If there is a place in Spain, where the stone still seems to have the magnetic influence of the symbolism of yesteryear, that place is, without a doubt, that ancestral Galicia that still welcomes some pilgrims, who apart from their desire to reach Compostela to venerate the holy relics of the supposed Patron, Santiago el Mayor, also live the greatest of their experiences, while they enter the ancient paths of its shady forests and let themselves be seduced by the irresistible charm of its towns and villages.

Orense - let's not forget that its name comes from the Latin term auri, which means gold and believe it or not, you can still see seekers of the noble metal, on the banks of rivers like the Sil - is the only one of the four Galician communities, which has no natural border with the sea and yet, the fondness of its people for water and everything related to it, is unparalleled, to the point of being precisely the Orenses or Aurienses, if you prefer, who have fame for making the best octopus a fair in all of Galicia.

The small excursion that I propose today revolves around a small but charming town, distant, approximately, five kilometers from the monumental Allariz, but whose charm and above all, the halo of mystery that surrounds it, far exceeds the expectations of any intrepid adventurer.

The place, for more reference, is called Santa Mariña de Augas Santas and it was in the surroundings of its shady and ancestral forests, where the Celtic priests, the famous druids, not only collected the mistletoe with their golden sickles to proceed with their mysterious enchantments, but also, they also celebrated one of their most sinister rituals, such as the one that in distant Britannia they called Threefold Dead or Triple Death - strangulation, drowning and fire- and also, perhaps motivated by it and because, in addition, by the place passes a path of the Camino de Santiago, the always disturbing presence of the Knights of the Order of the Temple, is also confirmed here.

In fact, on top of what is called Forno da Santa or Horno de la Santa (Saint’s Kiln) -a saint, of course strange, our Mariña, whose existence is doubted by almost all historians, who see in her an ancient masked myth and of whom It is said that she was beheaded for not abjuring her religion, her head falling to the ground and giving three boats against it, from which three wells or springs emerged, whose water is considered miraculous by the people, two of them being located in the town. and the other in this place- they laid the foundations to build a church, which, judging by its plan, should not differ much from the existing one in the town and in which their hand can also be seen, which for whatever reasons -that were left without reserves to finance the work or that the persecution of the French king, Phillip the Handsome and the declaration of heresy put an end to the Order - it was never finished and today its ruins constitute a romantic enigma.

Possibly, some of the stones that were originally part of what would be, inexplicably, another formidable church for such a small town, are now confused with those others that undoubtedly give the town a special, wonderfully archaic aspect, which speaks, in its favour, of the conservation of ancient traditions and the use of a cultural heritage, which is worth knowing.

Forest, stone, crystalline water sources, make this -similar to those others of the Lugo Marine, which inspired with all kinds of tasty symbolism the remarkable work of writers such as Álvaro Cunqueiro, a neighbor of the monumental Mondoñedo- form a unique set, that inspires a multitude of sensations and invites to the most peculiar adventures.

Without forgetting, moreover, that it was in these environments, in these ancient forests, where one of the most documented cases of lycanthropy in all of history took place: that of Romasanta, a muleteer, who during the nights of the full moon thought he was turning into a wolf and to whom numerous verified murders of travelers who offered to drive along those shady and little-known paths were attributed.

In short: a highly recommended place, not only for those who want to live a great adventure, but also for all those who wish to delve into the most unusual, magical and mysterious aspects of ancestral Galicia.

NOTICE: Both the text and the accompanying photographs are my exclusive intellectual property and therefore are subject to my Copyright.