The Shearing of the Beasts

The Shearing of the Beasts - A Rapa Das Bestas

This centuries old festival featuring man and wild horses takes place annually in Galicia, Northwest Spain. It involves the rounding up of several hundred wild horses from the area of Taberios Terra de Montes, the cutting of their manes and tails, branding, and their eventual return to the wild.

During the first weekend of July, thousands of visitors descend on the village of Sabucedo to witness this historic spectacle. The origin of the festival is believed to stem from the 1500's, when a gift of two wild horses was offered up to St. Lourenzo, the patron saint of the village, in order to ward off a severe plague affecting the region.

The festival begins with an offertory mass at dawn in honour of St. Lourenzo. Local villagers and workmen then take to the hills rounding up the horses and herding them towards the village. In the evening, hundreds of visitors pack the terraced seating around the granite curro (coral) in which the Rapa takes place. The shrill cry of traditional Galician pipes and chanting of the crowd generates an expectant and charged atmosphere, as everyone awaits the arrival of the wild horses.

The festival begins with an offertory mass at dawn in honour of St. Lourenzo. Local villagers and workmen then take to the hills rounding up the horses and herding them towards the village. In the evening, hundreds of visitors pack the terraced seating around the granite curro (coral) in which the Rapa takes place. The shrill cry of traditional Galician pipes and chanting of the crowd generates an expectant and charged atmospher, as everyone awaits the arrival of the wild horses.

Heavy copper panelled doors of the curro are dramatically thrown open and an enormous roar of approval greets the steady stream of horses which gallop in. Hundreds of horses fill the arena until it is so tightly packed with heaving bodies that the sandy floor is no longer visible. A dense cloud of dust rises from the churning hooves and the air quickly thickens with the pungent smell of sweating horses.

The Rapa - When the last of the horses is squeezed into the coral, the experienced aloitadores (fighters) enter, pulling the great doors shut behind them. "Burro!, Burro!, Burro!", the crowd chants. The show begins when an aloitadore dives into the heard and captures a foal. All foals are removed to a small high-walled pen for their own safety. The separation of mares and foals is also an opportunity for the initiation of young aloitadores. It is said that a child experiences youth when he seizes a foal for the first time, guided by a veteran.

Once all foals have been removed the Rapa (shearing) can then begin. With a load cry a brave agarradore (someone who seizes) leaps onto the back of a wild horse. The horse plunges around the coral egged on my its rider and the shouting crowd. The horse is brought under control whereupon it is wrestled to the ground by the bare hands of the aloitadores. There it is held while its' mane and tail is ceremoniously clipped short.

This chaotic and breathtaking demonstration continues for several hours until up to twenty bestas (horses) have been clipped and the floor of thte coral is dense with the cut hair of manes and tails. The aloitadores are clearly exhausted, covered from head to toe in sweat and dirt. To end with, the foals are reunited with the herd and all are released to a field high above the village. The spectacle is repeated during the following two days until all horses have been sheared and the yearlings branded.

The Rapa das Bestas was declared of National Tourist Interest in 1965, due to its historical and cultural value. The Rapa at Sabucedo is one of the oldest of its kind in Galicia, it has been held in the same way over the last five centuries. It takes place annually during the first weekend of July. Many visitors set up camp in the woods and fields surrounding the village. In addition to the shearing the weekend is a seemingly endless party with eating, drinking, live music and dancing.

This series of images featured in a solo exhibition at The Watergate Gallery, Kilkenny, 2005.