The Apalpador Guide and Translation Notes

The Apalpador (or Pandigueiro) is a Galician figure who brings presents to children near the . His annual holiday is called Noite Do Apalpador or Noite Do Apalpadoiro. The Portal Galego da Língua (Galician Language Portal) helpfully links us to a study by poet, translator, and thinker José André Lôpez Gonçâlez.1 Entitled “O Apalpador: Personagem Mítico do Natal Galego A Resgate” (The Apalpador: Recovering the Mythical Character of Galician ), the study unites the testimonies of many Galician locals to present as accurate a picture as possible of the Apalpador, with the goal of preserving this legend before it fades from popular memory.

When the Apalpador arrives at a child’s home, he apalpa2 the children’s stomachs, through which he knows whether they have gone to bed hungry. The name “Apalpador,” then, literally means “patter,” or “toucher,” or “examiner,” all of which sound exceedingly strange in English especially in relation to children, so I chose to retain the name Apalpador.

My retelling of the Apalpador’s story is based on the version by Lua Sende and Alexandre Miguens and illustrated by Leandro Lamas.3 Their story stars a little girl, Inés, and her dog Rulo, who live with her parents and grandma. They are foraging for food in the woods, and there is enough snow on the ground for Rulo to dig stuff up from underneath the snow cover. She is worried because it is almost Christmas, and there’s little food left in her house. Unbeknownst to them, the trasnos4 of these woods had been watching, and in fact they watch all children throughout the year to see if they had been good or bad. They report back to the Apalpador, who is described as enormous, gentle, and easily distracted. Caught up in his usual job of making charcoal, he forgets about Christmas preparations until the trasnos remind him. He hurriedly goes to gather chestnuts. That night, , Inés’s parents scrape together a meal, but it’s not enough, and everyone goes to bed still a little hungry. Meanwhile, the Apalpador has roasted and packaged all his chestnuts and crafted some toys from wood. He falls asleep under a tree and has to be awakened by the trasnos. He then gets dressed in a haphazard way, wearing his socks inside out and putting two different shoes on. When he gets down the mountain, the trasnos point out to him the houses where children have been good this year. He enters any way he can, whether through windows or through the chimney, and he pats the children’s bellies. If they are full, he wishes them full bellies throughout the next

1 The most extensive biography I could find was this one, in a database of important Galician figures: “José André Gonzâles Lôpez,” Galicia Digital, accessed 26 April 2021. A 2010 interview about his work on the Apalpador can be found here: “José André Lôpez Gonçález: ‘Escrevim sobre o Apalpador porque via um mundo que estava a desaparecer diante dos olhos,’” Portal Galego da Língua, 31 December 2010. 2 The RAG defines apalpar as “tocar coas mans [unha cousa] para examinala, recoñecela” (to touch something with your hands in order to examine it). 3 Lua Sende and Alexandre Miguens, O Conto do Apalpador (Edições da Galiza, 2009). 4 The RAG defines trasno as “Ser fantástico nocturno que adoita facer estragos e enredar sen producir dano grave” (fantastic being that is noctural and likes to play tricks and mess things up without causing any serious harm). Although trasnos are uniquely Galician, they seem to be comparable to trolls, gnomes, or elves.

Guide to “The Apalpador,” trans. Ceci Hsu, illus. Ellye Groh, 2021 1 year, leaves a little packet of roasted chestnuts, and kisses them goodbye. When they get to Inés’s house, the trasnos introduce her as someone who studies a lot, helps out her parents, and takes care of her grandma. The story then skips to the next day, Christmas morning. Not only are there roasted chestnuts by Inés’s bedside, but there is also a new dress for her mother, new shoes for her father, and a new handmade scarf for her grandma! Inés is perplexed, and her grandma explains that the Apalpador left these gifts. In the kitchen, they find a huge pot of soup over the fire, the pantry full of firewood, potatoes, beans, and greens, enough to last them until the spring. The Apalpador, meanwhile, sleeps while the trasnos, always the tricksters they are, stick little flowers and stalks up his nose to tickle him.

