments (the musicians were hired for every day of the festival, and also played at night). This was very important, as they provided the music for the dances – the muiñeiras, pasodobles and jotas that were danced in every house in the parish to raise money to celebrate the festival at night.
The procession or bando also included masked characters, dressed in old clothes and masks made of cloth or similar materials, who took advantage of the occasion to go beyond the limits and make mischief such as entering houses and stealing food. These characters were played by married men, who finished the party at night and teased the people who attended the party, taking advantage of the masks that protected them. They were called os vellos, the old men.
This tour of the parishes went on from Saturday morning to Shrove Tuesday morning. In the afternoon, the central ceremony of the festival took place, which has similar characteristics to other carnival traditions in other regions of Spain and Europe.[3]
The start of the daily procession was announced with fireworks (rockets)[4]. The procession would go from house to house asking for donations for the party, and the madamas and galáns would dance in each house that made a contribution. Depending on the amount gifted, more or less dances would be danced, and more or less rockets would be fired to signal where the Entroido was going. Many houses would provide food and drinks for the people who came with the procession, to make the procession more bearable. This tradition is still maintained today in many houses.
[3] Similarities with carnivals in other areas, such as those in Mecerreyes (Burgos) and Quins (Melón, Ourense) are described in the work of Anxo Rosales González.
[4] We know that in Galicia fireworks were used to announce popular festivities since the 19th century. From the book “Foguetes e fogueteiros. A pirotecnia” by Xerardo Dasairas Valsa, part of the collection Manuais do Museo do Pobo Galego 5, 1st Edition December 2022.


A wooden stage decorated with mimosa flowers was always raised at the celebration venue. The madamas, the galáns, and the other dancers, would dance to the tune of the bagpipes. At a certain point the musicians would go to find the vellos, who would bring a cock with them. The cock was buried in a ditch, leaving its head out, and the dancers would dance around it. Suddenly, a member of the audience or even a member of the organizing society would grab the cock by its head and run away at full speed. The vellos would then give chase to recover the cock. From this ritual comes the name given to the celebration of the Tuesday afternoon of Carnival Corrida do Galo (translation: the running after the cock). The cock was chosen by the vellos from among all the pens of the parishes of Cobres, the biggest and fattest one.[5]
Then the padricador or preacher would come on stage, also in disguise (some describe him as masked5), and he would give the Sermón do Galo, as well as biting criticisms in verse against the vices of the neighbourhood. This character had to be careful, because the public could respond by shaking the stage, even to the point of tearing it down. This character will give us more data about the possible date of origin of the Entroido, as will be discussed later.
[5] Described in the text by Xosé Fuentes Alende “O Antroido dos Cobres” for the Exhibition included in the Catalogación Arqueolóxica e Artística de Galicia Fundación Pedro Barrié de la Maza.
After the padricador, the high point of the festival was the sacrifice of the cock. According to the elders of the place, it was a madama who, with a sabre, took the life of the cock. There are different versions of how the madama was chosen: some say that the most beautiful and qualified girl, others say that they all took part and that the winner was the one who managed to kill the cock, others says that the madamas and the galáns would dance and try to kill the cock as a couple, and yet others that the couple was chosen after an initial dance. In all versions, it seems that the madama was blindfolded.
The most likely version in the Cobres parishes is the second one: after the dances, all the madamas were blindfolded, were given a sword, and the cock was buried as with the vellos. The madama who struck the cock was the one chosen together with her galán, and according to tradition was the one most likely to marry. In fact, there was a saying: “madama que non vai ao Carnaval, non casa” (translation: the madama who doesn’t go to Carnival won’t get married). This part of the tradition was lost over time.
The Entroido de Cobres also included two characters who completely vanished in the mid-20th century, as did the sacrifice ritual: the bull and the horse, which are also typical of carnival traditions in other Spanish regions. Apparently, these were people in disguise who would hassle participants in the Shrove Tuesday afternoon festivities. The horse had a mouth that opened and closed, to simulate eating people, while the bull would charge with its horns. They were not there all the time, but would join at a given point in the festivities.

