The legend of the Barcelos Rooster narrates the miraculous intervention of a dead rooster in the proof of the innocence of a man wrongly accused. Is associated with the seventeenth cruise that is part of the collection of the Archaeological Museum, located in the Palace of the Counts of Barcelos.
According to legend, the inhabitants of Barcelos walked alarmed with a crime, which had not yet discovered the criminal that committed. One day, appeared a Galician who became suspicious. The authorities decided to arrest him despite their oaths of innocence, he was just passing on a pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela, in fulfillment of a promise.
Sentenced to the gallows, the man asked to be taken before the judge who had condemned. Granted authorization, led him to the residence of the magistrate, who feasted at that time with some friends. The Galician reaffirmed his innocence and, before the unbelief of the present, pointed to a roast chicken that was on the table and exclaimed: “It is so sure I’m innocent, as certain is that cock crow when they hang me.”
The judge pushed the plate aside and ignored the call, but when the pilgrim was being hanged, the roasted rooster stood up on the table and sang. Realizing his mistake, the judge rushed to the gallows and found that Galician was saved thanks to a sloppy knot. The man was immediately released and sent alone.
Some years later, Galician have returned to Barcelos to sculpt the Cruzeiro do Senhor do Galo in praise of the Virgin Mary and St. James, monument found at the Archaeological Museum of Barcelos. This is also represented by minhoto craft, usually clay, known as Cock of Barcelos and is a symbol of Portugal.