For a long time, because of Franco’s love of Catholicism, the landscape of winter holidays was that of religious (Christmas Eve, Three Kings’ Day) versus secular celebrations, and of holiday cards being written in Castellano (Spanish) versus the local Galego (Galician), whose use in any official or educational capacity had been banned.5 A 1947 study of Galicia’s winter holidays only lists Christmas, New Year’s, and and makes no mention of any characters outside of , Mary, and other nativity figures.6 A record of the Apalpador’s Basque brother Olentzero suggests that magical pagan figures did in fact exist in pre-Franco times but that they were imagined quite differently.7 Indeed, in a more recent paper, Olentzero is described as “a mythical character connected to pre-Christian beliefs and

5 Xesús Alonso Montero provides an overview of how Galician writers, especially leftist ones, used Christmas cards to preserve their language during and shortly after the dictatorship. There is no mention in his article of the Apalpador, nor of any other Galician folklore, suggesting that a cultural revival succeeded the linguistic one, and that the Apalpador was purposely dug up as opposition to mainstream Christmas figures, not because of any continuous tradition or memory. “O nadal nas letras galegas (1940–1979),” Madrygal 10 (2007): 11–33. 6 The author, Antón Fraguas Fraguas, spent his life studying Galician traditions, and he acknowledges in this study that Christmas celebrations were becoming more and more secular. However, I am not sure if censorship at the time (see his spelling of Orense vs. Ourense, of La Coruña vs. A Coruña) might have prevented him from talking about more local traditions that don’t involve Jesus and Mary. For example, was it true that the great majority of the rhymes he encountered for New Year’s Day actually featured the Virgin so heavily? “Contribución al estudio de la Navidad en Galicia. Nadales, Aninovos, Xaneiras y Reyes,” Revista de Dialectología y Tradiciones Populares 3, no.3 (1947): 401–446. 7 Folklorist Rodney Gallop observes that “On Christmas Eve in parts of Guipuzcoa the children either blacken the face of one of their number or make a ‘guy’ of straw and old clothes. They call him Olentzero or Onenzaro and take him round to all the houses. Olentzero appears to be a personification of jollity. When he has brought in all the food and coppers expected of him he usually ends his career on a bonfire. His song, which has no tune worth mentioning, is as follows: Here comes our Olentzero;/Silent he sits with a pipe in his mouth./To-morrow he will sup/On a couple of capons/With a bottle of wine” (333). Olentzero and the Apalpador both work with charcoal (thus the blackening of the face), wear ragged clothing, smoke a pipe, and are related to children’s presents. In this old Olentzero celebration, he works more like a Halloween costume character, or a caroling prop, soliciting gifts from neighbors rather than being an independent, magical figure who only appears unseen at night, like . “Basque Songs,” Music & Letters 11, no.4 (October 1930): 333, whole article 324–340.

Guide to “The Apalpador,” trans. Ceci Hsu, illus. Ellye Groh, 2021 2 customs that was used as Basque alternative to celebrate Christmas instead of the Three Wise Men.”8 There has recently been renewed interest in the Apalpador, too, as a symbol of Galician pride and as a more homegrown alternative to the imported Santa Claus and to the non-regional Reyes Magos (Wise Men).9 For example, the Fundaçom Artábria, a cultural institute in Ferrol, for several years held an Apalpador drawing contest for young children.10 The Apalpador has become accessible in other ways too, such as through writing letters11 and meet-and-greets,12 in much the same way that Santa Claus is to American children. A female equivalent, the Apalpadora, has also risen in popularity.13

Lôpez interviewed people from Lóuzara, Courel (where the Apalpador is purported to live, according to some versions of his story), and Cebreiro, all in Lugo, in the center of Galicia, and all very mountainous; this selection makes sense because the Apalpador by nature must descend from a mountain peak to hand out gifts. For this reason, we took inspiration from images of this region when illustrating little Noa’s town. As for Noa’s name, I simply took the second-most popular Galician baby girl name in 2019, the most recent year available;14 in first place was Sofía, which I wanted to avoid as this story is directed towards children at an age when it would be extremely difficult to explain the significance of accented letters to those who didn’t grow up with them, at an age when they might not even have grasped the English alphabet yet.

