The name of this festivity, originally in Galician language, is A Rapa das Bestas, which means “The Shaving of the Beasts” It is an 400-year-old festival that takes place over four days, on the first weekend of July. The first morning, at half-past six in the morning, the church bells start ringing and firecrackers are released, in order to call all the villagers to a mass that is celebrated to ask for the Saint Lawrence’s protection and guidance in the Rapa. After hunting for the horses in the mountains they are brought down to the village and kept in a compound outside the village until the Curro takes place. The Curro is the central part of the celebration where hundreds of wild horses, male (garañones) and female (bestas) horses are brought into the stone compound and rounded up and wrestled to the ground for for a ‘haircut’ as part the tradition. This is a very impressive celebration that dates back to prehistoric times, a real force between man and beast, between humans and nature, between tradition and modernity.
‘Black Beast’ was the Black & White Photojournalism Series of the Year 3rd place Winner in the MonoVisions Photography Awards 2020.
Wild horses are herded together in the hills during the Rapa Das Bestas festival on July 6, 2019 in Sabucedo, Spain. Wild horses are caught in the hills and taken down to the village of Sabucedo to be sheared and tagged in this centuries old Galician tradition. © Diogo Baptista: Black Beast
People watch as wild horses arrive at the “curro” (arena) during the “Rapa Das Bestas” (Shearing of the Beasts) traditional event in the Spanish northwestern village of Sabucedo, some 40 kms from Santiago de Compostela, on July 8, 2019. During the 400-year-old horse festival, hundreds of wild horses are rounded up from the mountains, trimmed and marked. © Diogo Baptista: Black Beast
Wild horses arrive at the “curro” (arena) during the “Rapa Das Bestas” (Shearing of the Beasts) traditional event in the Spanish northwestern village of Sabucedo, some 40 kms from Santiago de Compostela, on July 6, 2019. During the 400-year-old horse festival, hundreds of wild horses are rounded up from the mountains, trimmed and marked. © Diogo Baptista: Black Beast
Two alpha wild horses, stallions, battle has they arrive at the “curro” (arena) during the “Rapa Das Bestas” (Shearing of the Beasts) traditional event in the Spanish northwestern village of Sabucedo, some 40 kms from Santiago de Compostela, on July 6, 2019. During the 400-year-old horse festival, hundreds of wild horses are rounded up from the mountains, trimmed and marked. © Diogo Baptista: Black Beast
Aloitadores (fighters) restrain a wild horse before cutting its mane during the rapa das bestas (taming of the beasts) on July 6, 2019 in Sabucedo, Spain. During the more than 400-year-old festival, that lasts four-days, wild horses are rounded up and wrestled to the ground by hand to have their manes and tails sheared. © Diogo Baptista: Black Beast
An “aloitador” struggles with a wild horse in the “curro” (arena) during the “Rapa Das Bestas” (Shearing of the Beasts) traditional event in the Spanish northwestern village of Sabucedo, some 40 kms from Santiago de Compostela, on July 8, 2019. During the 400-year-old horse festival, hundreds of wild horses are rounded up from the mountains, trimmed and marked. © Diogo Baptista: Black Beast
Aloitadores (fighters) restrain a wild horse in the ground before cutting its mane during the rapa das bestas (taming of the beasts) on July 5, 2014 in Sabucedo, Spain. During the more than 400-year-old festival, that lasts four-days, wild horses are rounded up and wrestled to the ground by hand to have their manes and tails sheared. © Diogo Baptista: Black Beast
Villagers round up wild horses for their annual rapa das bestas (taming of the beasts) festival on July 5, 2019 in the hills above Sabucedo, Spain. During the more than 400-year-old festival, that lasts four-days, wild horses are rounded up and wrestled to the ground by hand to have their manes and tails sheared. © Diogo Baptista: Black Beast
‘Black Beast’ was the Black & White Photojournalism Series of the Year 3rd place Winner in the MonoVisions Photography Awards 2020.
