A bit of magic and witchcraft .... and there it was gone!

A queimada, in Castellano la quemada which means "burnt", is a drink, a kind of hot toddy. The ingredients are aguardiente, white sugar, lemon peel and coffee beans.

Basically, you mix lots of aguardiente with the other ingredients in an earthenware bowl, stir the mixture up and then set light to a ladle containing a little aguardiente and sugar. Use the ladle to set light to the mixture in the earthenware bowl. Put some more sugar in the ladle and hold it over the flames to turn the sugar into a syrup which you then pour over the mixture. Let the flames go out and drink it.

I was told that it was very strong but, unless I am mistaken, the alcohol should all have been burnt off. Whatever the truth of the matter, it was certainly a tasty mixture.

Now, all the information will tell you that a queimada is not JUST a drink; it also part of the myth and mystery that is a strong part of Galicia. If the right spell is chanted before you drink it all the forces of darkness are chased away and you are protected from evil. The spell involves a lot of chanting about owls, toads, witches and other similar things that come out at night. The whole incantation can be found on this website.

The queimada is believed to date back to the pre-roman Celtic societies of Galicia, a strangely pagan ritual involving the elements of earth (the earthenware bowl), water (the aguardiente) and fire. It is described as one of the few rituals which are still maintained to this day in Galician society in a wide range of social gatherings. I came across it as the part of the closing ceremony and prize giving of the Galicia Chess Festival in Orense at the weekend.

It was clear that something more than a simple prize giving was going on as candles were placed here and there in front of the stage and tables were set up with what looked like small cauldrons on them. Finally the start of the ceremony was announced, the lights were dimmed and a fire-eating “devil” on stilts appeared, followed a rather elegant witch on roller-skates.


The cauldrons (the earthenware bowls of queimada) were set alight and someone who could only be described as a kind of druid or mage came onto the scene dressed in a most impressive cloak.


With great gusto he introduced the proceedings, requested the help of a virgin (a young boy from the front row) and made us all repeat the incantation after him, after which he successfully chased the witch and the devil out of the room.

All of this was staged, I later discovered, by EL Grupo Queimada who offer their services for just such occasions.

The mage dedicated this queimada to the memory of Fernando Marcote, who founded the Escuela Internacional de Ajedrez Kasparov-Marcote and whose name was given to the Rapid play Open Tournament at the Galicia Chess Festival.

As we moved on to the prize giving Elena Nuñez, the widow of Fernando Marcote, visibly moved, thanked the organisation for arranging the queimada, something her husband would have appreciated very much indeed. She assured us that although Fernando Marcote enjoyed queimada, he never sold his soul to the devil The vice president of the Deputación de Ourense quickly responded by saying that if Fernando Marcote had sold his soul to anything, it was to chess. Huge applause all round!

Trophies were given to the big winners, lots of people received prizes and we were invited (if we dared!) to have a taste of queimada to protect us all from any spirits of evil that might be around.

And finally we loaded the equipment onto the bus back to Vigo and set off for home with that bit of magic all over for this year!