Introduction

Abstract

The Torre de Hercules is a well-known landmark for visitors to the Galician city of A Coruña in north-western Spain. Legend has it that on a clear day from the top of the tower it is possible to get a glimpse of Ireland in the distance. This popular legend reflects aspirations on the part of nineteenth-century Galician nationalists to join the Celtic nations of the North by becoming the Ireland of the South. Comparisons and connections between the Irish and Galician contexts can be found mainly in literary and cultural studies (see, for example, White 2004; McKevitt 2006) where cross-cultural connections between the two communities have drawn on a similar historical past, emigration, shared myths, symbols and sense of communal landscape.

… the immortal star of Celticism rises again… will it shine for the Ireland of the South?

(Vicente Risco 1921: 20)¹