It is said that the souls of the dead have until the first day of November to make their way to the place assigned to them by nature; the underworld. To help lost souls find the way, a number of traditional rituals have developed over the years in the villages of Somontano. Noises, prayers, lights and food are used to smooth their passage from our world to the next. All of this is relived every year in Radiquero on the celebration of All Souls’ Night.

All Saint’s Day was a day of mourning and prayer in remembrance and respect for the dead. In the morning the women would go to the cemetery to deck the tombs and gravestones of their loved ones with flowers. The children would pass the day in the allotments making Jack-o’-Lanterns from pumpkins grown for pig fodder. Later that day, just before nightfall, the rosary would be said. And finally, when All Soul’s night began, the silence was broken by the pealing of the bells, which was repeated hour after hour; ringing for the dead. With candles lighting up the faces of their Jack-o’-Lanterns, the children would run through the village streets, a ritual that was said to frighten off wandering souls and send them to their rightful place.

Later that night around cosy fireplaces, stories of witches, goblins, graveyards and ghostly apparitions would be told while villagers ate traditional cakes such as huesos de santo, (marzipan cakes that look like “saints’ bones”) buñuelos (a kind of fritter) and panellets (small cakes covered with pine nuts.)Every year in Radiquero on the 1st November, the villagers continue with the tradition of All Souls’ night. The Jack-o’-Lanterns afford the village a festive yet slightly sinister air as the villagers get together, tell stories and mysterious tales and eat their delicious cakes. 

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Between the abandoned villages of Otín and Nasarre and close to the small village of Rodellar, a path meanders through the Mascun canyon to arrive at the Losa Mora Dolmen.

This is a pre-historic sepulchre constructed by Guara’s first Neolithic shepherds around 4,000 years ago. We know a little of their culture through the testimony of these huge stones, know as megaliths. This one in the Sierra de Guara is part of an important collection than extends from the Pyrenees to the lower mountain peaks. Relating to a new funereal culture that extended across the whole of Europe, dolmens represent a spiritual attitude to death that was different from anything that had been experienced before.

Martin Almargo excavated this dolmen in 1935 and found bones of a number of individuals as well as stone axes, arrow heads and flint knives. From this he deduced that the original builder and his descendents buried their dead in a collective grave in the internal chamber along with their belongings. After the burials, the dolmen was totally covered except for a small opening, forming a huge stone tomb (12 metres in diameter) of which there are still remains. The tomb was made from limestone rocks averaging 20 to 30 cms each, which have been badly eroded. They no longer cover the chamber and only reach a height of 80 cms.

The chamber was located inside the tomb and its internal measurements were 1.80 x 1.90 x 1.20 metres. It was rectangular in shape, slightly trapezoidal, and open to the east. It was almost entirely covered by a single stone slab (2.80 x 2.64 x 0.38m) and had three lateral slabs, one on each side (1.90 x 1.30 x 0.30 m; 1.42 x 1.08 x 0.30m and 2.06 x 1.38 x 0.20 m.) There was also a small slab used as a way to close the tomb (98 x 72 x 14 cm.) All of the slabs are limestone.

These enormous constructions were erected with primitive tools and a lot of effort and required sufficient ingenuity to move the large slabs from the Llastras peak, approximately 500 metres from the dolmen, across rough terrain. What were the reasons for building them? It could have been a belief in the afterlife, a desire to honour their ancestors or the need to create holy or symbolic places. Or maybe they were born of man’s desire to endure through generations. What is certain is that many dolmens have survived until the current day, defying the passage of time.

In the shadow of the dolmen, the shepherds of Guara would tell of legends of witches, lost treasure, fantastic beings and extraordinary happenings such as the one that occurred when a villager from Rodellar went to sell in Nocito. As he passed by the Losa Mora dolmen, a human form with brilliant lights around its head climbed onto the back of his mount and beat the wretched pedlar to a pulp.

Another legend tells of a Moorish king in love with a Christian princess who fled on horseback with his love, pursued by her relations and enveloped by a cloud of arrows. As he dismounted from his horse he discovered that his love has been killed. He wept bitterly, buried her body and built this tomb in her honour. He then went in search of his enemies in order to strike them dead.

It is also told that a spinner wandered through these lands carrying her spinning wheel and a grand rock on her head. Upon arriving at the spot of the dolmen, she left the stone in a horizontal position on top of others wedged there in the ground. The thread that the spinner worked on her wheel represents life; when the thread finished it would signify the moment of her death. So she left the stone that she carried on her head to prepare her own tomb. 

Tales are told in Salas Altas of a witch that once lived here called Gracia la Nadala. Her power was such that she presented herself to the devil with another known witch from Pozán de Vero; Dominica la Coja. Together with other witches they would meet at midnight on Friday on the hill known as the Peñón de Güera to plan their villainy; to give the evil eye to a child, to curse animals, to annoy the bride and bridegroom on their wedding night and other mischief.

Frightful of their tremendous powers, the people of Somontano tried to protect themselves with magic elements; solar symbols, crosses, door knockers and crude figures carved from wood that were placed in the eaves to prevent evil entering the house.

The houses of Cosme, Pedrochil and Mateu all have carved images on their eaves, known here as espantabrujas which translates as a “witch scarer.” They are roughly carved figures that resemble faces or human figures. Placing them at the top of the house and close to access to the attic was a way to protect it from attacks from witches and other demons.

The name of the infamous Gracias la Nadala, a powerful witch, appears on the transcript of a trial against Dominica la Coja, a confessed witch from Pozán de Vero. It gives their testimony to having killed various living beings after entering houses with the help of the Devil.

The rock known as the Peñón de Güera, where witches held their covens, can be still be seen on the road from Salas Altas to Buera. Here they would turn themselves into black cats and goats with the help of magic potions and evil ointments.

Son muchas las historias, creencias y leyendas que nos pueden contar sobre Guara Somontano.

Pero.. ¿qué es una leyenda? Es una narración de hechos naturales, sobrenaturales o mezclados, que se transmite de generación en generación en forma oral o escrita. Generalmente, el relato se sitúa de forma imprecisa entre el mito y el suceso verídico, lo que le confiere cierta singularidad.

En Guara Somontano encontrarás leyendas sobre brujas, aparecidos y endemoniados, de santos y apariciones milagrosas, que explican hechos históricos y construcciones, rituales, o que nos exponen la formacion de elementos naturales.

¡Adéntrate en este mundo mágico y misterioso!

Si quieres profundizar en este tema, no puedes dejar de visitar el Centro de Interpretación de Leyendas y Tradiones en Adahuesca.