Finally, in the neighbourhood of A Cardiña, in San Adrián de Cobres, a fake christening was performed: the madama chosen to kill the cock and her galán carried a doll as a child, another madama played godmother and one of the vellos played the role of priest. The underlying message was clear: the courtship of the madama by the galán would bear fruit.
When night fell, in the house where the dance was held, the cock was cooked and served as dinner for the vellos, and the party lasted into the small hours.
And like any good celebration, the Entroido de Cobres also has its associated sweet, called the bandullo, which is prepared with stale bread, wheat flour, eggs, lard, milk, sugar, aniseed essence, yeast, and raisins .[6]
Some time later, a copious meal known as the morada was given for society members, dancers and musicians on any Sunday after the carnival. This meal is still held today.
[6] Collected in the document of Xosé Fuentes Alende “O Antroido dos Cobres” for the Exhibition included in the Catalogación Arqueolóxica e Artística de Galicia Fundación Pedro Barrie de la Maza.
“SERMÓN DO GALO” – THE SERMON OF THE COCK
Let us return then to the figure of the preacher and his sermon, which always had a fixed text, to which he then added the criticisms corresponding to each year. This fixed text, remembered by the elders of the area, takes words that refer us, for example, to an instrument used between the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, the discante (a type of viola), which can help us to date this Entroido.[7]
The oral testimonies in the documentary mentioned above suggest that the Entroido has taken place since at least the 18th century, as the participants in the documentary and others who were born in the early 20th century state that their grandmothers already participated in these celebrations in the parishes of Cobres.
[7] We refer here again to the studies contained in the work published by Anxo Rosales González for Cadernos da Sociedade Antropolóxica Galega. No. 1 – Year 2014.
CONTINUITY OVER TIME
According to the testimonies in the documentary “Madamas e galáns: Historia do Entroido de Cobres”, the Entroido de Cobres has been held uninterruptedly since the 18th century, except during the Spanish Civil War and in 2021, during the COVID pandemic, when a series of videos about the Entroido[8] were made.
CHANGES IN THE ENTROIDO
Comments: In the video you can see the participants of the ‘galo na vara’ trying to climb a very thin tree trunk where the cockerel hangs at the top. Many try and even form teams to do it, but the difficulty is brutal and the rooster is very high. In the end, no one manages to catch the cock..
[9] In Galician it can also be seen written as maghacho, because of the geada that exists in the area of Cobres, which is pronounced closer to an aspirated “h” than to a “j”.
While this is true, we cannot fail to mention the changes that have taken place over time.
As we already mentioned, in the mid-20th century, the figures of the bull and the horse were lost, as was as the ritual of the Sacrifice of the Cock. The vellos stopped taking part in the procession, appearing only in the Corrida do Galo, and also giving rise to another figure in the night festivities called the majachos[9] – people fully disguised and masked who tease the participants in the party.
It is believed that more traditional games were introduced in the 1970s, in addition to the chase of the vellos after the cock, which gives its name to the Corrida do Galo held on Tuesday afternoon. Already in this decade the hats of the galáns were more similar to those of the madamas, albeit less bulky and lighter, but with a similar structure.
The Galo na vara (transl. cock on the pole) started then: a cock is hung from the top of a thick, tall pole. Participants try to climb the pole to get the cock and win the game.
There is also the Galo no río (transl. cock in the river), where a thick plank is placed in the river from one of its banks, and a cock is hung from a pole on the other bank. Participants try to catch the hanging cock while balancing on the plank over the ice-cold waters.
In the 1980s, costume contests among participants in the Corrida do Galo started to be held, and groups of musicians and dancers from the nearby villages started to perform in the 1990s. The cock was replaced by a dummy in 1991[10] , when the civil governor prohibited the use of live animals in the Corrida do Galo of the Entroido de Cobres at Vilaboa. Originally, the winners of each game were given a live cock to take home, but now cash prizes are given.
The procession or bando was constituted by madamas and galáns, who grew more and more numerous, since what in other times were costumes made with valuable jewels and ornaments were now made with cheaper beads and ornaments. Even so, the cost and the work in time to complete a full madama costume is estimated to take more than 3 months. Then came “the ones in white”: the women would wear the same clothes as the madamas, but without the hats, and the men would wear the same costume as the galáns, only with red berets adorned with beads and ribbons. The men who were not galáns always wore similar clothes in white, with more or less shawls, but always white trousers, a white shirt, and a red tie. Women who were not madamas and were not dressed in white could wear the regional Galician costume, or other dresses, but always very colourful and striking.
Observations: In the video you can see the participants of the ‘galo no río’ trying to cross the river on a very thin tree trunk on foot, and trying not to fall into the river, to catch the cockerel that is hanging from a rope. The first of them falls into the water, the second one manages to cross almost the whole river on top of the trunk, jumps to catch the rooster and then falls into the water. The people applaud and laugh at the spectacle.
ASOCIACIÓN CULTURAL COBRES
Until then, it had been the neighbours –not only the bachelors, but anyone who wanted to participate– who constituted the society that organised Entroido de Cobres, and it was still the neighbours who made the economic contributions to hold it.
It was not until 1990 that a non-profit association dedicated to “the promotion, education, and social integration and entertainment of local members” was created. Its Article of Association 3 describes its goal as “organising carnival celebrations”. This association, Cobres Cultural Association, promoted, with the neighbours’ contributions, the building of the Casa da Cultura de Riomaior (the Riomaior House of Culture), where the Entroido Tuesday events are held. It also serves as the association headquarters and a venue for its activities, including the Entroido de Cobres. It is currently managed by the Vilaboa Town Council.
Since then, the carnival has been run by this association, which, with the collaboration of the relatives of the participants in the Entroido procession and the neighbours who help to organise the Corrida do Galo, would carry the celebrations as described above. In fact, the group was joined by a member who would always carry the association banner: Manuel Martínez, better known as Manoliño do Pío V[11]. Once he couldn’t carry it anymore, nobody else would take over, and a fountain next to the Riomaior Casa de la Cultura is dedicated to the Entroido de Cobres and to him. Who knows if, in time, the banner will dance again through the Cobre parishes at carnival time.
[11] References to Manuel Martínez can be found in the chapter “O carnaval de madamas e galáns de Cobres, Vilaboa” by Luís Costa Vázquez, in Volume I of En Tempos de Festa en Galicia, published by Fundación Caixagalicia in 2006.

