Xinzo de Limia () is a town and

municipality A municipality is usually a single administrative division having municipal corporation, corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality' ...

in the province of

Ourense Ourense (; ) is a city and the capital of the province of province of Ourense, Ourense, located in the Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Galicia (Spain), Galicia, northwestern Spain. It is on the Camino Sanabrés path o ...

, in the autonomous community of Galicia,

Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...

. It belongs to the

comarca A ''comarca'' (, , , ) is a traditional region or local administrative division found in Portugal, Spain, and some of their former colonies, like Brazil, Nicaragua, and Panama. The term is derived from the term ''marca'', meaning a "march, mark ...

of A Limia. It lies on the important Autovia das Rias Baixas in the fertile valley of Antela, approximately 33 km from

Verín Verín is a town and municipality in the southeast of the province of Ourense, in the autonomous community of Galicia, Spain. The population of the municipality is about 14,433. It is located 70 kilometers east of the provincial capital of Our ...

and 43 km from

. The Límia (Lima in Portuguese) river passes through the town on its way south towards the Portuguese border. Xinzo is a town of services and an important stopping point on the main

Vigo Vigo (, ; ) is a city and Municipalities in Spain, municipality in the province of province of Pontevedra, Pontevedra, within the Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Galicia (Spain), Galicia, Spain. Located in the northwest ...

Madrid Madrid ( ; ) is the capital and List of largest cities in Spain, most populous municipality of Spain. It has almost 3.5 million inhabitants and a Madrid metropolitan area, metropolitan area population of approximately 7 million. It i ...

highway. There are several small industries, including a

glass Glass is an amorphous (non-crystalline solid, non-crystalline) solid. Because it is often transparency and translucency, transparent and chemically inert, glass has found widespread practical, technological, and decorative use in window pane ...

factory, and many

pig The pig (''Sus domesticus''), also called swine (: swine) or hog, is an omnivorous, domesticated, even-toed, hoofed mammal. It is named the domestic pig when distinguishing it from other members of the genus '' Sus''. Some authorities cons ...

cow Cattle (''Bos taurus'') are large, domesticated, bovid ungulates widely kept as livestock. They are prominent modern members of the subfamily Bovinae and the most widespread species of the genus '' Bos''. Mature female cattle are called co ...

and

dairy A dairy is a place where milk is stored and where butter, cheese, and other dairy products are made, or a place where those products are sold. It may be a room, a building, or a larger establishment. In the United States, the word may also des ...

farm A farm (also called an agricultural holding) is an area of land that is devoted primarily to agricultural processes with the primary objective of producing food and other crops; it is the basic facility in food production. The name is used fo ...

s in the surrounding area. The drained lakebed of Antela, once Spain's largest

freshwater Fresh water or freshwater is any naturally occurring liquid or frozen water containing low concentrations of dissolved salts and other total dissolved solids. The term excludes seawater and brackish water, but it does include non-salty mi ...

lake A lake is often a naturally occurring, relatively large and fixed body of water on or near the Earth's surface. It is localized in a basin or interconnected basins surrounded by dry land. Lakes lie completely on land and are separate from ...

until the 1950s, produces

cereal A cereal is a grass cultivated for its edible grain. Cereals are the world's largest crops, and are therefore staple foods. They include rice, wheat, rye, oats, barley, millet, and maize ( Corn). Edible grains from other plant families, ...

hay Hay is grass, legumes, or other herbaceous plants that have been cut and dried to be stored for use as animal fodder, either for large grazing animals raised as livestock, such as cattle, horses, goats, and sheep, or for smaller domesticate ...

, and especially

potato The potato () is a starchy tuberous vegetable native to the Americas that is consumed as a staple food in many parts of the world. Potatoes are underground stem tubers of the plant ''Solanum tuberosum'', a perennial in the nightshade famil ...

es. Xinzo is in fact one of Spain's largest producers of potatoes. There is a legend connected to Xinzo. Several classical authors of antiquity reproduce the myth of the loss of memory connected to crossing the Límia River, referred by them as Lethes or Oblivionis (compare the river

Lethe In Greek mythology, Lethe (; Ancient Greek: ''Lḗthē''; , ) was one of the rivers of the underworld of Hades. In Classical Greek, the word '' lethe'' ( λήθη) literally means "forgetting", "forgetfulness". The river is also known as Amel ...

