"Lavandeiras of the Sil River" Mural

Here is a version of the story told about their origin:

There is a legend that tells of the deep, mysterious waters of the Sil River in Ribeira Sacra in the province of Ourense. This river is a place of intriguing caves and passageways, stories of ill-fated lovers, and mythological beings who live in the river’s depths. One story tells about how the daughter of a powerful member of the nobility from Quiroga liked to travel in the surrounding mountains dressed as a commoner, so she could pass unnoticed among the local people.

One autumn afternoon, while out on one of her walks, she came across a slender young deer hunter. The young woman, who according to the story had beauty “like in a fairy tale”, told the hunter that she lived in the castle at Quiroga, while the young man said that he was a vassal of the lord Osorio at Castro Caldelas. These two attractive young people instantly fell in love with each other. They agreed to continue meeting, and became involved in a passionate romance. Their encounters took place along the banks of the Sil River, and as they became more frequent, the young woman’s powerful father soon found out about them. That nobleman’s name was Don Pedro of Quiroga, and he viewed those from Castro Caldelas as his enemies, unworthy of becoming involved with his daughter. He therefore told his daughter that she must never see the young hunter again. However, the two lovers soon found a way to continue meeting, because there was a passageway that connected the castle at Quiroga with a tunnel that ran below the Sil River, until reaching the castle at Castro Caldelas. However, the father again found out what was happening, and he was so outraged that he decided to impose a punishment on them. He ordered his men to wait until the they had entered into the passageway on their way to another meeting, then to seal off both entrances to the tunnel with stones that would be very difficult to remove again. In this way, the young lovers remained beneath the waters of the Sil River forever. The story also explains that these two lovers were the ancestors of the lavandeiras, mythical beings who according to local beliefs, live in the deepest waters of the Sil River, where their job is to wash and polish the gold nuggets deposited at the bottom.

Story taken from http://www.blogoteca.com/lendas/index.php?cod=1850

Mural and text by Xoana Almar and Miguel Peralta (Cestola na Cachola). Quiroga (Lugo). 2015. Created as part of the project "A Touch of Colour in Ribeira Sacra".