The Apalpador is typically represented as a man with a messy red beard and green/brown clothing, perhaps reminiscent of Celtic origins. Red, for example, is traditionally associated

8 Note 20 in Amaia Lamikiz Jauregiondo, “From folklore to patriotic and protest songs: Music, youth, and Basque identity during the 1960s,” Nations and Nationalism 25 (2019): 1280–1295. 9 The sudden appearance of the Apalpador in contemporary Galician consciousness as a replacement for Santa has led to such amusing graphics as an angry Apalpador with a strangely club-like staff standing ominously behind a scared Santa Claus, who, appropriately to his origins, is holding a bottle of Coca Cola and a gift sack bearing the American flag. Marta Corral, “El gigante que toca a los niños gallegos, lo último bizarrismo navideño,” El Español, 19 December 2017. 10 See 2017 winners here: Fundaçom Artábria (@FArtabria), “Falou o júri do VI Concurso Conhecendo ao Apalpador. Eis as e os premiados da categoria de 3–5 anos,” Twitter, December 26, 2017. 11 A publisher in Pontevedra hosted an Apalpador letter-writing contest: “Fallado el concurso Desexos de Nadal para o Apalpador,” La Voz de Galicia, 19 January 2018. 12 The city of Santiago de Compostela had many Apalpador-related events in their 2020 Christmas itinerary: Concello de Santiago, Bo Nadal Compostela 2020, accessed 26 April 2021. 13 The government of Pontevedra supports use of the Apalpadora to encourage the inclusion of female figures: “La Apalpadora, una figura para ‘normalizar’ la presencia de la mujer en los ‘referentes’ navideños,” Pontevedra Viva, 18 December 2017. Sometimes, the Apalpadora is considered the Apalpador’s daughter. See “La Apalpadora llega a Vilaronte esta tarde,” La Voz de Galicia, 4 January 2021 and Deputación de Pontevedra, “La Apalpadora y El Apalpador inician su gira en Pontevedra,” 20 December 2018. 14 The first five names are Sofía, Noa, Martina, Lara, and Lucía. Instituto Galego de Estatística, “Estatística de nomes dos neonatos galegos, Ano 2019,” 29 October 2020.

Guide to “The Apalpador,” trans. Ceci Hsu, illus. Ellye Groh, 2021 3 with pagan magic in both Celtic and Basque cultures.15 Green and brown, on the other hand, are associated in the British Isles with misfortune because they were historically the cheaper dyes to obtain,16 which matches the Apalpador because he is both clumsy and poor. And he is not dissimilar from an Irish Leprechaun, who is solitary and works a practical trade. Lôpez gives the following essential physical characteristics of the Apalpador: he is a charcoal burner, he is a giant, he wears a beret, his jacket is worn and has been patched, and he smokes a pipe. The beret, as well as the walking stick he is usually spotted with, is a typical piece of clothing used to designate inhabitants of rural Spanish villages.17 As he seems to be a both a representative of Galicia’s Celtic culture and modelled from a poor rural Galician man, I wanted his character to be dignified, so I did not include the subplot in Sende and Miguen’s original about the Apalpador being so oblivious and forgetful that he would not accomplish anything without the trasnos. I suspect that the trasnos were added as an equivalent for Santa’s elves anyways, as I have not otherwise found an association between the trasnos and the Apalpador. This also eliminates the pesky moral lesson of the story, that children should be good and that someone is always watching to verify their goodness, because I think that this too is an adaptation of Santa’s omnipotence and because it seems harmful to imply that the quantity or quality of gifts received are a reflection of children’s behavior.