Greek mythology Greek mythology is the body of myths originally told by the Ancient Greece, ancient Greeks, and a genre of ancient Greek folklore, today absorbed alongside Roman mythology into the broader designation of classical mythology. These stories conc ...

). In 138 BC the

Roman Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of Roman civilization *Epistle to the Romans, shortened to Romans, a letter w ...

chieftain Decimus Junius Brutus put an end to the myth told by the Galicians when, on crossing the river, he began to call each one of his legionnaires by their names from the opposite bank. That historical fact has been now represented in an historical party called Festa do Esquecemento. Seeing the Límia today it is difficult to imagine this tiny river provoking such a fear. Xinzo has few monuments but is famous for hosting one of Galicia's most typical

carnival Carnival (known as Shrovetide in certain localities) is a festive season that occurs at the close of the Christian pre-Lenten period, consisting of Quinquagesima or Shrove Sunday, Shrove Monday, and Shrove Tuesday or Mardi Gras. Carnival typi ...

s. The characteristic figure is the '' pantalla'', which symbolizes the devil. The '' pantalla'' is the guardian of the

, and runs through the streets in groups of two or three with two swollen pig bladders in the hands making huge noise. If the pantallas finds a male relative or neighbour of Xinzo de Limia not dressed with carnival clothes, they will take him into a bar, to pay the fee for not been dressed properly, which is a glass of wine.

Demography

Colors= id:lightgrey value:gray(0.9) id:darkgrey value:gray(0.3) id:sfondo value:rgb(1,1,1) id:barra value:rgb(0.6,0.7,0.9) ImageSize = width:580 height:300 PlotArea = left: 60 bottom: 30 top: 20 right: 20 DateFormat = x.y Period = from:0 till:12000 TimeAxis = orientation:vertical AlignBars = late ScaleMajor = gridcolor:darkgrey increment:2000 start:0 ScaleMinor = gridcolor:lightgrey increment:1000 start:0 BackgroundColors = canvas:sfondo BarData= bar: 1877 text: 1877 bar: 1887 text: 1887 bar: 1900 text: 1900 bar: 1910 text: 1910 bar: 1920 text: 1920 bar: 1930 text: 1930 bar: 1940 text: 1940 bar: 1950 text: 1950 bar: 1960 text: 1960 bar: 1970 text: 1970 bar: 1980 text: 1980 bar: 1990 text: 1990 bar: 2000 text: 2000 bar: 2010 text: 2010 PlotData= color:barra width:20 align:center bar: 1877 from:5417 till: 0 bar: 1887 from:5522 till: 0 bar: 1900 from:5717 till: 0 bar: 1910 from:6476 till: 0 bar: 1920 from:7081 till: 0 bar: 1930 from:9105 till: 0 bar: 1940 from:9466 till: 0 bar: 1950 from:10358 till: 0 bar: 1960 from:10031 till: 0 bar: 1970 from:10925 till: 0 bar: 1980 from:10544 till: 0 bar: 1990 from:9170 till: 0 bar: 2000 from:9519 till: 0 bar: 2010 from:10311 till: 0 PlotData= bar: 1877 at:5417 fontsize:S text:5.417 shift:(0,5) bar: 1887 at:5522 fontsize:S text:5.522 shift:(0,5) bar: 1900 at:5717 fontsize:S text:5.717 shift:(0,5) bar: 1910 at:6476 fontsize:S text:6.476 shift:(0,5) bar: 1920 at:7081 fontsize:S text:7.081 shift:(0,5) bar: 1930 at:9105 fontsize:S text:9.105 shift:(0,5) bar: 1940 at:9466 fontsize:S text:9.466 shift:(0,5) bar: 1950 at:10358 fontsize:S text:10.358 shift:(0,5) bar: 1960 at:10031 fontsize:S text:10.031 shift:(0,5) bar: 1970 at:10925 fontsize:S text:10.925 shift:(0,5) bar: 1980 at:10544 fontsize:S text:10.544 shift:(0,5) bar: 1990 at:9170 fontsize:S text:9.170 shift:(0,5) bar: 2000 at:9519 fontsize:S text:9.519 shift:(0,5) bar: 2010 at:10311 fontsize:S text:10.311 shift:(0,5) Fro
INE Archiv
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Notable people

* Carmen Agulló Díaz (born 1957), tenured professor, non-fiction author

References

External links

Xinzo de LimiaConcello de Xinzo de LimiaPictures and many moreFesta do Esquecemento
{{authority control Municipalities in the Province of Ourense