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Why a village in northwestern Spain is about to be invaded by bloodthirsty Vikings

Thousands of 'Vikings' will land on the shores of a small village in Galicia on Sunday, as part of an annual festival that commemorates a Scandinavian invasion which took place a thousand years ago.

Published: 2 August 2019 11:55 CEST
Updated: 4 August 2022 13:54 CEST

viking festival galicia

Inhabitants of Catoira village, in Galicia, re-enact the Viking assault that took palce 1,000 years ago. Photos: MIGUEL RIOPA / AFP

On the first Sunday of August (in 2022 August 7th), Catoira in the province of Pontevedra is flooded with ‘blood-thirsty’ men and women from all across Europe.

Dressed in animal skins and armed with the finest plastic weaponry, they disembark on the rugged Galician coast with the aim of capturing the Towers of the West, just as Norway’s King Olaf II did a millennium ago.

The ‘blood’ spilt during the simulated battles does taste distinctly like red wine, but the visual effect it has when poured all over the fighters’ bodies is just as gruesome.

Catoira’s residents have proudly seen their local festival come on leaps and bounds since its first edition in 1960.

Declared a Festival of International Interest, it also includes musical acts by folk groups and a medieval market in the 11th century towers.

The occasion the Romeria de Catoira marks was recounted by local and foreign historians, as was the interest Vikings had in ruling over all of Galicia, Spain’s most westerly region, as they did with Normandy in France.

King Olaf II Haraldsson, first a Viking and finally made a saint when he converted to Christianity, called Galicia Jakobsland (Land of James).

2022 marks the 62nd edition of this surreal festival, and will see local band Tanxugueiras (one of the candidates for Spain’s Eurovision entry) perform for a crowd of thousands on Friday. The Viking ‘invasion’ on the other hand will take place at 10am on Sunday morning.

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The forgotten country that existed between Spain and Portugal

The tiny republic of Couto Mixto or Couto Misto was situated between the towns of Montalegre in northern Portugal and Ourense in the Galician region of Spain.

It included the villages of Santiago de Rubiás, Rubiás and Meaus, all of which are located in Spain today, and measured approximately 27 km².

You could easily pass through this area of Galicia and into Portugal without knowing you were driving through an ancient nation.

Today, all that remains are several small sparsely-populated villages and herds of cows that roam the pastures next to the Salas River.

The independent nation of Cuoto Mixto was located in between Spain’s Galicia region and Portugal. Source: Google Maps

Historians aren’t exactly sure when Couto Mixto was established as a state, but it was thought to be sometime between the 10th and 12th centuries.

Some believe that its creation was born out of the signing of the Treaty of Zamora on October 5th, 1143. It was an agreement between two Alfonsos – Alfonso I of Portugal and Alfonso VII of León, which somehow left out a piece of land that was too small to fight over, but large enough to become a republic.

Another hypothesis is that it was created in the Middle Ages as a place where prisoners could serve out their sentences, repopulating lands after the occupation of the Moors.

Meanwhile, locals talk of a legend of an exiled princess who took refuge in the region and was looked after by the inhabitants. To thank them, the princess granted the people freedom to govern themselves.

Whatever the reason it was formed, Couto Mixto continued to be independent for around 700 years and even had its own flag and national anthem.

The inhabitants of Couto Mixto enjoyed several special privileges over those from neighbouring Spain and Portugal, including little to no taxes, exemption from military service, freedom to trade and cultivate land and few crop regulations, meaning that the tobacco trade flourished here.

Inhabitants also had the right to choose their nationality, whether they wanted it to be Spanish, Portuguese or both.

The country of Couto Mixto which once existed in between Spain and Portugal. Photo: Fabio Mendes / Wikimedia Commons

Because of these privileges, it was a haven for refugees and fugitives, and some historians even believe that it was founded for this purpose.

Because of the relaxation of trade rules and the freedom to cultivate, Couto Mixto became a popular smuggling destination. A smuggling route connected the villages within the state with Tourém in Portugal, named the Caminho Privilegiado or Privileged Path, where there were no border guards and no products could be seized. In addition to this, anyone found smuggling here couldn’t be detained.

This doesn’t mean that Couto Mixto was a completely lawless state, on the contrary, it had its own form of democracy.

It wasn’t ruled over by kings or feudal lords, instead it was presided over by a judge who was elected every three years and was supported by delegates in each of the villages. There was also a local vicar, who also had the responsibilities of a sheriff to carry out orders.

Couto Mixto continued to exist until the mid-19th century, when it was finally absorbed by the two neighboring countries as a result of the Treaty of Lisbon in 1864. It was signed in order to put an end to the smuggling and local gangs that had formed. Most of it became part of Spain, modern-day Galicia, while a small slither went to Portugal and the town of Montalegre.

Couto Mixto’s penultimate judge was Delfín Modesto Brandán and today you can find statue of him the atrium of the church of Santiago, as well as in the village of Calvos de Randín where this microstate once existed.

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