The Apalpador lives in a dehesa, a type of sparse forest that has applications such as agriculture (and charcoal burning).18 I was debating whether or not to include his profession of charcoal burning, since I certainly had to look it up, so I doubt that children would understand either its purpose or process. However, Lôpez asserts that this historical profession is actually crucial to his cultural identity; specifically, his knowledge, gained through charcoal burning, of wood and of fire makes him a symbol of abundance (of trees in the forest) and of protection (fire as light, warmth, security from evil spirits). In addition, as charcoal burning is an extremely old profession, and as the word “carvoeiro” itself appears in the Cantigas de Santa Maria, including this label would contribute towards the impression that this tale has been established for numerous generations. And elsewhere on the Northern Spanish coast, charcoal manufacture was a documented and common profession for rural men before the industrial revolution in the nineteenth century,19 so it is also a piece of local heritage. Therefore, we included “charcoal burner” along with the image of a charcoal pile so that, even without any kind of technical explanation, children might think of a bygone era and understand that the Apalpador’s job involves fire and wood.

With that said, I did not want the Apalpador to be so distanced so as to be unrealistic for contemporary children. That is why I omitted Sende and Miguen’s details about the

15 Mikhail V. Zèlikov, “Reflections on Some Ethno-linguistic Parallels between Celts and ,” The Journal of Indo-European Studies 48, no.1&2 (Spring/Summer 2020): 25, whole article 23–39. 16 For a more in-depth discussion of the connotations of the color green, see John Hutchings, “Folklore and Symbolism of Green,” Folklore 108 (1997): 60, whole article 55–63. 17 Nieves Martín Rogero and Laura Viñas Valle, “The Construction of Identity in Picture Books in Spanish,” Bookbird 48, no.3 (July 2010): 14, whole article 9–17. 18 The RAE defines dehesa as “tierra generalmente acotada y arbolada, por lo común destinada a pastos” (land generally fenced in and wooded, commonly used for pasture). 19 Pilar Pérez-Fuentes, “Women’s Economic Participation on the Eve of Industrialization: Bizkaia, Spain, 1825,” Feminist Economics 19, no.4 (2013): 165, whole article 160–180.

Guide to “The Apalpador,” trans. Ceci Hsu, illus. Ellye Groh, 2021 4 protagonist’s searching for food in the woods, since nowadays even here in Galicia it is more common to live in a population-dense area near an urban center than it is to live in a sparsely populated rural one,20 and I did not want to imply at all that it is the job of young children to contribute to their families’ material necessities. And since the original text was pretty linguistically complex for its target audience, I used more basic vocabulary when I could and got rid of secondary characters such as the protagonist’s parents and grandmother and dog.

Once a year, the Apalpador descends his mountain and makes an appearance in children’s homes. Some pin down this night as December 31st,21 and others say that it is December 24th.22 Even when both dates are listed, the Apalpador is still sometimes presented as a Christmas figure.23 Lôpez asserts that the “December 31” date simply comes from the only day close to the winter solstice that was not overtaken by Christian festivities. I do not think that either of these dates are wrong, since those who claim this holiday as their own can choose to celebrate it when they wish, depending on personal interpretation. But since the Apalpador comes from a tradition predating Roman and Christian influence, I thought it would be quite pointless to side with one date or another in our current Gregorian calendar, so I declined to include a time reference beyond “winter.”

There exist many variations of the rhyme that anticipates the Apalpador’s coming. Below is the version that Lôpez presents, along with my translation. The first, third, and fourth verses are also included, pretty much word-for-word, in the Sende and Miguens version. For a musical interpretation, Malvela, a Galician folk group with all women singers, has a version of it on their 2011 album Raianas.