At some point the Queima do Galo (transl. the burning of the cock) was also added to the events: in the final night of the festivities, a framework shaped like a cock, which usually contains fireworks, is burnt. This noisy and colourful show ends the Corrida do Galo.
The figure of the preacher remained until the beginning of the 21st century, but there were some years when the Entroido suffered due to the lack of people involved in its organisation, especially because not many couples were available for the dance. Thus, the preacher disappeared, as did the members of the procession who were not dressed as galáns, madamas or in white.
Thus, the procession is now constituted only by madamas, galáns and people in white, except for the occasional little girl in a colourful dress, and the musicians required for the dance, who are no longer hired from outside the village, but rather are the members of the Aires de Cobres bagpipe band of the Cobres Cultural Association.
Four fundamental pieces are danced in the Entroido de Cobres: the Cobres dance[12], a xota na eira[13] , a muiñeira movida, and the agarradiño, a piece that is dance that is danced by couples in close contact with each other.
[12] Videos of the Cobres dance at the 2024 Entroido de Cobres. [13] Video of the xota at the 2024 Entroido de Cobres.
Cobres Dance
Xota na Eira
Muiñeira

The procession route has remained fairly stable over time, although, as stated before, earlier in this report, dances used to take place in every house. However, in recent years, the board of the Cobres Cultural Association decided to change this due to the increase in population and therefore in the number of houses. Thus, since 2019, the board members determine the procession route in advance, asking for donations and indicating the spots where the madamas and galáns will be dancing in each neighbourhood of each parish. Performances are carried out by groups of houses depending on the extent of the donations.
Due to recent regulations, the way in which fireworks are lit has also changed. They used to be lit in front of the houses, depending on the level of the donation. Now they are lit in certain places at certain times of day, as permission must be obtained, and they must be lit in accordance with the current regulations. Fireworks announce the start of the procession and its arrival at the festival tent in the evening, as well as the start and end of the Corrida do Galo. This means that the way in which people can follow the route of the Entroido de Cobres procession through the parishes has had to be innovated. In 2022, a WhatsApp distribution list was created, where members of the Cobres Cultural Association share the location of the procession in real time.
The party continues to be held every night during Carnival, from Saturday to Tuesday, and the morada meal for the organisers and the participants the Entroido de Cobres still takes place every year.
RECOVERY
The Cobres Cultural Association has worked hard to organise the Entroido de Cobres year after year. The families in the parishes of San Adrián and Santa Cristina de Cobres are essential to have the madamas, galáns and other dancers, as the costumes are made by them. Every day, they must help the dancers to dress and undress. We will talk about them in the sections below.
In 2010, a group of veterans of the Entroido de Cobres was created[14] —former madamas and galáns who want to continue dancing in the Entroido, and who dance since then on Tuesday during the Corrida do Galo. This group, which rehearses regularly throughout the year, has been in charge of recovering some dance pieces described in some of the testimonies collected in the documentary, such as the sword dance[15], which, according to the testimonies3, was associated with the ritual of the Sacrificio do Galo, which in recent years has been performed on Carnival Tuesday afternoon.

Photograph of the group of veterans.
Muiñeira rápida
[16] The old muiñeira, was replaced by the Padarnela muiñeira.
[17] Video of the muiñeira rápida at the 2024 Entroido de Cobres.
In recent years, the procession has also added to its dance repertoire the muiñeira dos nenos (translated as the children’s miller’s dance) and the muiñeira rápida[16]. The latter is a great success wherever it is performed, as it is danced so fast that audiences cannot but clap in astonishment at the end[17]. These old pieces have been recovered and new ones have been introduced thanks to the Aires de Cobres bagpipe group, which is now an indispensable part of the Entroido, and works with the procession throughout the year.
The figure of the preacher was recovered in the year 2024 after several years missing. For the first time in history, it was played by a woman. The reading of the cock’s last will was also recovered, but now it is read before the Queima – the burning of the cock – to end the event. The last will of the cock is now updated every year with the contributions from the students in the local schools.
We continue to work on recovering old dances and characters, while introducing new features to adapt to modern times (screens to watch the Corrida del Galo from other locations, social media and website, etc.)
In 1999 the Entroido de Cobres was declared a Festival of Tourist Interest in Galicia.