Vai-te logo meu ninim/nininha, Run along, my dearie, marcha agora pra caminha. go now to sleep. Que vai vir o Apalpador The Apalpador is coming a palpar-che a barriguinha. to pat you on your belly.

20 This article explains the 2019 IGE study which found that 36 percent of the Galician population now lives in densely populated areas and another 36 percent lives in intermediately populated areas. “Más del 70% de la población gallega se concentra en la quinta parte del territorio,” La Opinión A Coruña, 19 February 2018. A map of these areas, which are small and concentrated around urban centers, can be found here: Instituto Galego de Estatística, “Mapa dos concellos de Galicia segundo o grao de urbanización (GU 2016).” 21 A Xunta-sponsored event, a performance of the Apalpador’s story through puppets, lists his holiday as December 31. “Domingo, 20 diciembre, 2015—17:00, A Historia do Apalpador: Espectáculo de navidad a cargo de Títeres Cachirulo,” Cultura de Galicia, Xunta de Galicia, accessed 26 April 2021. The city of Sada lists both dates. Concello de Sada, “Sada le da la bienvenida al Apalpador,” 10 December 2020. 22 Many events featuring the Apalpador seem to take place on Christmas Eve. See Concello de Monforte de Lemos, “El Apalpador visitará Monforte en la mañana del jueves 24 de diciembre,” 21 December 2020 and Concello de Bueu, “24 Diciembre 2018, Visita do Apalpador,” accessed 26 April 2021. 23 The Xunta-sponsored blog Albariño describes the Apalpador as someone who “lleva regalos a los niños en Navidad” (brings gifts to children on Christmas). “O Apalpador do Nadal Galego,” Albariño, accessed 26 April 2021.

Guide to “The Apalpador,” trans. Ceci Hsu, illus. Ellye Groh, 2021 5 Já chegou o dia grande, The big day is here, dia do nosso Senhor. the day of our Lord. Já chegou o dia grande, The big day is here, E virá o Apalpador. and here comes the Apalpador.

Manhã é dia de cachela, Tomorrow we’ll gather round the fire, que haverá gram nevarada as in snowy days of yore e há vir o Apalpador and the Apalpador’ll come c’uma mega de castanhas. with chestnuts galore.

Por aquela cemba From the top of the mountain já vem relumbrando twinkling and shining o senhor Apalpador mister Apalpador will come para dar-vos o aguinaldo. to give you his offering.

According to Lôpez, if the child is full he leaves a handful of chestnuts, and if they are hungry he leaves an extra handful, although nowadays the chestnuts have been replaced by toys. Just like in Sende and Miguen’s original, I included both chestnuts and toys, the former for the cultural significance and the latter for the relatability to children today. Chestnuts, either whole or ground into flour, are abundant in grocery stores in this area and seem to be one of the foods that invoke regional pride. In fact, Galicia and Navarra are responsible for 70% of all chestnut orchards in Spain,24 and it wasn’t until the 19th century that chestnuts were replaced as the main source of calories in the Galician diet.25 In the kitchen scene, we also tried to include some produce typical to this region, including potatoes, chickpeas, lentils, grelos, and berzas.

I hope that my version of the Apalpador’s story can encourage discussion in elementary school classrooms about topics such as local folktales, Galician culture and geography, winter holidays, gift-giving customs, food insecurity and diversity in home backgrounds, and traditional foods from around the world.

24 L. Melicharová and O. Vizoso-Arribe, “Situation of Sweet Chestnut (Castanea Sativa Mill.) in Spain, Galicia: A Review,” Scientia Agriculturae Bohemica 43, no. 2 (2012): 79, whole article 78– 84. 25 Rosaura Leis Trabazo et. al., “Dieta atlántica. Nutrición y gastronomía en Galicia,” Nutrición Hospitalaria 36, no. extra 1 (June 2019): 8, whole article 7–13.

Guide to “The Apalpador,” trans. Ceci Hsu, illus. Ellye Groh, 2021 6